Mother Explains Why Summer Camp For Kids Is A Scam — 'These Kids Are Having A Mortgage Payment For 2 Months Of Activities'
"Getting a spot in summer camp around here is like playing the Hunger Games."
Sergey Novikov | Shutterstock Every year, summer rolls around, and suddenly the kids are back at home, yet parents still have to go to work. The solution for many is summer camp, but unfortunately, these camps are becoming unsustainable, between the ridiculously high prices and short hours.
One mother on TikTok explained why summer camp for kids is a scam.
Mom and content creator Lisa Pontius took to TikTok to share her summer parenting woes.
"Summer camp is a scam," she declared. "Tell me why my kids are out of school for two months, and every camp I can find to put them in is one week long and costs like nine thousand million dollars."
"Like these kids are having a mortgage payment for two months of activities," she added.
Pontius is far from alone in this struggle. According to a recent Credit Karma survey, 40% of parents cannot afford to enroll their children in summer programs. Of those who do enroll their children, 28% plan to take on debt to do so.
Paige Turner, another mom and content creator, did the math on the cost of summer camp.
"I learned that on average in our country, one day of day camp for a child is on average $178 a day," she shared. "And that's for day camp, not away camp."
The price of these camps isn't the only issue, however.
Pontius also highlighted the difficulty of even getting kids enrolled in camp these days, comparing getting a spot in summer camp to competing in "The Hunger Games" or "queuing for Taylor Swift tickets."
She reminisced on the summer camps her own childhood, which consisted of full 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. days packed with activities like swimming, pottery, and archery. Now, according to Pontius, her children's summer camps are only 3 hours long.
As a result, Pontius has found herself struggling to manage her children's schedules and suggests that sleepaway camps must be a better option. "As soon as they're old enough, we're moving to sleepaway camp because this shuffle business sucks," she concluded.
This issue highlights the struggle facing working parents in the United States.
Jessica Calarco, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told KQED that while other countries such as France provide generous paid vacation time for workers, America doesn't. This leaves parents stressing over how their kids will be taken care of while school is out.
FamVeld | Shutterstock
“In the U.S., we don’t provide those protections for families,” Calarco said. “We don’t provide guaranteed paid time off for workers. And that means that most families can’t afford to just stay home with their kids while schools are closed.”
As a result, parents are forced to fight for spots and pay absurd prices for summer camps, highlighting just how far America has to go when it comes to childcare, summer or otherwise.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.