Summer camp: Find the right fit for your kids

×

Ah, summer break: If you’re a kid, it’s up all night, sleep all day. But what if you’re a parent or caregiver of those school-age kids and you have to work?

For parents in the Durango area, the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County has your back. The council has compiled a list of some options for summer child care, and recently, it held a fair to get the word out about options available to working parents.

Sara Campano, fiscal manager at the council, said the online list is something the staff has been thinking about for years.

“For over the past 10 years, the Early Childhood Council has done the child care referrals for the five counties in Southwest Colorado,” she said. At this time of year, the council has noticed a trend of parents calling to find out about summer child care.

Campano said the increasing number of calls spurred the council to action. She sent out a survey to all the programs she knew of, and those that responded were added to the list on council’s website. She said the list is by no means a complete rundown of all the child care options available in the area; it’s made up of the programs that responded to the survey.

Along with her work at the council (Campano was in charge of child care referrals until her position evolved into fiscal manager), she is also the mother of school-age children and offered advice for parents trying to find the right fit for their children.

“I think it’s important for them to follow things they’re interested in,” Campano said. “That’s been a big thing now that they’re getting older and they have specific interests. My daughter loves art and my son loves basketball and Legos, so really at this stage in the game, it’s more what they want to do as a way to fulfill their interests.”

But, she added, it can also be a balancing act between a child’s interests and the coverage required for parents who may work long or odd hours.

“If they work full time, they need programs that are available every day for large chunks of time,” Campano said. “We didn’t really want to limit it to just that because some of these programs aren’t necessarily considered full-day child care,” adding that programs such as Nifty Nanny can offer parents a wide range of scheduling options.

And any parent who has been in the Durango area for a while can tell you, time is not on your side when you do find a program that fits both your child’s interests and your time requirements. Some programs fill up as soon as they open, and two program owners in town advise that parents should be ready.

Amy Eckhart, owner of The Growing Place for more than a decade, said her program is for the 1- to 3-year-old set, and the place is hopping.

“We are busy year-round,” she said. “Every center has a waiting list, but it’s hard to tell how long: If you call on the right day at the right time and you’re looking for what I have available, it can totally just work out.”

Eckhart’s program offers part- and full-time options, and kiddos don’t sit around twiddling their thumbs.

“We do a lot of singing, a lot of yoga, dancing, letter-recognition, shapes, colors, numbers,” she said. “It is such a great way for kiddos to socialize with other kids – to learn things like taking turns, sharing and how to just function in society, how to just be a member of a group and how to play. It’s awesome.”

Like Campano, Eckhart recommends looking at all your options.

“I would definitely suggest touring as many centers as you can,” she said. “By going to the centers and looking around and seeing what’s available, most people have their intuition and know what’s best for their kiddo.”

Liz Feazell, owner of Durango Day Camp, has room for 27 kids each day (ages 7 and older), and she said spots are already starting to fill up for her program that offers a summer of fun.

“We do typical camp stuff: We hike and we swim and we build forts,” she said. “We go to Wolfwood for field trips and we go to an alpaca farm. We play outside – everything you would imagine a summer camp to be.”

Now in its eighth summer, Durango Day Camp is not something you want to wait on, Feazell said.

“Definitely sign up ahead of time,” she said. “Summer camps fill up quickly; it’s important to plan ahead.”

And giving yourself enough time to plan ahead and find the summer program everyone can live with is key, Campano said.

“Just be proactive and not wait until the last minute because that is when people don’t have openings for you,” she said. “And really, talk to your kids. Tell them about the different options because if they have buy-in, they’re not going to be grumbling about going – they’re going to be excited. If you just go ahead and sign them up and tell them what they’re doing and they don’t necessarily want to do that, it can make for a long summer.”

katie@durangoherald.com