Let’s talk about summer camps.
Not the kind with canoes and bug spray and someone named “Ranger Steve” teaching your kid how to whittle. I’m talking about the modern suburban Hunger Games that happen online at 9:00 a.m. on a random Tuesday in March — where your fate, your schedule, and your sanity are all decided by whether you can click “Register” faster than 700 other desperate parents.
If you know, you know.
This year, I had three browser tabs open, two kids standing over my shoulder asking which camp had Legos, and a baby trying to lick the iPad. One camp filled in 22 seconds. Twenty-two.
The Myth of the “Easy Summer”
Before I had kids, I pictured summer break as this dreamy, carefree stretch of time where we’d go to the beach, eat popsicles, and watch sunsets while everyone got along. Post-kids, “summer break” means I’m still working remotely, but now with background noise that sounds like a SpongeBob episode mixed with a wrestling match.
Enter: summer camps — the great savior of working parents everywhere. But also, the source of:
Mom guilt
Dad confusion
$400 gymnastics camp fees for kids who don’t even like gymnastics
So here’s what I’ve learned.
3 Rules for Winning the Summer Camp Game (Without Losing Your Mind)
1. Don’t Overload the Schedule
You do not need to be the Director of Summer Programming for your house. It’s not your job to provide entertainment at all hours like you’re running a cruise ship.
Choose 1–2 weeks of camp per kid. Maybe 3. Sprinkle in some grandparent time, some play dates, and a few solid “do nothing” days where they can just be bored and make cardboard armor in the backyard.
2. Plan for the Pickup Gap
Most camps end at 2:30 p.m., which is cute if you don’t work until 5. If you’re a remote-working parent (hi, hello), this means you now have a child asking for snacks and screen time while you’re on a Zoom call pretending you’re in a quiet office and not actually standing in your pantry hiding.
Get ahead of it: trade pickup duties with another parent, bribe a teenager, or block your calendar and make peace with the chaos.
3. Let Go of the Guilt
Your kid doesn’t need a perfectly curated summer of enrichment and personal growth. If they spend two weeks finger-painting, one week rolling around on a gymnastics mat, and the rest of July watching movies in a fort made of couch cushions? They’ll be just fine.
You are doing enough. They are loved. It counts.
What Actually Works for Us
For our family, we landed on two weeks of camp per big kid, one family road trip, and a lot of time outside (read: water balloons and me saying, “Don’t spray your brother in the face”). I block off 2–3 hours every morning for remote work, and after that, we mostly just wing it.
Will they get bored? Yes.
Will I survive? Mostly.
But that’s kind of the point. Summer’s not about being productive — it’s about being present-ish.
Final Thought
If you’re a dad trying to work from home this summer while your kids treat your house like it’s a trampoline park, just know this:
You’re not doing it wrong. You’re just doing it real.
Hang in there, grab a popsicle, and remember — anyone can dad
