Summer child care alternatives: School’s out! The kids are ecstatic – but what are you going to do with them?

Here’s a dirty little mom secret: you love school. It’s a well-supervised daycare for your kids, five days a week, ten months of the year. If they weren’t in school, working – whether from home or an office – would be much harder.
The other two months of the year require some alternate arrangements and creative solutions. Here are seven options to consider:

1- PLAY DATES

Much like pizza, there are two kinds of play dates: delivery and going out. The pros and cons are the same with both pizza and play dates. The delivery play date is simple: arrange to have one of your child’s friends over to play.
In delivery, you get the convenience of staying at home – ideal if you work from there – but have the mess to clean up. Most kids are perfectly happy to play with their friends; even little ones can be kept within non-disruptive earshot. If you can tolerate the occasional interruption, this is a great solution – and if you can trade “delivery” play dates with other moms, you’ll even get some actual peace and quiet.
Going out effectively removes you from your workspace, but also means you don’t have to do much provisioning or planning. There are a host of play date networks out there, from tight-knit groups to casual drop-ins.

2. SUMMER CAMPS

As with play dates, there are two distinct forms of summer camps. Unlike play dates, there’s no fun and obvious food metaphor.
There are sleepaway camps and day camps, and the difference is self-explanatory. Sleepaway camps are perhaps the ultimate summer child care alternative. Not only are your business hours free, but your evenings, nights, and weekends too. In fact, you may find yourself searching for “fall child care alternatives in a few months.”
If you, your kids – or both – can’t stand being separated that long, no worries. There is no shortage of day camps out there, from computer science to arts and crafts. Check local community centers and colleges.

3. RELATIVES

If you’ve got a reliable brother/sister with free time and a passion for being a goof uncle/aunt, great. But really we’re talking about grandparents here – your own mommy and daddy.
If they live in the same city, this is really easy. They’ve probably offered, and even if they haven’t – when could they ever refuse you? If they live elsewhere, you may even find it cheaper to fly them out for a few weeks if they babysit for free.

4. ALTER YOUR SCHEDULE

Remember all you’ve read about working from home and flexibility? Sometimes it means getting up a few hours before the pitter-patter of tiny feet and getting to work. Try to carve out a few productive hours in the morning, and a few more after tuck-in. It all adds up, and you might even get a real workday at the bookends. Used in concert with play dates, for example, and you might even be productive.

5. DROP-IN DAYCARES

This is similar to go-out play dates, but without the need of…well, you. There aren’t drop-in daycares in every center, but if you can find one, they’ll worth their weight in gold. They don’t all operate the same; you might need to apply to be eligible, you might need to book a week at a time, or you might need to accept unusual hours. Whatever the system, having this as an option in your playbook is invaluable.

6. SPORTS

Here’s a great way not only to sneak in some work, but keep the kids away from the boob tube. Soccer, volleyball, field hockey, football (touch, flag, or tackle), rugby, badminton, tennis – anything. They’re all great exercise, great for building self-esteem, great for learning sportswomanship – really, sports are just good. Did we mention you can get some work done while they practice?

7. HOME DISCIPLINE

This isn’t as bad as it sounds – honest! Depending on how old your kids are, consider the possibility that they’ll be fine entertaining themselves for a few hours every day. Set aside a block of time you and your children are comfortable with, and establish some ground rules. They can’t bother you for any reason other than a genuine emergency – and “can I have some chips” does not qualify.
Time and time again, parenting experts say children work very well with well-defined boundaries; all you’re doing is setting some.
If you plan ahead, you can arrange activities for them during your “quiet time” – puzzles, games, books, time in the sandbox – whatever. Alternately, you can even set them up at or near your desk.

Do you have a solution for summer Childcare that we haven’t listed here? Don’t forget to leave us a comment–we’d love to here from you!