How much is childcare this summer going to run you? We have three kids under 10, and the cheapest program I could get us in is going to be $1,850 a month! When I was a kid, my parents paid $100 a week for both my brother and I. I would kill for that price tag.

Living in NJ. Paying around $4000 per month for my older kid (~$980 per week, fees & lunch not included). This doesn’t include extracurriculars. Just daytime coverage from 8am- 5pm. My younger one is in daycare and will continue there with a one time summer activity fee of $300. His tuition is $2180 a month. Looking at around ~$6300 a month. At this point I don’t send my kids because I need coverage for work. I work to send my kids to school & programs… 🤪

PSA for folks at large companies who have Bright Horizons backup care - my company offers up to 3 weeks of camp coverage through bright horizons, but with other camp brands - like Galileo and Steve & Kate’s in my area. It is going to cost $35/ day to send my 3 elementary age kids to camp for a few weeks this summer.

Lol that's cheap compared to daycare and prek

That's how much I paid for 1 toddler (insert crying emoji here)

I have 3 under 4 and preschool ends first week in June, my wife is a SAHM though so the costs will be their activities like swimming and sports.

My older two (7 and 9) will be in 8 weeks of summer camp (M-F 7:30-5:30) for just shy of $3,000. It’s through our city parks department and they have a blast. Feeling grateful after reading these responses. Youngest is 4 and will stay in daycare.

I have a Pre-K age child. We’ll spend $1200 for 5 weeks (M-F 8am-4pm) and then we’re covering for 5 weeks via PTO. We live in a blue collar town in a HCOL state so it’s possible to find cheaper childcare options.

I have a PTO/school days off tracker between my husband and me to make sure all non-school days are covered.

I’m thankful I get tons of vacation and holiday time to bridge the gaps (ie week of Xmas to new years). However, we don’t take week long vacations and only overlap PTO time for half days and long weekend trips.

My kids are in their early 20s now. I remember each of the milestones where they got cheaper - started kindergarten, didn’t need after school care, etc. I spent $94,000 for 30 weeks of college. Graduation is next week!

$4K a month for two kids in summer camp.

At least $2,500/month per child. Mine are almost 6 and 10. Some camps are more - like the camp where they take care of a bunch of goats (TF, right - but they love it), do gem mining, get gourmet hot lunch, etc. - and even the weeks at “regular” camp where we pay for extras like horseback riding daily add to the bill. Mine are in year-round, so summer break is just 6 weeks. One week, we are on vacation. But we will easily be at $8k+ all-in for the other 5 weeks.

And due to year-round, we have camp costs throughout the year, which includes both intercession and after school care (for which camp picks them up from school via bus - Godsend).

No clue how average income working class folks afford this. I feel blessed it’s offered and I can swing it, but I have no idea how folks who work super hard but don’t make as much money can possibly make it work…

my two younger kids (4 and 6) are going to summer camp and it’s costing me $300+ for the week and it’s only from 8-1pm. Would cost more to keep them til 5.

3k/month for one child.

Last year was the first year my wife worked since our second was born, so we needed summer care for a 7, 9, and 11 year old. We had two one week vacations, a week of grandma, and a free week of church camp and had to cover six weeks. We flexed our schedules to avoid all day childcare and put kids in camps and activities from 9-3 or 9–1, or did 4 day camps rather than M-F and chose the less expensive options, and we still spent over $7,000. Would have loved a high school or college student because it was so hard navigating transportation during work hours to art camp, theatre camp, etc, but impossible to find anyone who wanted to commit to nannying. It also felt like a full time job lining up the summer—we started in January at the recommendation of a friend and it took an incredible amount of time for two months.

16 month old $1470 a month for day care year round. Mon-Friday. 8am to 5pm.

My kids bilingual charter school has a Spanish summer camp. $375/week per child so about $3K per month for both kids combined.

$1250/week in SoCal

2 kids under 5 in Texas: FT nanny is $5k/mo + half day summer camps for two months at $2k a month

Aka my wife's entire post tax salary

Speaking of prices, when I got my driver's license, a gallon of gas was 32.9 cents (this was on Nassau County). That's about $2.50 today. I don't know if we'll ever see that price again.

Going to be paying around $3k for 6am-6pm coverage M-F from June to mid August.

Around $5000 for one kid for all of summer. Camps are $400-$600 per week if you don’t get into park district.