"Mommy Camp" Support Thread

cozyblanket

Fri, Jul 07 2017, 9:21 am

jewish613 wrote:

I have no experience, but just some questions: What does she usually enjoy doing? What are her friends doing? Is she participating in Camp Mommy by choice? Is she happy to be left at home for the day or would she feel resentful? If she could decide how to spend her ideal summer, what would she choose to do with her time?

She is busy now, but has nothing planned in August. What she wants to do is complicated... can't discuss under my SN.

tovli toraspicha

Fri, Jul 07 2017, 9:28 am

cozyblanket wrote:

Can I join in anticipation of having my kids all home in August?

I need to plan.

The ideas on this thread are great, but my oldest DD is a young teen and if she doesn't like where we are going, she will insist that we go without her. I want her to come with us most of the time because I don't know what she would do all day at home. Almost everything you all mentioned is out of the question because she doesn't want to do most of that. We did the Michaels project camp one day and she came and got to pick out something from the store to buy, but she won't go for that a second time.

Planning our days is about 800% harder than it used to be. I spent the first week of summer planning things with her so she would actually attend, but I can't imagine how we will survive on her terms for a whole month. I am pretty worried.

Do any of you have a teen? or everyone has kids under 11?

Can you get her involved in some projects, like learning a new skill for ex crocheting or needlepoint, painting, gardening etc?
When you go on trips that might not be as exciting for her, can you put her in charge of taking pictures, keeping momentos and then making a scrapbook or photobook of your summer? This way she has something to focus on and you get a summer album out of it!
Maybe some days you can let her stay back or get together with her own friends / do something special on her own or with a family member.
It's tough when you have a lot of different age groups, and especially when one child "graduates" from the regular activities that the others still enjoy

amother

Violet

Fri, Jul 07 2017, 11:18 am

cozyblanket wrote:

Not so simple to leave her alone all day. If she really has something else constructive to do, that would be fine with me. But that is often not the case.

For sure. Never good for teens to be doing nothing all day. Is it possible for her to have other plans on days she really doesn't want to join?

cozyblanket

Fri, Jul 07 2017, 11:38 am

amother wrote:

For sure. Never good for teens to be doing nothing all day. Is it possible for her to have other plans on days she really doesn't want to join?

Yes, on some days. But many days we need to go somewhere where all the kids will enjoy so she can come.

Please share any ideas you have for activities to be enjoyed by multiple ages - especially a teen and little ones too.

Good Shabbos!

amother

Seashell

Fri, Jul 21 2017, 1:40 am

I admire you all. Lol hakovod.
For the mom who gets bogged down by housework...paperware and plastic is a summer treat! Also with folding clothes just don't fold or leave in baskets and kids re take. So 3 outfits in a laundry basket..kids rotate. Clean outfits go back in kid's basket. It's your summer too!
In my community there is a schedule planned which anyone can join and its circulated. Ex 10am meet at park with kites and bubbles. Or the next day would be 1pm meet at library - u join when u want and I always found time passes quicker and easier when sat with someone to schmooze with.
Not sure origami was mentioned yet...my kids love. Also creating pop up cards. If you have YouTube there are tutorials for all things craft and mostly 6/8 yr olds can manage with a little help.
Also trip to fire station...bring cookies for firefighters....and trip to residential home...bring tissue paper flowers and cards kids make before.
For teenage daughter....if she enjoys doing stuff with one or two kids at a time...you could assign here a child or 2 for an hr to make a treasure hunt with or to bake with or to make a board game with - for the rest of the family - this works well with my 13 and 14 yr olds. Not sure re trips other than to suggest she bring a friend.
One year my 15 yr old was home and so were 3 other girls. They eaxh took on 2 or 3 days to plan for the small group and entertain. They were amazing and had a blast...and it cost nothing! They made scavenger hunts for the mall and backyard water activities...baking day...hair style tutorial day....beautician day. Obviously this only entertained her but was one less to worry about.
Good luck and have fun.

amother

Jetblack

Sun, Jul 23 2017, 7:23 pm

Joining...what a great thread!

We've been doing this for years and each year things change a bit as the kids ages and interests change.

Just curious...how many are doing this for financial necessity (can't afford camp) and how many cuz its what you/your kids prefer?

One amazing thing I've discovered is that our local public library has free passes/tickets to some fantastic places. I'm in Monsey, but my friend in Long Island first told me about this, so ask at your local library!

OutATowner

Sun, Jul 23 2017, 7:27 pm

I'm doing it for both. If my kids reeeaaalllly wanted to go I would have made it work, somehow. But they weren't so interested in going, so it was an easy decision.
"First half" is done and so far doing well. Going to more science experiments with them this week.
How is everyone doing? Anything you did so far that was really great?

amother

Lime

Sun, Jul 23 2017, 7:49 pm

So I am doing camp mommy for August. I have an almost 4 year old who has tons of energy. I can't keep up 24/7 due to physical limitations and I have a 1.5 year old. So spending the day at the park is hard.
I don't want to spend lots of money on activities as I don't think he will get a lot out of it, won't remember it etc.

Any at home projects we can do? Especially that stress the aleph Bais? I bought some art stuff but I guess I was hoping for some tried and true activities...

amother

Chartreuse

Sun, Jul 23 2017, 8:56 pm

amother wrote:

Maybe you can get one of those big alef bais floor mats & then play an alef bais game with him. One idea is to get kid to "jump onto" whatever letter/sound/letter that word starts with that you are asking for. To practice you can call out the letters as he jumps from one onto the next. You can teach him how to spell his name by jumping from letter to letter. And can come up with other simple games to play with it. Hatzlacha!

amother

Chartreuse

Sun, Jul 23 2017, 9:02 pm

amother wrote:

I'm the OP - I'm doing it because can't afford camp. But I think if we do it well, we'll come off with some great times together and in long run better than camp. I can't believe we're up to week 5 already of the 10 weeks! It is going faster than I expected. Every week I try to plan one nice trip (so kids won't feel like missing that out from camp).

By the way, thanks to everyone who gave ideas regarding getting kids not to be too competitive about our star chart. In the end, I told them that for every 500 stars they cumulatively acquire, we'll go out for ice cream, so I think that is helping and the real novelty/competitiveness wore off after the first week, so B"H I think it's working out good.

amother

Seashell

Mon, Jul 24 2017, 6:13 am

Aleph bet games
Create letters with pretzels...dried pasta....beans clicks lego anything at all
Play dough letters
Fridge magnets - you say ball he must find bet. You say girl he must find gimmel etc
I spy with aleph bet letters
Puzzles, stencils, stampers, aleph bet crowns,
Aleph bet snaps...part of game is making the snap cards...kid can write letters.
Whiteboard and pen...u say a letter he writes it.
Aleph bet bingo...make boards.

Mon, Jul 24 2017, 7:49 am

Thank you so much to everyone adding to this thread! I am getting so much out of it.

I am doing mommy camp because my kids love it but the financial savings is a huge bonus that helps to keep me motivated.

Some successes:

We pretend our house is an ice cream parlor and prepare as many toppings as we can think of (I include lots of fresh fruit and nuts to make it somewhat healthier). They dress up in aprons and take orders from me pretending to be different customers. We even made a fake video ad for our shop.

Simple science experiments with food. Lots to choose from on the internet.

Water balloons day.

Backyard fingerpainting day. Then we hose down and cool off.

Play dough day.

Board games day.

New craft day.

Shabbos party where the kids set everything up with fancy plates and napkins and set up all the nosh.

I basically repeat the themes each week. I thought my kids would get bored with doing the same themes over and over but they actually really like the structure. Baruch Hashem!

amother

Lime

Mon, Jul 24 2017, 8:12 am

amother wrote:

What are snaps?

And my kid is 3-4 so can't write yet!

Wed, Jul 26 2017, 3:33 pm

Hi Everyone,

Another 'Camp Mommy', I'm looking for ideas for boys ages 5-10 in the Monsey Area and was wondering if any other monseyers can help out.. preferably cheap or free - so far spent a lot and trying to cut the cost at this point Wink

. I know about piermont pier, rockland lake, Nyack beach and some local playgrounds - anything else interesting?! Any free museums or such?

I'm also wondering if there are any sprinkler parks nearby and how it works in terms of others there - are there only kids there or are there big girls/ladies walking around in bathing suits?

Thanks so much!!

amother

Apricot

Thu, Jul 27 2017, 9:01 am

I really like some of these ideas, though I definitely need to sit down and brainstorm a schedule and activities.

My main issue is my sanity... My kids are in camp till the end of this week. They are super excited to be home and have me entertain them. Me? Not so much... For the most part they are B"H good girls, but the two older ones 6 and 5 do NOT get along very well (the younger copies the older, the older is always annoyed by the younger) and the 3 year old is mostly well liked and gets along with the other two, but soooo aggressive when ever she feels like it! Hurts the older two constantly... :-(

I'm going to have lots of nisyonos for working on my patience, that is for sure!!

amother

Purple

Tue, Aug 01 2017, 10:11 pm

my kids are 2 and 5 and we are doing camp mommy for 2 weeks. we planned trips and activities and so far they love it. we try to leave the house as much as possible. half a day we do a free activity (park, new playground, library, lake...) second half of the day we pay for (museum, zoo, ship cruise...).

around lunch we come home and eat/rest. during that time I cook/clean/do laundry...

in the mornings I try to do some arts/craft-roject with them.

some days we meet their friends at the park or we invote them to our house...

my kids are still young, so they are easily entertained...I just cant be with them at home ALL the time, because I get bored easily by board games, play dough and colouring book so fast (also im expecting soon and sitting on the floor is not comfprtable Wink

)

I promised them if they will not throuw tantrums etc. thursday we will order pizza/sushi wich they love and we very rarely do.

also they know that we are going on a short trip next week, so this is just a temporary solution.

im usually a full time working mom and my kids are in daycare/preschool, during the school year I have gelp 6 hours/week- so I actually enjoy having them around 24/7 eventhough I must say alone with NO help at all in the heat: organizing, cooking, shoping, running errands, cleaning, making kids programme... it is NOT easy