Your Best Tips for "Mommy Camp"

yamz

Tue, Jun 14 2016, 9:48 am

For a variety of reasons, I will not be sending my kids to daycamp this summer. I am very nervous about having them home with me for all those weeks, as I am not really the sort of person who would generally do this (I.e; I could never home-school). My kids range in age from 9 to 2.5. I live in NYC.

How do you manage to feed everybody breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus snacks, keep the house reasonably clean, and still go out on trips with them? When we go out on chol hamoed, it takes so long to prepare and pack up the food -- I can't imagine doing that every day! When do you make dinner? When do you do errands?

Do you go out on a trip every day? What do you do when it's too hot to play outside? What do you do when it rains?

How do you ensure that you have a nice variety of free or low-cost activities? Don't they get bored of going to the play ground every day, even if it's a different playground?

How do you make sure the kids get up and get going early in the morning? Again, this is always something we struggle with when there is no school/camp bus to catch, but I find that when they wake up late and goof off in the morning, we don't leave the house until 3 in the afternoon and the whole day is lost.

When do your kids do summer homework/review chumash/mishnayos/aleph bais?

Any and all tips to make this a successful summer would be greatly appreciated!

amother

Papaya

Tue, Jun 14 2016, 10:28 am

I've done Mommy camp many summers but not for the whole summer. I tried to send each kid to camp for at least 2 weeks so that gives me a little sanity in the summer. And by the end of the summer I was still burned out.

But it's doable. I kept our schedule simple. Each day began with davening and learning/homework. then we did a major activity (sometimes 2 if they were short) before lunch and after lunch we did another major activity. You can buy some craft stuff and games so that the other times they can keep themselves somewhat busy. We had 2- 3 days a week trip days and twice or three times a week water play with the sprinkler on our lawn or kiddy pool because we didn't have access to a pool. That was one of the activities for the day unless it was a full day trip. Try to plan one nice trip a week so kids are excited. The other trips do not need to be major. I find having a schedule and plan cuts down on the kids whining - what are we doing now? Try to plan each week in advance.

I found it easier to plan activities when you make a theme for the summer. Alef Bais, ABC one year we did Lamed Tes Melachos. The kids helped plan the ideas for the activities based on the theme, so they were excited.

Look online for low-cost activities in your city. Many museums and botanical gardens have one free day a month,etc. or groupon has deals to some kid places in our city. Some libraries have nice areas for kids to play. Go hiking sometimes...

Keeping the house clean will probably be impossible but we tried to do a quick clean-up before lunch with all the kids pitching in. And another clean up before or after dinner.

One year I implemented an hour of Mommy rest time after lunch. I see you have a little one so maybe when your little one naps, you take a break. You don't need to take a nap but tell your kids that for that one hour you are resting so they should try not to bother you. I don't know how well that works for little ones, but it did save my sanity so that I felt able to finish the day.

sourstix

Tue, Jun 14 2016, 10:38 am

Gonna watch this as I'm doing the same
It's good that make supper the night before so u have something ready right away
I find I need more cleaning help bec of it
I make sure to go somewhere once a week so they wait for a it eagerly
I do practice homework in morning when they r still fresh
You have not have a good schedule or the whole day gets wasted
Look around for places to go in nyc that is not expensive and see what your kids would go for
The big kids help out with prep for snacks and lunch while you get other things done to get out of house
And each child has a chore before having fun and play
Like cleanup rooms toys and pack away from breakfast
Go to Walmart and get a lot of craft items they will b thrilled to do with u
I find that doing stuff with them makes it very exciting
I let my kids watch videos for some time and I let them do Baking which I wouldn't do during the yr
But I also let them roam the house sometimes just because it's summer and everyone does that it's hot so I give a stack of books and something cold and leave them to their devices
The more you do mommy camp the better you get at it
It's figuring out what works for your family
It's a good idea to get the oldest excited so you get them on board and it's way easier when you get them to help

Pooh

Tue, Jun 14 2016, 12:14 pm

I did it for so many years (not by choice) that now that I don't I miss it! I love lowering the stress of schedule and rush and just enjoying the kids. For me, and them, it's a much calmer atmosphere and we just love having fun together. It's very important to have a few rules and most of all, your attitude to be totally laid back and not stressed or annoyed at all, it sets the tone for the entire summer! Additionally I suggest lunches to be packed from night before and dinners to be prepared early in the morning or left in crockpot. Plan the trip the night before so u have a clear idea of what ur doing and don't waste time deciding the day of. It helps if u have a fellow mom doing mommy camp too for kids to enjoy together and u to have a friend (u can split lunches or take turns etc) bedtime is later and wake up is whenever. My day usually looks like this:

Wake up

breakfast

Daven

Kids do hw while u pack (change of clothes bathing suits lunches snacks WATER sunscreen, etc etc etc)

We don't leave till house is spotless and hw and dinner done (the faster we clean the more fun we have today- don't waste ur fun time!)

Trip (any park w sprinklers or pool is what we enjoy the most- we travel far even for really cool ones and do different ones so we don't get bored and kids stay engaged in the whole mommy camp thing being the "best summer ever", beach, we also have bike/scooters days where we do prospect park or Brooklyn bridge etc, museums, anything cheap or free.

Home to dinner shower and maybe chill by the porch if we still have strength and theres still daylight.

Kids sleep- me and fellow moms brainstorm tomorrow

Have a day off for errands and Shabbat cooking (I do laundry At the laundromat so I need a whole day, supermarkets, etc)

Friday is lazy too at the porch w a kiddie pool

Sign up for kidsbowlfree (u only pay for shoes- great for rainy days or evenings)

Enjoy! It's so much fun! My kids literally say "I love u" 79 times a day during the summer cuz it's just pure fun and bonding and no rush! It's the best to see them develop and grow. Take lots of pictures and be creative and easy!

Ps I suggest buying this- lifesaver. Bring it everywhere along w supermarket bags (check for holes) and wipes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.....lSrch

saw50st8

Tue, Jun 14 2016, 2:28 pm

Definitely have a schedule and a plan. I like to pack lunches in the evening so it's less hectic in the morning. Keep breakfast simple most days. Also, teach your older kids to make breakfast foods like eggs and pancakes. It's fun for them and a great skill. They can also help pack up lunches for the next day.

For dinner, either use the crock pot or cook the night before for the next day. The key (when I did it) was keeping things low stress and fun.

Definitely give your kids doable chores to help out with. Also, the more time you are out of the house, the less mess they can make.

NYC is amazing. There are a ton of cool parks and museums, many of which have free days. If you have some spare cash, you might want to get family membership to the Bronx Zoo, which covers a few other places. I don't know if the NYPL has this (my local library does) where you can get free tickets to museums like the intrepid. You basically get to borrow the tickets for 3 days.

Also check out mommypoppins which has a ton of stuff.

Do you have a car? I would plan 1 really big trip each week. Go up to Bear Mountain. Head out to the beaches of Long Island or NJ. Drive to the Delaware Water Gap. There are tons of things to do in the greater NY area.