5 Moms, 5 Great Ideas And A Week Of Swapping Kids

TRENDSPOTTING | by KAVITA VARMA-WHITE

EVERY YEAR AS JUNE APPROACHES, I go through the same fire drill of figuring out summer activities for my kids. The older they get (ages 8 and 10), the less inclined they are to do any old summer camp.

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If given a choice, they prefer camps that focus on their favorite hobbies (by and large, sports-related) but, given the hefty price tag that goes along with most camps, our family budget allows for only two camps per child. That adds up to a whopping total of two weeks. Add a couple of weeks for family vacation, and that still means I have eight weeks to cover in the 12-week-long summer.

This year, a group of four mom-friends and I have devised a plan that kills yet another week. Our daughters are all school classmates and friends. We moms have become friends because of them. And so we decided, why not join forces to keep them entertained?

We’ve created the Mom-Led Fun Week (I know, we need to work on a more clever name). Each mom will take a day of the week to lead some sort of activity with all the girls.

For example, my day will include hitting tennis balls with the girls, then bringing them back to my house for ice-cream sundaes and a dip in the hot tub. Laura is taking them to the beach near her house, and helping them bake cookies. Leslie is coordinating a day of crafting. (Greta joked hers would be a nature day — where she would have the girls help her do yard work!)

The kicker of our plan is to meet up at the end of each day and have a much-deserved Mommy Happy Hour.

The things we do for our kids.