Latest news with #workingparents
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
New Forest childcare hub gives holiday 'lifeline' to SEND parents
Julia enjoys spending time with her son in the summer holidays, but like for many working parents it is also a time of juggling is something she admits is made 10 times harder because seven-year-old Felix has special education needs - he's autistic and non-verbal."I was looking for holiday childcare for such a long time and it's like another job trying to assess if the environment is right for your child," she says."People find it so challenging to care for children like Felix in holiday clubs or play schemes."Julia works full time as a scientist for a pharmaceutical company in the New Forest, and says even with a well-paid career, the cost of care in the holidays is high. In figures released this week, the children's charity Coram found parents were paying an average of £1,076 per child for summer holiday the study found places are harder to find when children have extra needs and there can be extra costs if children need one-to-one relies on a group called New Forest Outreach Support, which is a non-profit childcare service specifically designed for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).It was set up by Amy Bradsworth, a childcare worker, who said she felt existing provision was not tailored to individual needs for children."Treating every child with an extra need the same doesn't work, one group provision isn't always suitable," she says. For the last two years, her group has hired community halls and organised day trips for SEND children, but next month will open their own base in will cut costs dramatically for parents who have been having to pay entry fees and cover hall hire at the Ms Bradsworth admits the organisation does have higher costs than many childcare providers, with some children needing one-to-one care, and that is one reason it operates as a community interest company. "We have to charge £60 a day if a child needs a one-to-one carer, which can be prohibitively expensive for some parents," she says."But that's not making a profit, just covering costs, staffing and specialist equipment. "I try and make sure all parents are getting the benefits and support they are entitled to help them cover the costs." Ms Bradsworth says she hopes the new hub, which is adapted for those with extra needs, will be "a colourful, beautiful space for children to come and play".The walls have soft linings and there is a sensory room with a swing, a ball pit, dimmable lighting, as well as soundproofing so there can be quiet local community have helped with the refurbishment, with builders and plumbers donating their time, companies sponsoring signage and equipment, and parents who need the facility involved in painting and donating says she thinks Felix will benefit hugely from the hub and the settled environment."I will start planning the next holiday cover months in advance," she says."I can't let my company down or Felix down, so I need to get those slots booked in and then I can relax."The hub is due to open next month. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Do we have to have such long school holidays, mother asks
Photo: 123RF Tauranga mother-of-two Karina Tendler says when it comes to school holidays, something needs to change. She recently approached the Ministry of Education asking it to consider altering the term schedule because of the financial burden she says it imposes on families. Her son recently started school, and she has a three-year-old daughter who will go to school in a couple of years' time. "The two-week breaks each term, combined with the five to six weeks over summer, create a significant strain on our ability to balance work and family life. "While there are private school holiday programmes available, they are often unaffordable, costing $50 to $70 per day. We're aware of subsidy programmes, but unfortunately, we don't meet the eligibility criteria. This leaves us - and many others - in a difficult position. "I understand that the current system may have worked better in the past when single-income households were more common. But in today's economy, dual-income families are often a necessity, and the school calendar hasn't adapted to reflect this reality." The Ministry of Social Development's OSCAR subsidy is available for school holiday programmes up to 50 hours a week. The amount parents can get depends on the number of children they have and how much they earn. Someone with two children can get $326 per child, per week in the holidays if they earn less than $1264 a week before tax. That drops to $101.50 a week if their income is between $2485 and $2669. Above that, there was no subsidy available. Tendler said she was relatively new to the country and was surprised when she discovered the situation. Even working from home was not a good solution, she said. "To work from home when you have a five-year-old son with you, it's not a productive day." She said the model was outdated. "It's very oriented in terms of one parent working, one parent is staying at home. Maybe it was like that in the past in New Zealand, but I feel the economy now and the cost of living now is not really representing that anymore, and there are a lot of families that both of the parents are working now and you need to find a solution around it." She said it seemed that teachers did not want to lose the days off. "You could still have a balance and have holidays, but not two weeks. Reduce it to one week and keep summer as it - it will help some parents." She said even with two parents splitting leave, they did not have enough days to cover the holiday. Other options could be to give parents more paid leave, or provide cheaper, government-run holiday programmes, she said. Sean Teddy, hautū (leader) of operations and integration at the Ministry of Education, said the school holidays were set - in agreement with sector groups - in 2016. Schools can choose a start date between Auckland Anniversary Day and the day after Waitangi Day, and can end no later than 20 December in any year. Secondary and composite schools need to be open for 380 half-days a year. Primary, intermediate and special schools need to open between 380 and 390 half-days, depending on the timing of Easter. "In most years, the first school holidays for primary schools are timed to include the Easter break. To create terms of a reasonably uniform length in years when Easter falls particularly early, all or some of the Easter break will fall during the first term. In these years, fewer half-days can be completed before the latest end date." The ministry told Tendler it was important to strike a balance between ensuring students were in school long enough to receive the education they needed, and having holidays long enough to give them a chance to rest and recuperate. Financial mentor David Verry at North Harbour Budgeting Services said Tendler was not alone in her concerns. He said it was something families struggled with every year. "One of the big issues is they come up in one big lump sum that you have to pay. "If it's $50 a day, that's $250 a week and that's after-tax dollars people have to come up with. Over a couple of weeks, if you have two children, that's $1000. That's a huge chunk of cash to have to front with." The summer holidays could be even tougher on family budgets, he said, because people would also have to cover the cost of Christmas and back-to-school. It was even harder on single parents, he said. Verry said he would advise people to set money aside for holiday programmes through the year, if they could, so they had the funds available when they needed them. "So you can dip into that without having to go, 'Oh gosh, we're going to have to cut our food budget because we just haven't got enough.'" While people who could work from home might have flexibility to reduce the hours their children went to holiday programmes, or not use them at all, manual workers did not have that luxury. "It's a bit harder when you have a manual job or you're working in a supermarket because you've got to be there." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Childminder costs over school summer holidays as high as £1,800, research finds
Working parents who depend on childminders to look after their children during the British school summer holidays face bills of as much as £1,800 for six weeks' childcare, according to new research. A survey by the children's charity Coram found families in inner London can expect to pay an average of £306 a week for a holiday childminder, compared with a British average of £234 a week. Holiday childminder costs in Wales and Scotland are marginally higher – £249 and £238 a week respectively compared with £233 in England – but British families will have to find about £1,400 to cover the six-week break. It is the first time the survey, now in its 20th year, has included childminder costs during the holidays, which are published alongside annual data provided by local authorities on the cost and availability of places in holiday childcare clubs. The latest data reveals holiday childcare club costs in England, Wales and Scotland have risen by 4% in the last year, with working parents now facing an average bill of £179 per child per week – more than two and a half times the cost of term-time after-school clubs – totalling £1,075 for the six-week break. It also reveals significant shortages of places, particularly for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send). In England, only 9% of councils have sufficient places for 75% of children with Send in their area. In the East Midlands, the east of England and inner London, not a single council could meet that commitment. Coram said many councils in England did not have a clear picture of whether they had enough holiday childcare, with half or more responding 'data not held or cannot tell'. Lydia Hodges, the head of Coram Family and Childcare, said: 'The need for childcare doesn't finish at the end of term. Holiday childcare not only helps parents to work but gives children the chance to have fun, make friends and stay active during the school breaks. 'Whilst the increase in government-funded early education has reduced childcare costs for working parents of under-fives in England, prices for holiday childcare are going up for school-age children. This risks encouraging parents to work while their children are young, only to find it is not sustainable once their child starts school.' She added: 'Availability of holiday childcare is an ongoing issue and without a clear picture of how much holiday childcare there is in each area, we cannot be sure that children – particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities – are not missing out.' The charity is calling on the government to provide more funding, training and support to holiday childcare providers to meet the needs of children with Send. Arooj Shah, the chair of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, said: 'While councils recognise the importance of ensuring there is sufficient provision available for children with Send, it can be difficult to ensure the right provision is available, particularly given the challenging situation that many providers face at the moment. 'Councils work closely with providers to improve access to holiday childcare provision for children with Send, but without investment and recruitment of quality staff this will be difficult to deliver.' A government spokesperson said: 'We recognise the school holidays can be a pressurised time for parents, which is why this government is putting pounds back in parents' pockets both during the holidays and in term time. 'We are expanding free school meals to all children whose households are on universal credit, introducing free breakfast clubs in primary schools, and rolling out 30 government funded hours of early education from September – saving families money and helping them balance work with family life. 'We are also continuing to fund free holiday clubs through the Holiday Activities and Food programme which provides six weeks of activities and meals for any child from a low-income family who needs it.'
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 17th: On school summer holidays, regulating the property market and a man of letters
Sir, – I read with interest the recent discussion on the length of school summer holidays and the suggestion that they should be shortened to better accommodate working parents. While the challenges faced by families during the summer months are very real, I believe we are asking the wrong question. Yes, most families now rely on two incomes to stay afloat. Yes, summer camps are expensive, inconsistent, and often logistically unworkable. But does that mean we should surrender our children's precious time off to the ever-increasing demands of the adult working world and the bottomless greed of corporations, who want to extract ever more from their employees? READ MORE Must we prepare young kids now for the drudgery of a lifetime of 20-25 days of precious annual leave by denying them the joy of long summer breaks while they are young? Rather than cutting short the only real break children get in the year, maybe we should be asking why our workplaces and public policies haven't sufficiently evolved to support modern family life. If the corporate world depends on the working parents who drive their enormous profits, then it's time it stepped up – through expanded summer leave programmes, more flexible hours, or even onsite childcare or camps. And if the State does indeed recognise the importance of education and also downtime (and downtime can be educational), it should also recognise the value of accessible, enriching and affordable summer supports and programs – perhaps delivered through schools and public institutions. The working parents contribute enough taxes. The current system leaves parents dreading and then merely enduring the summer holidays, instead of anticipating carefree and unstructured times which present opportunities for family interaction, new types of learning, not to mention a decent blast of fresh air before the onset of winter. The solution is not to take more from our children but to demand more from the systems that loudly claim to support families, and whose pockets are certainly deep enough to do a little more. Let children enjoy their long summers. They'll be part of the workforce soon enough – and for long enough. – Yours, etc, GERARD REYNOLDS, Ballyboden, Dublin 16. Sir, – Breda O' Brien makes some interesting observations regarding school principal workload: ' Only bottle recycling keeps schools open, ' (July 12th). Leading teaching and learning – the job they applied for and are qualified for – is now jostling for position in an overcrowded space. Principals are bowled off their feet by the tsunami of being financial controller, accountant, HR manager, IT consultant, building project manager, security consultant – and more besides. This is also reflected in the work day of the current school secretary. In providing vital support to all of the above, the school secretary role is one of PA, administrator, data controller, payroll, accounts. The quaint role of a bit of filing, photocopying and answering the phone is dim and distant. We set up every new teacher and SNA on to the Department of Education payroll system. We submit thousands of pay claims every week for substitute teachers and SNAs. We oversee and arrange any amount of appointments by visiting professionals to the school. We order, organise and distribute the school book scheme. We make complex data returns to various Department of Education sectors. We pay bus escorts and cleaners and make the associated Revenue returns. We liaise with the Department of Health regarding child vaccinations and health screenings. We sign passport applications for the Department of Foreign Affairs. We deal with the Department of Social Protection regarding Social Welfare claims and more recently the behemoth that is the school meals programme. In other words, we do public service work, all day long. We are public servants in all but name. Yet, we are denied access to the public service pension scheme, uniquely within the school setting. Is it any wonder that school secretaries, along with caretaker colleagues, have voted 98 per cent in favour of strike action? We are not asking for anything that our teacher and SNA colleagues don't already rightly have. We are not asking for anything that other school secretaries doing identical jobs don't already have (Education and Training Board school secretaries have public servant status.) We love our jobs but will not be returning to work in September. We deserve recognition for our public service work, carried out for decades in this country, providing for the delivery of education to the children of this State. – Yours, etc, GINA BYRNE, Birdhill, Co Tipperary. Regulating the property market Sir – Our esteemed Government is reducing the regulations of new apartments and adding more regulations to the rental market. These actions have all been done before and the results speak for themselves. It is well known that insanity is repeating the same actions over and over and expecting different results. As an estate agent I used to assume politicians just don't understand the property market and that is why they are unable to take the necessary corrective measures to fix it. Sadly, I have now come to the realisation that they do indeed understand it. They know in a market such as ours, where demand exceeds supply, continuing and indeed accelerating Government foreign direct investment (FDI) policy is literally 'pouring petrol' on the overheating property fire. They are, therefore aware there is zero chance of them being able to solve the current housing crisis. Hence, insane property market interference makes sense – because their only option is to pretend they are doing 'the right thing'. If you can fool people into believing that you can build apartments quicker than you can land aeroplanes, the only fly in the ointment I can see is the small article in the Constitution, the one about protecting the 'family'. I might be simple, but even I can see an FDI policy that creates massive corporate immigration, causing a housing crisis, which in turn creates lower paid forced emigration – displaces both the immigrants and emigrants from their immediate families. Perhaps only the Constitution can save us from all this insanity. – Yours, etc, NICK CRAWFORD, Dalkey, Co Dublin. Sir, – I share the overall concern expressed by John McCartney about the Help to Buy scheme, that demand-side intervention in the housing market appears to increase house prices without necessarily increasing supply of housing (' Help to Buy is seen as free money but it just results in higher house prices and more tax ,' July 9th). I don't share his dismissal of increased supply as the most important part of improving affordability. Dr McCartney offers three more significant elements of house price inflation than supply: planning, professional services fees (exacerbated by lack of competition), and financial sector incentives. I'm not a property market economist. But I did recently buy a house (not using the Help to Buy scheme). Professional fees for both sides (solicitors, estate agent, surveyor, etc) accounted for less than 5 per cent of the purchase price. I had a wide range of choice among which to shop around for these professional services; more competition may well reduce these costs, but it's hard to see any realistic reduction having much impact on the overall purchase price. Moreover, as someone who educates the next generation of solicitors, it's hard to see what type of regulation could encourage more law graduates to work as conveyancing solicitors in private practice, rather than for corporate firms – especially if we expect them to make less money from conveyancing. It is already difficult for smaller firms to attract talented law graduates, without expecting them to cut their fees for the services they provide. Professional fees paid by developers to corporate firms are a different matter – perhaps these need to fall to reduce the costs of new housing developments. But, Dr McCartney doesn't think we need very many new developments, and it's hard to see how corporate firms' pricing structures affect the second-hand conveyancing market. 'Incentives for the financial sector' seems to imply that the taxpayer money currently given to private home purchasers to hand over to developers and banks, should instead be given to banks so they will lend more money to developers. Perhaps Dr McCartney can explain what he means in more detail. In any event, it's hard to see the point of encouraging banks to lend more to developers, unless that allows developers to build more housing, which Dr McCartney doesn't believe is necessary. Planning reforms are therefore the strongest example given by Dr McCartney. I certainly think it should be easier to build housing at all segments of the market, in all locations around the country, than our planning laws currently allow. Indeed, there is a strong case that 'legalise housing' should be the political clarion call of my generation. But again, it doesn't make sense to change laws that currently limit the amount of housing that can be built, unless at least part of the goal is to build more housing. –Yours, etc, DR ALAN EUSTACE , Assistant Professor of Private Law, School of Law, Trinity College, Dublin 2. Still talking rubbish Sir, – Laura O'Mara is asking :Why can we not clean up when leaving a beach during this beautiful weather (Letters, July 15th)? In the mid-1970s I sent a similar letter to this newspaper with the exact same question, after having spent most of a day on a beach. And likewise suggested how easy it was to avoid the problem. – Yours, etc, KAREN HIGGINS, Mallow, Co Cork. Man on a mission Sir, – Thank you for Joe Humphreys's informative and interesting article on Irish missionaries (' What did you do if you were young, Irish and idealistic 60 years ago? Join the missions ,' July 14th). He makes reference to the benign influence of a pioneering Loreto nun on the Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Maathai; how Bono became an activist as a result of the work of two Spiritan priests and how children's rights were advanced in East Africa by the fearless campaigning of a Mercy sister. Reflecting on the work of Sr Colombiere Kelly; Fr Jack and Fr Aengus Finucane and Sr Mary Killeen and their promotion of Kingdom values, I am reminded of something the late Pope Paul VI stated in his Encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi: 'The modern world listens more readily to witnesses than it does to preachers.' – Yours, etc, FR LAURENCE CULLEN, Geevagh, Co Sligo. Medical bodies and Gaza Sir, – The recent letter from Chris Fitzpatrick concerning attacks on medical staff and infrastructure in Gaza eloquently sets the context for our letter. We are a group of medical graduates, University of Galway, 1984, who have come together to do what we can to support Gaza, with a focus on the medical aspects. A month ago we wrote to some of the leading medical organisations in this country. We asked that they would not only issue statements of condemnation of attacks on healthcare workers by the Israel Defense Forces, but that they would also contact equivalent organisations in Israel requesting statements of their position in this regard. We also asked them to consider severing any academic or formal ties which they have with such organisations. We pointed out that condemnation on its own has achieved nothing. The Israeli Medical Organisation (IMA) website carries a statement by the World Medical Organisation on a recent Iranian attack on the Soroka medical facility in southern Israel. With absolutely no sense of irony, it quotes the WMA as saying '… any strike on a hospital violates international law'. This appears to be the only condemnation of such violence cited by the IMA – they are silent on the deliberate targeting of Gazan healthcare facilities and staff by their own military. We received responses from The Irish Hospital Consultants Association and The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland but not from The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland or the Irish Medical Organisation. We acknowledge first of all that these organisations have made strong condemnatory statements on the healthcare and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and that the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland engages in practical assistance; also that as we are not collectively members or graduates of the various bodies there was no obligation on any of them to provide a response to us. We write today however to express our dismay that none of the organisations has taken up our suggestion of confronting the IMA or other Israeli medical institutions about their silence. We acknowledge that such action is not necessarily simple and that from their perspective there may be financial and administrative factors to consider. However, this is overwhelmingly an ethical/moral issue and we believe it is incumbent on our leading medical and higher educational organisations to show leadership. Therefore, we repeat our call to them to take practical steps to make it clear to their Israeli equivalents that silence in the face of genocide and war crimes has consequences. Trinity College Dublin is the only Irish academic organisation to have taken such steps and we urge our colleagues in leadership roles in Irish medicine to follow their example. – Yours, etc, DR ANN MARIE CONNOLLY, DR MARGARET CONNOLLY, DR ALEXANDRA DUNCAN, DR SUSAN FINNERTY, DR SIOBHAN GRAHAM, (And five others), Stillorgan, Dublin. Sir, – A week ago , your newspaper was good enough to publish my letter which posed the question:'Could anyone please furnish an instance where anyone has criticised Israel without being accused of being anti-Semitic?' I thank the former minister for justice, Alan Shatter, for yesterday in front of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, answering the question. (' Sharp exchanges as Shatter compares trade ban Bill to 1930s Germany ,'July 16th). – Yours, etc, JOHN CRONIN, Terenure, Dublin 6. Man of letters Sir, – A very regular letter writer to your august columns was Pádraig McCarthy whom I had the privilege to know. One day I was complimenting him on how many letters he had published and he took me by the arm to say ' you should see how many don't get published'. Pádraig was a very regular correspondent, usually on moral issues. What most of your readers will not know was that he was a retired Catholic priest and that he has recently passed away. His letters were always gentle and succinct. Just as he was himself. A good friend, may he rest in peace. – Yours, etc, JOHN RYAN, Sandyford, Dublin 18.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Summer camp scramble: US families need it, but it can cost as much as a month's rent
Summer camp had already begun for Tasmiha Khan's two sons when a work contract unexpectedly ended. Money was suddenly tight for the freelance communications strategist – and the $1,300 price for the school district's months-long summer camp became unaffordable. Khan had no choice but to pull her children out early. To give them an enriching summer, Khan tried a few alternatives. An Arabic immersion program still had spots open, but Khan wasn't impressed. She occasionally takes them to swim lessons at a local community college for just $38 per child per week. But she has to be present for those twice-weekly, 35-minute sessions – which doesn't give her much-needed time to work. 'Honestly, America's not sustainable for parents,' Khan said. 'I'm leaning on grandma to help out because I'm very much burnt out.' When school's out for summer, working parents of K-12 children face an annual high-stakes and often high-cost scramble to cobble together activities. The result is 'a really undercovered and also underfunded aspect of our safety net', according to journalist Katherine Goldstein, mother of three and the creator of The Double Shift newsletter on parenting. Fifty-five percent of all K-12 children, an estimated 30 million, participated in at least one form of summer enrichment program in 2024, according to that year's National Summer Learning Association-American Camp Association summer experiences survey. But only 38% of children in lower-income families ($50,000 or less annually) did so, compared to 67% of children in upper-income households ($100,000 or more). The solution for many families is to keep children at home and rely on friends and family to provide care. But camp can provide vital opportunities for socialization, learning and healthy food. Over six out of 10 lower income parents surveyed in 2024 wanted their children to have a camp experience. Yet, a third of US parents said that camp was financially out of reach. 'The kids who would most benefit from programming during the summer and having a safe place to be are not the ones who are going to summer camp,' Goldstein said. The US summer camp dates to approximately 150 years ago when wealthy families sent their children away from polluted cities to experience fresh air and outdoor activities, according to American Camp Association interim president and CEO, Henry DeHart. In the last 20 years, 'the biggest change is the rise in the interest in day camp', he said. Local day camps and weekly enrichment courses combined to make up 42% of the programs cited in the 2024 survey, compared to only 11% for overnight camp. Information about the cost of summer activities is hard to come by; it can vary widely according to the type of camp and location. However, the American Camp Association estimates that day camps cost between $73-87 per day per child, with overnight camps ranging from $150-173. Goldstein, a resident of Durham, North Carolina, calculated what nine weeks of camp would cost for her three children this year. It came to $10,000. Even for her upper middle-class family, a season of camp requires careful budgeting to afford. DeHart said that 93% of camps offer financial assistance. One such camp is Urban Roots in downtown Reno, Nevada, which runs eight- and nine-week programs for children aged five to 14 at its teaching farm and kitchen. Thirty percent of all slots go to scholarship students, offered on a sliding scale, said Jenny Angius, executive director of development and operations. The cost this year is $295 per child per week, or $2,655 for all nine weeks. The average rent in Reno is $1,950 per month. The scholarships can cover more than just tuition, such as camp supplies or even transportation support. All children receive free breakfast and lunch. This summer, Urban Roots also implemented payment plans through the end of the year 'so it doesn't feel like it's such a big hit for families, especially if they're coming multiple weeks or if they're sending multiple children', Angius said. Cost is not the only barrier, however. Many day camps do not run as long as the traditional workday. As a primarily outdoor camp, Urban Roots begins at 7.30am but ends at 2.30pm, in part to avoid the worst of the summer heat. This summer is the first in its 15 years of operation that it has received funding to provide extended care inside – but only until 4pm. Camps also rarely run all summer, requiring 'a huge amount of mental load and logistics', in Goldstein's words, to put together a summer's worth of programming. It starts with registration. Goldstein knows of public programs in Durham that fill up within two minutes of registration opening. Last year, Khan, the Chicago-area mother, and a friend texted each other reminders to set alarms for 10am on the day camp registration opened to claim spots. Since 2022, Emily Popek has created a public spreadsheet listing all area programs in and around New York's Otsego county, where she lives with her husband and daughter. This year, it categorizes 67 programs by number of weeks, age group and registration date. While that sounds like a wealth of options, only four of those programs run longer than a week. 'Every summer has just been this patchwork of care,' Popek said. And the Oneonta Boys and Girls Club program used to be free but started charging $100 per child per week this year. 'Daycare was a second mortgage for us,' Popek said. 'The cost of summer programs is basically comparable to that.' Popek's research inspired her to write an open letter to local officials in 2024 asking why no municipal or school district programs existed. She also surveyed more than 40 local parents about their summer camp struggles. By her count, 87% listed scheduling as a barrier – the same number who listed cost. A comparable number, 82%, reported taking off work to cover summer childcare. Forty-one percent of parents brought their children to work. 'The narrative from our community leaders is that their top priority is to make this a great place to raise a family,' Popek said. '[That] doesn't just mean that we have a splash pad and some pretty banners hanging on Main Street … It means we have to invest in the infrastructure that actually supports families.' Melissa Petro, whose seven-year-old son Oscar has generalized anxiety disorder and pathological demand avoidance, said: 'Camps won't even enroll kids like mine.' Her son needs a one-on-one aide. 'He's going to create havoc if he doesn't have supervision,' she said. But camps won't pay for or provide that service, and Petro estimates it would require at minimum $5,000. So Petro and her husband become camp counselors for the six weeks his outdoor therapeutic school is closed. Because Oscar thrives outside, they usually visit the school campus. They take long hikes. He swims in the manmade pond and climbs trees. He makes art. But he misses out on the peer socialization he needs. For those six weeks, Petro and her husband are essentially out of work. Last year, Petro had a book release in September but spent August with Oscar rather than working on promotion. 'Your whole life ends up revolving around accommodating your child,' she said. Anecdotal data suggests that parents are feeling the economic pinch even more this year. 'Day camps have started to fill a little bit more slowly,' DeHart said, noting that this is the first drop in enrollment rate since the pandemic. Many parents are turning their shared struggles into communal support. Khan recently invited an old friend and her two-year-old daughter over for dinner and a trip to a nearby park. Her sons loved playing with the toddler, and Khan's friend got some relief from parenting burnout. Popek has found carpool partners while talking to other parents. 'Being in community with other families has been the most uplifting thing for me,' she said. Goldstein is trying something new this summer. With the $10,000 she would have spent for camp, plus the $4,000 cost of a week at a state beach, she has created her own program. For the first half of the summer, a trusted babysitter is watching the children at home. Then, the family will spend five weeks in Costa Rica, including a month-long camp for the same price as a week-long program at home. 'I don't see my solution as a systemic [one],' Goldstein stressed, noting that both she and her husband work at home under flexible conditions. 'It's more of an experiment within the confines of a broken system,' she said. As Popek said: 'No one's coming to save us. We have to do it ourselves.'
