The January Juggle is very real, as is the cost of school holiday camps which can be well over $100 a day.
And those costs come after the long research hours of trying to figure out what’s on offer, which friends are going, what your kids will enjoy, and the logistics of how you’re going to cover off and keep kids happy and entertained across up to 25 working days in the Summer holidays.
School holiday camps are increasingly big business, especially with once-annual $100 government vouchers that can cover a (sadly, rather tiny) amount of these costs. The options for school holiday camps are growing, should you happen to live in an area that camp providers can see will be worth their while.
There are coding camps, theatre camps, engineering camps, lego camps. There are camps for almost every major sport — netball, soccer, tennis, rugby — and camps with elaborate itineraries that will see kids taken to various water parks and activities. These camps range in price from $60 or so a day to $140 a day, or even more.
But the accessibility of these camp options depends on a family’s situation.
There are significant divides in holiday camps in terms of what parents can afford, the location of such camps, and how camps cater to the different abilities of kids.
On affordability, the costs can be huge. Not only can they top the $140 mark, but some may also require bookings of two to three days at once. With weeks of school holidays to fill, and multiple kids to manage, parents can quickly find themselves spending thousands of dollars on care.
Then there is the growing divide in the quality of such camps: in terms of the ratio of carers available, the activities on offer, and the experience that such kids will enjoy when they attend.
Paying more money for holiday camps doesn’t always guarantee kids will have a better time, but the pricier camps can often better cater to the interests of kids, especially those that are keen on coding, mechanics, science and the arts. Higher-priced camps can also mean a higher ratio of staff to kids, which can make a difference in ensuring kids are engaged and getting something out of the day.
It’s not just the financial and research cost of camps, it’s also the costs around the logistics of making the working week happen around what camps you can access, and/or otherwise also trying to work around kids being at home. There is the cost of working flexibly, taking on less paid work responsibilities, or of purchasing more annual leave, knowing you’ll need it all to manage school holiday periods. It all adds up.
School holiday management is a taxing physical and mental load that parents take on, so often a load taken on by women. That load gets even heavier for sole parent houses, which are dominated by women, and for parents of kids with special needs. The load is also one that’s particularly difficult for parents working in care sectors – sectors like nursing and early childhood education that are again dominated by women — where there are few options to work from home.
The month of January, across many industries, is typically considered a quiet and relaxed month. But for working parents of school-aged kids, it can be one of the most exhausting periods of the year. Not only contending with paid work, but also keeping kids occupied, happy, and cared for during the school holidays.
So if you’re counting down to the end of the school holidays, you’re far from alone. It’s a physically, emotionally and financially exhausting period. February is almost here.