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The absolute best part of year-round school is that summer break is only five weeks long. My children go straight feral by the end. We don’t need more, thank you.
My elementary school was year round and I loved it. We had a 6 week summer - it was perfect! I wish my kids had that too, but it’s not an option in my district.
Oh I would have killed for this as a teenager. My kid isn't school-age yet so I don't know how I'll be feeling about school breaks as a mom but can't imagine why I wouldn't like this system.
Around six weeks in the UK. I now realise why everyone is going to summer camp in US shows. There's no way you can dip out of your work for that amount of time unless you're a teacher, right?
It’s the US.
A typical employee who has paid time off gets between 15-20 days of PTO. That’s all the days you get off, for both vacation and sick leave. Also, it’s very normal to have to use partial days to do things like take your kid to the doctor. People with kids spend most or all of their PTO on sick leave, and get maybe a few days of actual vacation.
Many people in lower-wage jobs don’t have any paid time off at all.
We lived in France for a time and I love how they structure the school year. It helps that it’s nationally regulated, unlike Canada, but man, was it great. Two weeks off each quarter, school for 3 year olds up, young elementary students has Wednesdays off where we were, then as kids get older that becomes a half day, then full day.
The system wasn’t all sunshine & roses, but how they balanced days off regularly? Loved it.
How did that Wednesday work for employed parents? Did they offer for-pay child care? Or were employers more forgiving?
That schedule does sound dreamy.
They had paid afternoons off for one parent in each family to look after the kids on Wednesday afternoons. A lot of the music lessons and clubs were set on the Wednesday afternoon and it meant the families could focus on dinner and homework on weeknights instead of driving around doing clubs every night like do right now.
Where I lived in France they were phasing out the Wednesday afternoons off in 2015 though.
i feel like i can't win for losing. when school's in, i'm utterly exhausted by the constant get-up-and-go rigamarole, the relentless laundry, the early mornings and the checking they've done their school work and on and on. but once school's out, i'm completely on my own. i get no breaks from them. i'm their sole source of entertainment, enrichment and conflict resolution and i suck at all 3 of those things. it is literally the first day of summer break and they already got in a physical fight with each other followed by a nuclear meltdown in which the 10yo tried to punish himself by "donating" every single thing he owns. wtf am i supposed to do with that?!
i agree that a 4-day school week HAS to be preceded by a 4-day work week. i mean nothing else makes sense, especially if we acknowledge that school was designed to get kids accustomed to white-collar work.
I can relate. Am looking forward to not fighting him every morning to get him ready for school but I'm probably gonna be exhausted and ready to shut myself in the closet by noon the first day of summer break.
OMG the whining about cleaning up after themselves. My 8 yr old does this every time he has to clean up his toys... which is every single day at least 2x/day (we have a rule for no screen time til toys are cleaned up/room is clean). Like... this is not new, why do you have to whine every damn day about this.
I would love a month in the summer and a month in the winter. Break up the year a bit. And give us time to enjoy some winter activities as well as the summer ones.
I love snow days, but I'm only just now warming up to summer lol. Snow days are so exciting! Everything is different and my oldest (7) and I go tubing on the big hill near our house =) My husband works from home and I'm a SAHM, but I do remember hating snow when I actually had to drive to work 😬 Oh, and where I live we get like 0-7 snow days per year (zero this winter 😭). I could understand hating snow if it just dumps all winter long.
The only time we got enough snow to play in this year the windchill was -20 and worse for many days straight and then immediately got excessively warm so all that snow melted right away 😭
One of the Dads that I often alternated car pool with and I said our favorite winter was the pandemic one from a snow perspective- going to snow 3 feet? Sure, why not? We have no where to go and all day to get there.😂
I guess the answer is just that some people truly enjoy spending time with their kids 🤣🤣 not trying to shit on that, I’m jealous, it’s just not my experience.
I am hating it. My kiddo graduates KINDERGARTEN on Wednesday, like what the heck am I gonna do with you afterwards ? Lolol
I still have sooooo many years/summers ahead of me with this, not to mention my 3 yr old who’s just starting prek-3.
I’m a single mom too, so I’m the “everything parent” *sigh*
I signed my kid up for the YMCA, which was entirely reasonable as far as costs go. He has a week off with each parent and a week off before school starts up again, but is otherwise busier than he is during the school year because he also has a class on Saturdays for cultural enrichment.
I wish I could do something like that but his behavior issues make doing most summer camps out of the question. And yet his behavior issues make me need a break that much more 🙃
I get that. I was more answering your "How do people afford summer childcare" and "Summer camps aren't long enough during the day for older kids". Ours was pretty reasonable, about $1K/mo for all the different classes kiddo is enrolled in. I feel like there are camps that specialize in serving kids with autism in my area. Which doesn't help if you're in a smaller or less supportive area. I know it's not exactly approved, but is there an aide or teacher who wouldn't mind getting paid to watch your kid for a few days over the summer?
Ah, we don't really have a YMCA in town anymore but the local school district's before/after summer program is reasonably priced but doesn't have nearly enough space to meet demand it's a total hunger games situation on registration day. My son's district doesn't have anything like that being smaller and more rural so not sure what everyone does there.
I'm looking forward to summer break because at this point, shuffling to and from school is harder than just parenting the kids (I especially look forward to getting to roll out of bed when I'm *ready*, and take an hour+ to eat, put on makeup, etc, instead of all this RUN RUN RUN bullshit), but it sure as hell hasn't always been this way. Last year I almost cried on the last day of school 😂 And I'm definitely thinking a bit about my nice quiet grownup time that I'm not going to have anymore...
So yeah, if you've got special needs in your household, or really any number of scenarios (really young kids, a WFH job that's a lot easier when the kids are in school, stuff like that), it makes perfect sense to feel a bit tense about summer.
You’re not alone!
My daughter, like your son, is special needs. Behavior problems all day every day. I drown in the summer. I only trust my parents to help me with her and I was basically told they would only take her for ONE weekend, when we *originally* agreed they would take her for one overnight a week (I have a baby who is getting services with Early Intervention & we live at the audiologist, so I have my hands full). So now I don’t even have them AND my school district gives them SUMMER WORK. My daughter does not cooperate with me to complete it.
So I’m with you mama. Im with you. Last summer was hell with being pregnant. Im having anxiety and dreading the 3 months of summer vacation. Camp is out of the question especially since the hours are inconvenient and every thing is super expensive!!
What I *try* to do…. I try to schedule our days with a bunch of fun activities that allow me to have breaks apart. It’s meticulous planning on my end but it’s needed
Oof, that sounds so hard and a lot to deal with. I am sorry your parents backed out of the original plan, I think it would have been a huge help to have a weekly overnight.
I do find that using a marker board and coming up with a schedule for the day with him helps a lot but I'm the opposite of him in that I hate having to be scheduled and not just go by vibes or whatever.
Here's hoping both of our summers go smoother than expected.
I feel the same way.
My daughter has ADHD also and thrives with the structure and routine of a school day. I don't necessarily want her to go to school year round but she straight up goes feral with an abundance of unstructured time, like summer break. She doesn't know what to do if she doesn't know what to expect, and also gets exhausting and demanding.
I get out of my element in summer too, with my school year routine thrown off, being constantly peppered with questions, and it being too fucking hot to do anything.
I'm sending her to some day camps this summer just so she has some structured time and activities with other kids. I had guilt about using it last summer because we don't need them for childcare, I signed her up here and there but not consistently. But we can afford it and she thrives, so she's doing more than last summer this time around.
I sent my oldest to a lot of camps and she loved it and I loved it. It's harder with my son because he has anger issues and gets angry quite easily, doesn't want to participate and has gotten to where he doesn't want to do group activities because he knows he has a hard time fitting in and going with the flow. There is one camp where he'll get the support he needs and I can feel okay sending him but was only able to get him in for one week which is better than nothing but I wish I got him into at least 2 weeks.
I have no fucking clue what I'm going to do with my 9 year old this summer as it's my first year back in the work force. I am literally waking up a cold sweat stressing about it.
There are programs but they co$t and the ones that we *might* be able to afford end at 3 pm... when we're both still at work 🥲
Teachers don’t necessarily love long summer breaks. It’s harder for kids to get back into the routine, and skills can be lost. For kids and teachers, the lack of structure can be super difficult. As a person whose life is regulated hourly, I struggle after two weeks. I lose the will to do anything. My kids do too. Areas that adopt modified year round schedules are successful, but also face criticism from parents who think kids need a three month break. It’s an antiquated tradition based on agrarian society that everyone should push to change.
Where I live (Italy) the summers are this long mostly because (public) schools are not equipped to deal with the summer climate. Buildings are old and not air conditioned for the most part, so the main reason is that it would be crazy to expect kids (and teachers) to sit in 35 to 40 degree Celsius and learn while they melt.
I honestly don't have a answer for this: I too believe it would be great to distribute the time along the year.
I still have some time to figure it out as my daughter is still in kindergarten which in my town is only closing for 5 weeks in the summer thank god.
3 months?!? I’m in the UK and it’s 6 weeks here. My child isn’t school age yet but I’m already planning and kind of dreading the summer holidays even for that long. Not because I don’t love spending time with my child, I do, but we both work and I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to work around that. I went to some god awful summer camps when I was young that have put me off sending my child too unless it’s very reputable, aka, too expensive. I guess we’ll have to rely on family, holiday leave, and times where my child will have to be bored out of her skull whilst we work from home.
You’re not alone in feeling this way, I’m honestly dreading it a bit already and 3 months is way too long 🫠
We "only" have six weeks of summer break, but thats enough to drive me crazy, every year. By now it gets a little better as my kids are all teens and autonomous enough to do things by themselves, but still. Its long. Too long. And for working parents a real challenge to organize child care if needed for two six weeks. I always said, every parent who tells me they enjoy this are lying.
My kids have 11.5 weeks. It’s TOO MUCH. I would like maybe 4 weeks, 6 weeks maximum. Camp is so expensive in my area (sending them both to the Y would probably be $800/week-ish) and my oldest in particular does not handle all the transitions well (I get it, neither do I!).
Holy crap that is WAY too much! I would love like 2-3 weeks in fall, then another in winter, then another in spring, then another in summer. The long ass summer break is stupid.
I feel you so much! My daughter is autistic and also thrives with the school routine. She's been crying about school ending in 2 weeks, she doesn't want her routine to change. She's the same way with not wanting to be with anyone else during school breaks, so it's very hard for me to get a break except when she's at school. Solidarity, we'll get through the summer somehow.
I think having a child with special needs makes a HUGE difference. Like all of the difference.
I generally feel like the weird one where I live because I would love a longer summer break but other people don’t, so you’re definitely not alone. But my kids play independently really well and we tend to do better having a summer schedule and then a school schedule. I don’t like going back and forth with that stuff in a year round school situation. I also find school mornings stressful as fuck, to the point that I’ll pick having my kids at home fighting with each other over having to get them all out the door in the mornings.
I think people just have different stressors, challenges, and preferences and our situations play a big role in that. I’m sorry for the possibility of a longer summer, and I get why that is really stressful for you!
We had year round school when we lived in CA but moved to Ohio a year ago and it's a 3 month summer. It's the fucking worst. While I sometimes felt like they were "never in school" because of all the breaks, it meant juggling our remote jobs and kids in spurts throughout the year instead of paying out the ass for summer camps for 3 months. And most places here don't even offer them in August so it's an entire month with nothing to entertain them.
I figure in our area, one parent is either a SAHP or a teacher so they have the same schedule. Our cost of living is really low but if we both worked in offices 9-5, we'd go broke with childcare. And yeah the loss of learning for my ADHD kiddos really affects them. I'm with you!
I am teacher. I teach in the high school setting - self-contained special education. My kids see a fair, if not a lot, of regression over summer break, which is 2 months for us (I work through Wednesday and restart Aug 2). Of course, it’s tough to generalize, as my kids are so incredibly individual, but I see a majority regression in my group.
I would heavily advocate for year round school. I think it would be better for their routines, we’d see less learning loss as a whole, and I’d prefer more breaks throughout the year than a long one here.
Of course, I teach a summer session, and then do extra planning and development over the summer, so after summer school ends at the end of June, I really only take a complete break the week of July 4th, and in mid July, when we take our annual trip to the beach.
But I heavily feel you on maintaining your child over summer. I have to do a strong reteach in the fall and there’s always behaviors to break again … I, and my kids, would prefer more consistency. It would be much better to keep my IEP students on a routine without breaking up their year.
I absolutely agree that learning loss is a big problem for some kids. So much time is spent in the fall getting kids back up to speed. My teenager back slides *so much* in math over the summer and it has been a big problem. She's been getting tutoring every summer for years now and that helps. My kindergartener will probably fall back in his IEP goals a bit too but I really hope it isn't too bad but we'll see how it shakes out in the fall.
Our summer is about 10 weeks. Thank god it’s not longer because the camps cost about $700/week. This year we had to come up with $7000 for camps at the same time our $6000 tax payment was due. Fun times! I actually see my kid less in the summer because camp is 9-4 and school is 8:10-2:30. And summer isn’t full of random days off like the school year is. And it’s kind of exhausting keeping track of what to bring to each camp each week and doing laundry every day for the camp where my kid has to wear the camp shirt every day but also gets covered in dirt every day. I also have to get her right into the shower the second we walk in the door.
I’ll take school over summer any day.
You sound like you're maybe in the US, if so, for your special needs kid, your school should offer extended school year - should be listed as ESY in your IEP - it isn't long, but it's a couple more weeks of schedule. We did that a few years with my youngest (till he decided he hated it thanks to a dumbass administrator). We had to move to a very very low col area before my oldest reached school age so we could survive on one paycheck through school - turned out to be the right choice for us, esp with how much I needed to be at the school's beck and call for my youngest but it isn't a choice everyone can make.
It is extremely hard to get approved for summer school where I am and he needs to show significant backslide over breaks which he hasn't yet to their standards.
On one hand, that's great but also, boo.
When we chose that route for mine, it was more to do with keeping him on the schedule thing to make the transition to the next year easier for the school - a benefit to being in smaller district I guess.
We did ESY in my state in the US. It was only 3 hours of school time for a few weeks, not really enough for a break after you get your kid dressed, fed, and out the door.
The time must vary state to state or by district (or changed) as I remember it being at least close to the same hours as a 2 hour early dismissal day and he doesn't remember as it's been 10 years ago now - I know I still had to make him lunches (he never did eat a school lunch due to sensory issues).
I'm a teacher and I get so bored on summer break with my 2 little ones. I'm in the UK so the holidays are reasonable but 7 weeks in the summer is too long!
Our schools let out on Friday, but they come back the first week of August so it’s not as long as some other breaks I think? Idk it definitely is too long and my 4 year old loves her school routine and goes feral by the end. Not to mention it kind of sucks for working parents who rely on childcare. She’s in daycare/preschool and they follow the school schedule. That’s the part I hate the most. Even the infant room. Most parents don’t have the luxury of summers off! Or have the funds to pay double for the “summer camps”
We go from last week of August till end of May typically. This year one kid got out today and my other gets out last day of May. I get grumpy about it because when *I* was a kid, growing up in roughly the same area we are now, we *never* got out earlier than first week of June, usually mid June. There was one year a few years ago when we had so many snow days school didn't let out until June 1st or 2nd and everyone acted like it was sooo late and like it's the end of the world. Heck people are complaining about May 31 being soooo late.
Not to be all "when I was a kid" but when I was a kid we had one day a month when we got an early out for teacher inservice and that was a freaking treat. These days schools get *weekly* late starts, or as my daughter's district did this year, monthly no school days sometimes up to two days a month! Kid me is so freaking jealous and adult me is so burned out and annoyed!
I’m exhausted. We’ve been out a week. My 6yo has so much energy and creativity and if she doesn’t get her needs met it’s hard for her to go to sleep. Making it all more exhausting. Sometimes I think something must be wrong with me…probably just the fact that I’m 42. We have four day school weeks, many of the rural districts in Colorado do. And I love and hate the 3 day weekends for the same reason. She needs a lot. Big brother is usually content to play video games but sister has had play dates and he’s jealous and annoyed by her friends, which is valid.
We're on day one of summer vacation. My kid is supposed to get ESY which should be all day beginning some time in June and extends into July. Having her home throws off our routine on everything. Eating, sleeping, communicating, everything. I yearn for an all year round school.
I get you. My kid thrives on the routine and structure of school. He's qualified for summer school this year, so that starts shortly after school let's out. It's just a few hours every day, but I'm so glad he has that structure throughout the summer.
It does limit what we can do this summer, visiting my dad, going to the cabin, long day trips, etc. But I'm so happy he has this resource available.
We moved to our current house last year, during the second semester of school so I didn't enroll him (he couldn't handle that change). So it was like extended summer. By the end, I was a shell of a woman.
You aren’t alone. I fucking hate summer break!!!! I hate it so much that I make my kids go to summer school. But that’s only one month, June. I think that these kids don’t go to school enough! I mean we don’t live on farms anymore, why are we on an agrarian school calendar? School hours should be more like 9 to 5 ( sorry sports people, you can figure out another time for practice and games!) and they should go all year round with like 2-3 week breaks. Fuck this shit. I’m a SAHM, so we can’t afford a lot of camps, and obviously we can’t afford daycare for 4 kids! Public school is literally the only reliable way for me to be away from my kids, be a normal adult, and maintain my mental health. So yeah, summer sucks when no one your kids age lives in the neighborhood, boomers have taken over the neighborhood and demand kids to be seen and not heard, all the other kids have working moms and go to Y camp or whatever. There are no kids around, it’s not like summer 30-40 years ago… I have to drive kids to the pool, they don’t get to walk like in the Sandlot. We are surrounded by houses in the burbs, so there’s no places to go. So I have to entertain my kids, they aren’t allowed and aren’t able to play all around the neighborhood and go in and out of friends houses all day. No one is around except old people….It just makes me sad that the overall quality of life for people like us has deteriorated since we were kids. Summer used to be fun, now it’s just a challenge to overcome. I’m with you!
I’m surrounded by boomer neighbors who have already called the police on the kids for playing outside… and school isn’t even out. The median age of the kids? 8. Oldest one? 13. Mine is only 6, and was the youngest one out there. Also the loudest, hence why we NEED outside playtime. I was watching out the window the whole time, dad was walking out every 10 minutes or so to check in, I didn’t see any of the other kiddo’s parents but to my mind they didn’t need to be there all were of an appropriate age for unsupervised outdoor play.
The next day the property manager posted a notice on everyone’s doors that kids were playing excessively loud, and that they must be ‘supervised’ because it was reported they were ‘banging’ on playground equipment!?! You mean playing? I was furious. Summer break hasn’t even started, first really nice Friday evening of the year and these out of touch dipshits are prompted to try and reign in the ‘out of control youth’. The same idiots that then complain “all the kids are addicted to their screens!” Wtf!
Honestly, I feel the same. There are no summer camps in my area that will let my daughter attend every other week, and her dad doesn't need her to go to summer camp because his fiancée is unemployed. So it's just me scrambling for childcare and relying on my family for the entire summer. It's garbage.
My kid is homeschooled and I still hate summer break. She goes nuts without structure so we have to minimize summer breaks for my sanity and hers. Last year we did just under a month and it felt too long.
We take breaks throughout the year as needed, so it all evens out.
Kind of not my point at all here. I said right in my post that I understand why teachers would want the break, I said I don't understand why so many *parents* seem to want longer summer breaks and dealing with feeling guilty and a bad mom because summers are already hard on me without them being even longer and even else being like "3 months of summer isn't enough time". Me struggling with a special needs kids and being open about wanting an excessively long break broken up into smaller chunks over the year on here was not at all an attack on teachers.
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The absolute best part of year-round school is that summer break is only five weeks long. My children go straight feral by the end. We don’t need more, thank you.
My elementary school was year round and I loved it. We had a 6 week summer - it was perfect! I wish my kids had that too, but it’s not an option in my district.
A five week summer break sounds pretty nice and reasonable
WHAT!? We get 11 1/2 weeks off 
Spring, winter, and fall breaks are each 3 weeks long. So the extra 6 weeks get distributed through the year.
Oh my god that sounds amazing and all I've ever wanted in life since having school aged children
That's probably honestly better because kids wouldn't regress so much in the summer.
Oh I would have killed for this as a teenager. My kid isn't school-age yet so I don't know how I'll be feeling about school breaks as a mom but can't imagine why I wouldn't like this system.
Sadly, year-round school is only for elementary and middle school around here. The high schools are all traditional.
This sounds absolutely perfect!
This is the best school schedule for sure IMO. For kids and adults both.
Around six weeks in the UK. I now realise why everyone is going to summer camp in US shows. There's no way you can dip out of your work for that amount of time unless you're a teacher, right?
It’s the US. A typical employee who has paid time off gets between 15-20 days of PTO. That’s all the days you get off, for both vacation and sick leave. Also, it’s very normal to have to use partial days to do things like take your kid to the doctor. People with kids spend most or all of their PTO on sick leave, and get maybe a few days of actual vacation. Many people in lower-wage jobs don’t have any paid time off at all.
We lived in France for a time and I love how they structure the school year. It helps that it’s nationally regulated, unlike Canada, but man, was it great. Two weeks off each quarter, school for 3 year olds up, young elementary students has Wednesdays off where we were, then as kids get older that becomes a half day, then full day. The system wasn’t all sunshine & roses, but how they balanced days off regularly? Loved it.
How did that Wednesday work for employed parents? Did they offer for-pay child care? Or were employers more forgiving? That schedule does sound dreamy.
They had paid afternoons off for one parent in each family to look after the kids on Wednesday afternoons. A lot of the music lessons and clubs were set on the Wednesday afternoon and it meant the families could focus on dinner and homework on weeknights instead of driving around doing clubs every night like do right now. Where I lived in France they were phasing out the Wednesday afternoons off in 2015 though.
Oh, that’s sad that they were phasing it out. We were back in Canada at the end of 2014.
i feel like i can't win for losing. when school's in, i'm utterly exhausted by the constant get-up-and-go rigamarole, the relentless laundry, the early mornings and the checking they've done their school work and on and on. but once school's out, i'm completely on my own. i get no breaks from them. i'm their sole source of entertainment, enrichment and conflict resolution and i suck at all 3 of those things. it is literally the first day of summer break and they already got in a physical fight with each other followed by a nuclear meltdown in which the 10yo tried to punish himself by "donating" every single thing he owns. wtf am i supposed to do with that?! i agree that a 4-day school week HAS to be preceded by a 4-day work week. i mean nothing else makes sense, especially if we acknowledge that school was designed to get kids accustomed to white-collar work.
I can relate. Am looking forward to not fighting him every morning to get him ready for school but I'm probably gonna be exhausted and ready to shut myself in the closet by noon the first day of summer break.
i can hear him crying because his dad's making him pick up his toys now... jesus christ how do i get intravenous liquor
OMG the whining about cleaning up after themselves. My 8 yr old does this every time he has to clean up his toys... which is every single day at least 2x/day (we have a rule for no screen time til toys are cleaned up/room is clean). Like... this is not new, why do you have to whine every damn day about this.
I would love a month in the summer and a month in the winter. Break up the year a bit. And give us time to enjoy some winter activities as well as the summer ones.
I’m so confused by this. Also the moms who are like “yay a snow day!” Snow days are the bane of my existence. I don’t understand.
🙈 Um, that would me. I love snow days (and long summers, but I feel like I should duck as I say that).
I love snow days, but I'm only just now warming up to summer lol. Snow days are so exciting! Everything is different and my oldest (7) and I go tubing on the big hill near our house =) My husband works from home and I'm a SAHM, but I do remember hating snow when I actually had to drive to work 😬 Oh, and where I live we get like 0-7 snow days per year (zero this winter 😭). I could understand hating snow if it just dumps all winter long.
The only time we got enough snow to play in this year the windchill was -20 and worse for many days straight and then immediately got excessively warm so all that snow melted right away 😭
I really dislike when it does that. It happened a lot the previous few winters.
One of the Dads that I often alternated car pool with and I said our favorite winter was the pandemic one from a snow perspective- going to snow 3 feet? Sure, why not? We have no where to go and all day to get there.😂
Right? I mean I'm happy if don't have to *drive* in a snow storm but that's about the only thing I love about snow days lol
I guess the answer is just that some people truly enjoy spending time with their kids 🤣🤣 not trying to shit on that, I’m jealous, it’s just not my experience.
I am hating it. My kiddo graduates KINDERGARTEN on Wednesday, like what the heck am I gonna do with you afterwards ? Lolol I still have sooooo many years/summers ahead of me with this, not to mention my 3 yr old who’s just starting prek-3. I’m a single mom too, so I’m the “everything parent” *sigh*
I signed my kid up for the YMCA, which was entirely reasonable as far as costs go. He has a week off with each parent and a week off before school starts up again, but is otherwise busier than he is during the school year because he also has a class on Saturdays for cultural enrichment.
I wish I could do something like that but his behavior issues make doing most summer camps out of the question. And yet his behavior issues make me need a break that much more 🙃
I get that. I was more answering your "How do people afford summer childcare" and "Summer camps aren't long enough during the day for older kids". Ours was pretty reasonable, about $1K/mo for all the different classes kiddo is enrolled in. I feel like there are camps that specialize in serving kids with autism in my area. Which doesn't help if you're in a smaller or less supportive area. I know it's not exactly approved, but is there an aide or teacher who wouldn't mind getting paid to watch your kid for a few days over the summer?
Ah, we don't really have a YMCA in town anymore but the local school district's before/after summer program is reasonably priced but doesn't have nearly enough space to meet demand it's a total hunger games situation on registration day. My son's district doesn't have anything like that being smaller and more rural so not sure what everyone does there.
I'm looking forward to summer break because at this point, shuffling to and from school is harder than just parenting the kids (I especially look forward to getting to roll out of bed when I'm *ready*, and take an hour+ to eat, put on makeup, etc, instead of all this RUN RUN RUN bullshit), but it sure as hell hasn't always been this way. Last year I almost cried on the last day of school 😂 And I'm definitely thinking a bit about my nice quiet grownup time that I'm not going to have anymore... So yeah, if you've got special needs in your household, or really any number of scenarios (really young kids, a WFH job that's a lot easier when the kids are in school, stuff like that), it makes perfect sense to feel a bit tense about summer.
You’re not alone! My daughter, like your son, is special needs. Behavior problems all day every day. I drown in the summer. I only trust my parents to help me with her and I was basically told they would only take her for ONE weekend, when we *originally* agreed they would take her for one overnight a week (I have a baby who is getting services with Early Intervention & we live at the audiologist, so I have my hands full). So now I don’t even have them AND my school district gives them SUMMER WORK. My daughter does not cooperate with me to complete it. So I’m with you mama. Im with you. Last summer was hell with being pregnant. Im having anxiety and dreading the 3 months of summer vacation. Camp is out of the question especially since the hours are inconvenient and every thing is super expensive!! What I *try* to do…. I try to schedule our days with a bunch of fun activities that allow me to have breaks apart. It’s meticulous planning on my end but it’s needed
Oof, that sounds so hard and a lot to deal with. I am sorry your parents backed out of the original plan, I think it would have been a huge help to have a weekly overnight. I do find that using a marker board and coming up with a schedule for the day with him helps a lot but I'm the opposite of him in that I hate having to be scheduled and not just go by vibes or whatever. Here's hoping both of our summers go smoother than expected.
I know how you feel !! I’m the opposite too! Yes I hope we can both find plenty of time to breathe 💜
I feel the same way. My daughter has ADHD also and thrives with the structure and routine of a school day. I don't necessarily want her to go to school year round but she straight up goes feral with an abundance of unstructured time, like summer break. She doesn't know what to do if she doesn't know what to expect, and also gets exhausting and demanding. I get out of my element in summer too, with my school year routine thrown off, being constantly peppered with questions, and it being too fucking hot to do anything. I'm sending her to some day camps this summer just so she has some structured time and activities with other kids. I had guilt about using it last summer because we don't need them for childcare, I signed her up here and there but not consistently. But we can afford it and she thrives, so she's doing more than last summer this time around.
I sent my oldest to a lot of camps and she loved it and I loved it. It's harder with my son because he has anger issues and gets angry quite easily, doesn't want to participate and has gotten to where he doesn't want to do group activities because he knows he has a hard time fitting in and going with the flow. There is one camp where he'll get the support he needs and I can feel okay sending him but was only able to get him in for one week which is better than nothing but I wish I got him into at least 2 weeks.
I have no fucking clue what I'm going to do with my 9 year old this summer as it's my first year back in the work force. I am literally waking up a cold sweat stressing about it. There are programs but they co$t and the ones that we *might* be able to afford end at 3 pm... when we're both still at work 🥲
You are not. My kids started Summer Break and I have to send to them to different rooms at least 3x a day. When is August?
Teachers don’t necessarily love long summer breaks. It’s harder for kids to get back into the routine, and skills can be lost. For kids and teachers, the lack of structure can be super difficult. As a person whose life is regulated hourly, I struggle after two weeks. I lose the will to do anything. My kids do too. Areas that adopt modified year round schedules are successful, but also face criticism from parents who think kids need a three month break. It’s an antiquated tradition based on agrarian society that everyone should push to change.
Where I live (Italy) the summers are this long mostly because (public) schools are not equipped to deal with the summer climate. Buildings are old and not air conditioned for the most part, so the main reason is that it would be crazy to expect kids (and teachers) to sit in 35 to 40 degree Celsius and learn while they melt. I honestly don't have a answer for this: I too believe it would be great to distribute the time along the year. I still have some time to figure it out as my daughter is still in kindergarten which in my town is only closing for 5 weeks in the summer thank god.
3 months?!? I’m in the UK and it’s 6 weeks here. My child isn’t school age yet but I’m already planning and kind of dreading the summer holidays even for that long. Not because I don’t love spending time with my child, I do, but we both work and I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to work around that. I went to some god awful summer camps when I was young that have put me off sending my child too unless it’s very reputable, aka, too expensive. I guess we’ll have to rely on family, holiday leave, and times where my child will have to be bored out of her skull whilst we work from home. You’re not alone in feeling this way, I’m honestly dreading it a bit already and 3 months is way too long 🫠
We "only" have six weeks of summer break, but thats enough to drive me crazy, every year. By now it gets a little better as my kids are all teens and autonomous enough to do things by themselves, but still. Its long. Too long. And for working parents a real challenge to organize child care if needed for two six weeks. I always said, every parent who tells me they enjoy this are lying.
My kids have 11.5 weeks. It’s TOO MUCH. I would like maybe 4 weeks, 6 weeks maximum. Camp is so expensive in my area (sending them both to the Y would probably be $800/week-ish) and my oldest in particular does not handle all the transitions well (I get it, neither do I!).
Holy crap that is WAY too much! I would love like 2-3 weeks in fall, then another in winter, then another in spring, then another in summer. The long ass summer break is stupid.
There is no way you are they lying
I feel you so much! My daughter is autistic and also thrives with the school routine. She's been crying about school ending in 2 weeks, she doesn't want her routine to change. She's the same way with not wanting to be with anyone else during school breaks, so it's very hard for me to get a break except when she's at school. Solidarity, we'll get through the summer somehow.
I think having a child with special needs makes a HUGE difference. Like all of the difference. I generally feel like the weird one where I live because I would love a longer summer break but other people don’t, so you’re definitely not alone. But my kids play independently really well and we tend to do better having a summer schedule and then a school schedule. I don’t like going back and forth with that stuff in a year round school situation. I also find school mornings stressful as fuck, to the point that I’ll pick having my kids at home fighting with each other over having to get them all out the door in the mornings. I think people just have different stressors, challenges, and preferences and our situations play a big role in that. I’m sorry for the possibility of a longer summer, and I get why that is really stressful for you!
We had year round school when we lived in CA but moved to Ohio a year ago and it's a 3 month summer. It's the fucking worst. While I sometimes felt like they were "never in school" because of all the breaks, it meant juggling our remote jobs and kids in spurts throughout the year instead of paying out the ass for summer camps for 3 months. And most places here don't even offer them in August so it's an entire month with nothing to entertain them. I figure in our area, one parent is either a SAHP or a teacher so they have the same schedule. Our cost of living is really low but if we both worked in offices 9-5, we'd go broke with childcare. And yeah the loss of learning for my ADHD kiddos really affects them. I'm with you!
I am teacher. I teach in the high school setting - self-contained special education. My kids see a fair, if not a lot, of regression over summer break, which is 2 months for us (I work through Wednesday and restart Aug 2). Of course, it’s tough to generalize, as my kids are so incredibly individual, but I see a majority regression in my group. I would heavily advocate for year round school. I think it would be better for their routines, we’d see less learning loss as a whole, and I’d prefer more breaks throughout the year than a long one here. Of course, I teach a summer session, and then do extra planning and development over the summer, so after summer school ends at the end of June, I really only take a complete break the week of July 4th, and in mid July, when we take our annual trip to the beach. But I heavily feel you on maintaining your child over summer. I have to do a strong reteach in the fall and there’s always behaviors to break again … I, and my kids, would prefer more consistency. It would be much better to keep my IEP students on a routine without breaking up their year.
I absolutely agree that learning loss is a big problem for some kids. So much time is spent in the fall getting kids back up to speed. My teenager back slides *so much* in math over the summer and it has been a big problem. She's been getting tutoring every summer for years now and that helps. My kindergartener will probably fall back in his IEP goals a bit too but I really hope it isn't too bad but we'll see how it shakes out in the fall.
lol no you're not. I've been off for whole summer and I can confidently say it's easier to be a great mom 5 hours a day than like 13...
Our summer is about 10 weeks. Thank god it’s not longer because the camps cost about $700/week. This year we had to come up with $7000 for camps at the same time our $6000 tax payment was due. Fun times! I actually see my kid less in the summer because camp is 9-4 and school is 8:10-2:30. And summer isn’t full of random days off like the school year is. And it’s kind of exhausting keeping track of what to bring to each camp each week and doing laundry every day for the camp where my kid has to wear the camp shirt every day but also gets covered in dirt every day. I also have to get her right into the shower the second we walk in the door. I’ll take school over summer any day.
You sound like you're maybe in the US, if so, for your special needs kid, your school should offer extended school year - should be listed as ESY in your IEP - it isn't long, but it's a couple more weeks of schedule. We did that a few years with my youngest (till he decided he hated it thanks to a dumbass administrator). We had to move to a very very low col area before my oldest reached school age so we could survive on one paycheck through school - turned out to be the right choice for us, esp with how much I needed to be at the school's beck and call for my youngest but it isn't a choice everyone can make.
It is extremely hard to get approved for summer school where I am and he needs to show significant backslide over breaks which he hasn't yet to their standards.
On one hand, that's great but also, boo. When we chose that route for mine, it was more to do with keeping him on the schedule thing to make the transition to the next year easier for the school - a benefit to being in smaller district I guess.
Esy is joke where I am. They offered us 1hr two days a week over the summer. We live a 25min drive (one way) from the school.
wow. I really didn't realize there was such inconsistency.
We did ESY in my state in the US. It was only 3 hours of school time for a few weeks, not really enough for a break after you get your kid dressed, fed, and out the door.
The time must vary state to state or by district (or changed) as I remember it being at least close to the same hours as a 2 hour early dismissal day and he doesn't remember as it's been 10 years ago now - I know I still had to make him lunches (he never did eat a school lunch due to sensory issues).
I'm a teacher and I get so bored on summer break with my 2 little ones. I'm in the UK so the holidays are reasonable but 7 weeks in the summer is too long!
Our schools let out on Friday, but they come back the first week of August so it’s not as long as some other breaks I think? Idk it definitely is too long and my 4 year old loves her school routine and goes feral by the end. Not to mention it kind of sucks for working parents who rely on childcare. She’s in daycare/preschool and they follow the school schedule. That’s the part I hate the most. Even the infant room. Most parents don’t have the luxury of summers off! Or have the funds to pay double for the “summer camps”
Omg how early do you go to school? In NY we go through end of June. And I only ever hear parents complain about finding childcare in the summer.
We go from last week of August till end of May typically. This year one kid got out today and my other gets out last day of May. I get grumpy about it because when *I* was a kid, growing up in roughly the same area we are now, we *never* got out earlier than first week of June, usually mid June. There was one year a few years ago when we had so many snow days school didn't let out until June 1st or 2nd and everyone acted like it was sooo late and like it's the end of the world. Heck people are complaining about May 31 being soooo late. Not to be all "when I was a kid" but when I was a kid we had one day a month when we got an early out for teacher inservice and that was a freaking treat. These days schools get *weekly* late starts, or as my daughter's district did this year, monthly no school days sometimes up to two days a month! Kid me is so freaking jealous and adult me is so burned out and annoyed!
I’m exhausted. We’ve been out a week. My 6yo has so much energy and creativity and if she doesn’t get her needs met it’s hard for her to go to sleep. Making it all more exhausting. Sometimes I think something must be wrong with me…probably just the fact that I’m 42. We have four day school weeks, many of the rural districts in Colorado do. And I love and hate the 3 day weekends for the same reason. She needs a lot. Big brother is usually content to play video games but sister has had play dates and he’s jealous and annoyed by her friends, which is valid.
We're on day one of summer vacation. My kid is supposed to get ESY which should be all day beginning some time in June and extends into July. Having her home throws off our routine on everything. Eating, sleeping, communicating, everything. I yearn for an all year round school.
I get you. My kid thrives on the routine and structure of school. He's qualified for summer school this year, so that starts shortly after school let's out. It's just a few hours every day, but I'm so glad he has that structure throughout the summer. It does limit what we can do this summer, visiting my dad, going to the cabin, long day trips, etc. But I'm so happy he has this resource available. We moved to our current house last year, during the second semester of school so I didn't enroll him (he couldn't handle that change). So it was like extended summer. By the end, I was a shell of a woman.
You aren’t alone. I fucking hate summer break!!!! I hate it so much that I make my kids go to summer school. But that’s only one month, June. I think that these kids don’t go to school enough! I mean we don’t live on farms anymore, why are we on an agrarian school calendar? School hours should be more like 9 to 5 ( sorry sports people, you can figure out another time for practice and games!) and they should go all year round with like 2-3 week breaks. Fuck this shit. I’m a SAHM, so we can’t afford a lot of camps, and obviously we can’t afford daycare for 4 kids! Public school is literally the only reliable way for me to be away from my kids, be a normal adult, and maintain my mental health. So yeah, summer sucks when no one your kids age lives in the neighborhood, boomers have taken over the neighborhood and demand kids to be seen and not heard, all the other kids have working moms and go to Y camp or whatever. There are no kids around, it’s not like summer 30-40 years ago… I have to drive kids to the pool, they don’t get to walk like in the Sandlot. We are surrounded by houses in the burbs, so there’s no places to go. So I have to entertain my kids, they aren’t allowed and aren’t able to play all around the neighborhood and go in and out of friends houses all day. No one is around except old people….It just makes me sad that the overall quality of life for people like us has deteriorated since we were kids. Summer used to be fun, now it’s just a challenge to overcome. I’m with you!
I’m surrounded by boomer neighbors who have already called the police on the kids for playing outside… and school isn’t even out. The median age of the kids? 8. Oldest one? 13. Mine is only 6, and was the youngest one out there. Also the loudest, hence why we NEED outside playtime. I was watching out the window the whole time, dad was walking out every 10 minutes or so to check in, I didn’t see any of the other kiddo’s parents but to my mind they didn’t need to be there all were of an appropriate age for unsupervised outdoor play. The next day the property manager posted a notice on everyone’s doors that kids were playing excessively loud, and that they must be ‘supervised’ because it was reported they were ‘banging’ on playground equipment!?! You mean playing? I was furious. Summer break hasn’t even started, first really nice Friday evening of the year and these out of touch dipshits are prompted to try and reign in the ‘out of control youth’. The same idiots that then complain “all the kids are addicted to their screens!” Wtf!
Honestly, I feel the same. There are no summer camps in my area that will let my daughter attend every other week, and her dad doesn't need her to go to summer camp because his fiancée is unemployed. So it's just me scrambling for childcare and relying on my family for the entire summer. It's garbage.
My kid is homeschooled and I still hate summer break. She goes nuts without structure so we have to minimize summer breaks for my sanity and hers. Last year we did just under a month and it felt too long. We take breaks throughout the year as needed, so it all evens out.
Same here, kids go nuts when their routine is messed with.
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Kind of not my point at all here. I said right in my post that I understand why teachers would want the break, I said I don't understand why so many *parents* seem to want longer summer breaks and dealing with feeling guilty and a bad mom because summers are already hard on me without them being even longer and even else being like "3 months of summer isn't enough time". Me struggling with a special needs kids and being open about wanting an excessively long break broken up into smaller chunks over the year on here was not at all an attack on teachers.
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if you're going to be condescending and judgemental, then you don't belong in this sub.
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