Most Parents Wish Their Kids Were Back In School After Only 13 Days Of Summer Vacation

Jul 12, 2019 by apost team

Once upon a time, summer break from school was two to three months of kids playing, swimming, and exploring, without the structure of a classroom. A family vacation or summer camp was an added bonus if your family could afford it.

Today, however, the pressure, stress, and expense of summer break has caused most parents to want to shorten summer break by 80%. Why?

In 1970, research showed that 31% of American households had both parents working full-time. Today, that number is almost 50% according to United Press International, and it doesn’t account for families with one parent working part-time. In 2013, a Census Bureau report showed that childcare costs had doubled from the 80s. Yet, the report showed wages had remained relatively flat. It’s a conundrum that’s caused many parents to leave children at home alone at younger ages and seek alternative childcare from after-school programs and uncertified providers.

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Bankrate recently explored how much parents are paying for summer childcare and how they plan on paying for it. They found the average cost for summer childcare per child is a little shy of $1,000. One in every five parents polled will spend over $2,000 per child. Almost 60% of the parents polled plan to pay for these childcare costs with a credit card. In addition to paying for the childcare, many parents shuffle to supplement the paid portion with childcare from friends and family. It can create a hectic and stressful schedule, especially for parents who work long and irregular hours.

Parents today often feel enormous pressure to offer their kids bold summer experiences and stories to go back to school sharing. Social media documenting the lavish vacations of friends and their children’s peers just amps up the pressure to go big whether it’s affordable or not. A recent Groupon survey found that 58% of parents feel pressured to offer their kids something throughout the entire summer. It means spending thousands of dollars on water parks, theme parks, destination vacations, summer camps, and so forth.

With staggering childcare and entertainment figures, it’s no wonder that researchers have found that parents begin feeling stressed less than two weeks after school releases for summer. Exasperated by the costs and pressures, the Groupon survey found that parents wish summer break was just 13 days, which would be a reduction of around 80% for kids with a two-month summer.

What do you think? Should summer be so drastically cut for kids? Of course, parents can just stop trying to live up to the Joneses on entertainment, but what’s your ideas on summer childcare costs? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section, and be sure to pass this along to anyone your know stressing over summer break.