Nanny or camp -- what’s your ideal summer child care scenario?
If you said, “I don’t know,” you’ve got lots of company (lots!). A quick search on the subject comes up with about 7 million results, all people asking roughly the same question: How do I decide?
So…we’ve noodled on the subject for you. Call it our nanny/camp challenge – seven points weighing them side-by-side to see which has a leg up. Fun fact: the answer may surprise you.
What’s on our list?
Socialization: This one’s easy. Nothing entertains a kid like another kid. And summer camp has lots of them -- all potential BFFs in the making as they launch water balloons, or sing out “If Mama Were Married” as first-time theater kids. Score one for group time.
Advantage: camp.
Convenience: Also an easy one. A nanny who arrives at your door answers the time-honored question, “What did you do last summer?” And the answer isn’t, “A lot of driving.” Extra nanny points if your family’s wide expanse of age ranges (say, a toddler and a fifth grader) mean you would have been driving not just to one camp, but two.
Advantage: nanny.
Ready for school: Sure, a great nanny can give school smarts a leg up with time spent on science projects or story time. But drop-off at camp is practice for something else -- the first day of school -- meaning you’re less likely to be peeling a little one off your leg when you try to exit stage left in September. We call a clear winner.
Advantage: camp
No place like home: In the pantheon of favorite phrases, nothing beats, “I got to stay in my PJs this morning” as a day brightener. It’s true for kids; it’s true parents. No contest here.
Advantage: nanny
Warm fuzzies. Here’s where things get interesting. Sure, great nannies are undoubtedly awesome (I mean, who doesn’t love Mary Poppins?). But the term “camp counselor” has become synonymous with “fun people” (as in, “I’m a mom/dad/manager, not a camp counselor!”) for a reason: they’re super fun. Counselors are awesome. So are nannies. We call this one a tie.
Advantage: both.
Personalized attention: Nothing beats a nanny for one-on-one time. But the right camp can be pretty darned personalized, too. We love Steve & Kate’s for this. These folks have made it their business to know how to connect with kids and see them blossom as exactly themselves. You just have to find the right camp or the right nanny (did we mention, you have a benefit for both?). We call another tie.
Advantage: both
That’s four for nanny, four for camps. The final factor: flexibility. And the surprise is that once again, it’s a tie. Sure, nannies are clearly and obviously flexible because they can come on exactly the days you need them. But today’s camps are pretty agile, too – no longer the whole-summer-or-nothing arrangements you might remember from your youth. These days you can book camps for a week, a month – or even a here-and-there day. So advantage: both.
Of course the real champ is the one that fits your family and your kids. But really, camp or nanny, you can’t go wrong. And the bonus is that you don’t have to choose. This summer can be a little bit nanny, a little bit camp, a whole lot of fun. Even better, no matter which way you go, it’ll be a whole lot of relief for you.
Happy summer!