Activity camps help to bridge the recess chasm

Summer activity camps are another popular type of alternative care covering a couple or more weeks of the holiday period, with many offering discounts to children from the same family.

Some are strictly part-time, running for only a few hours during the morning, while others mirror school hours and can be both convenient for parents and a source of enjoyment for kids eager to abandon the blackboards and textbooks part of education in favour of footballs and paintbrushes.

According to Mr Derek Tucker, sports camp director at King's Hospital in Palmerstown in Dublin, working parents looking for a substitute care arrangement represent "a very large percentage" of the business.

"Kids are often dropped off at half past eight even though the camp doesn't start until 9.30a.m. and they're picked up again at five," he says. "It can be like a babysitting service, certainly, but it's also fun for the kids."

The King's Hospital senior summer camp provides coaching to children between the ages of six and 14 in swimming, athletics, canoeing, karate, football, gymnastics, tennis, basketball, orienteering, archery, aerobics and hockey.

As with most childcare arrangements, there is a need to plan ahead. The first of King's Hospital's two-week summer camps concludes today, and all 240 places on its camps starting on July 8th and July 22nd are fully booked. The best time for parents to start making enquiries is "straight after Christmas", according to Mr Tucker.

One summer camp where places are available is the Capri-Sun DCU Summer Camp, which costs €77 per child for a week-long camp running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. until August 16th. Although the adventure camp is sold out for each week, kids can still choose from a sports camp, a gymnastics camp and a soccer camp.

"The courses are quite a cost-effective way of babysitting," says Mr Nicholas Hamill, co-ordinator and sports development officer at DCU, who expects about 1,500 children will attend the camp this summer. "They can be cheaper than a full-time babysitter and the children are also getting a lot out of all the different activities."

Kids may be more confident in familiar surroundings, but parents also like to establish an annual routine. "There is massive retention," says Mr Hamill. "Some of the kids have been coming back here for three or four years." When it comes to day-care arrangements, neither parents nor children like surprises.

The end of the school term can mean both have to make adjustments to new carers, new activities and new budget constraints. With many summer camps taking place near mountainous or lakeside locations, parents may also have to learn new ways to weave through city traffic before making their way back to offices for 9 o'clock.