Samantha Roberts, the mother of a 9-year-old and a 13-year-old in Arlington, dreads spring break. The timing is "horrible," she says. It comes during a peak period at work, and even if she could get time off, she said, travel is inconvenient at this time of year.
Because of Easter fares, "trips to visit our families abroad . . . are very expensive," she said. Instead, like thousands of other parents, Roberts is struggling to cobble together child care and entertainment for the break.
Rachel Alberts, at home with her daughter, Charlotte, 7, left, and son, George, 12, will spend a few days at Walt Disney World and a few at home, doing absolutely nothing.
(James A. Parcell -- The Washington Post)
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In past generations, child care during school breaks wasn't such a big deal. Stay-at-home mothers watched the kids or packed them up for vacations if the fathers could get time off.
But as it has become more difficult for parents, often both working, to coordinate vacation schedules, many families must find a surrogate for school. For the kids, instead of traveling or loafing, spring vacation often means signing up for programs that can be as regimented as school itself.
In recent years, spring break camps that cost between $70 and several hundred dollars have proliferated to help fill the gap. Alexandria's Campagna Center, which offers care before and after school, started a spring break camp three years ago that has grown from 30 slots at one site to 250 slots at three sites. Registration for March 21-25 -- spring vacation in most Virginia schools -- began months ago, and most spaces are full, though calls are coming in from parents who are only now realizing that spring break is nigh.
"When we are faced with a whole week of days off, they are desperate to find a safe, accountable place for their child," said Mary Myers, the center's vice president.
Responding to requests from parents, the Rockville Arts Place in Gaithersburg, which runs a summer camp, added a spring break camp this year to coincide with Montgomery County's March 28 to April 1 vacation. Five years ago, Headfirst, a Washington area baseball and soccer summer camp, began offering spring sessions that cater to the varying vacation schedules of Montgomery and D.C. public and private schools, as well as Jewish schools that have a week off at Passover.
The slots usually fill up, Headfirst director Brendan Sullivan said, though often not until the last minute, when parents "realize on Friday afternoon that, 'Oh, my gosh, my kids are going to be in my hair all week.' "
The programs can be highly specific. Besides such activities as soccer, tennis and ballet, Fairfax County Park Authority offers a spring break camp for historical swordsmanship -- it introduces children to disciplines including the rapier, the medieval two-handed sword and the Japanese katana -- and a camp for kids and their dogs.
Some schools offer solutions: Carlin Springs Elementary School in Arlington has a spring break camp that is cheaper than many and doesn't require arranging transportation to a different place. And a few spaces often are available for students from other schools.
But many parents who don't plan ahead find that some spring break camps are filled and are already accepting applications for summer. And for some children, camp -- even if it involves dogs or swords -- doesn't hold appeal.
"We have tried soccer camps, YMCA camps, county programs," Roberts said, "but the kids hate them because they are clearly baby-sitting and don't really feel like a break." This year, instead of camp, Roberts will try a combination of babysitters, separate days off for each parent and one day that the whole family will be together.
A query to PTAs and principals elicited a flood of responses from parents, many of whom complained about a break so soon after a run of snow days that left them scrambling for child care.
"One has to look at the schedule and ask what it's a break from," said Rebecca Krafft, the mother of a third-grader at Randolph Elementary School in Arlington. "I have been juggling my schedule for four solid weeks, and now I'm looking forward to a week from now having to make an entirely new plan when my resources are pretty well shot."
When money is tight or kids are camp-resistant, parents try other solutions: taking the kids to work, leaving them with relatives or swapping with other parents.
"Here in the lower-income areas, I have a mother's network where we share kids," said Linda Voss, a single mother with a 9-year-old at Arlington Science Focus Elementary School. "They'll take them for a while, and then I'll take them for a while."
There are parents who welcome the break. George Dieter is one of five Alexandria fathers taking three days off work to accompany Boy Scout Troop 129 on a hike through part of the Appalachian Trail. "It's all setting priorities," he said, adding that the trip was planned in August. "I just consider this as one of my vacations."
For Peg Willingham of Arlington, spring break is "one of the few pluses of having divorced parents," because her 9-year-old daughter, Rebecca, gets her father's full attention. This year they are traveling to Florida. "Spring break . . . is a time they both really look forward to, to have a nice chunk of uninterrupted time together," she said.
A few schools in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax have switched to a modified calendar, which has a shorter summer break but an option for longer breaks midyear. Patrick McClintock-Comeaux, principal of Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School in Alexandria, said many families will use the school's three-week break this month to travel. The school also offers two-week intersession classes, leaving parents one week to fill.
Rachel Alberts, a freelance editor and writer who works at home in Alexandria, said she will fill it this year with a compromise. She and her husband and their two children, George, 12, and Charlotte, 7, will use half the break to go to Walt Disney World. But for the other half, she's going to try an old-fashioned solution: doing nothing.
"I'm still on a deadline whether they're in school or not, so that needs a little finessing," she said. But her children will have the luxury of sleeping in and vegging out. "Sometimes they want to just do nothing -- wandering around, walking around with the dog," she said. "Kids are so programmed that there isn't that kind of time like when we were young, to go outside and play and see who you can find.
"I could set up movie dates, play dates, ice skating and stuff like that," she said, "but sometimes it's better to just see where the day takes you."
