University of Wisconsin - Extension

Each summer, parents face a dilemma about childcare for their school-aged children. While everyone agrees that a 7-year-old shouldn't be left alone all day, it's less clear what type and level of adult supervision is appropriate for children ages 10, 11 or 12. Yet, studies show there are substantial risks for children ages 10 to 13 that stay home unsupervised -- including increased risk of drug, alcohol and tobacco use and experimentation with other risky behaviors.

So, what kind of care do school-aged children need during the summer? Younger children need childcare that is consistent - with routine schedules and the same providers each day, says Jill Steinberg, University of Wisconsin-Extension associate specialist in child development. But the kind of care that is right for preschoolers and early elementary children isn't effective for older school-aged kids.

"Younger children -- those in kindergarten, first or second grades, need an arrangement that's relatively stable during the summer, with one or two adult leaders or caregivers who will get to know them fairly well," Steinberg says. "Of course, there can be interruptions such as a family vacation, a week at church camp and a week at the grandparents. Steinberg says it's important for younger elementary-aged children to have providers who take responsibility for group welfare and safety.

Some options might include day camps, a child care provider who has made provisions for school-aged children, a day care facility that specifically serves school-aged children or an in-home provider. She suggests parents of children in this age group look for programs that allow children to take advantage of community resources, like the library, pool or museums.

Children in the lower elementary grades enjoy theme activities. For example, some programs have themes each week -- dinosaurs, nature, farms, etc. They also love the opportunity to do projects that take several days to complete. "Interview providers to see if they understand how school-aged children are different from preschoolers," Steinberg says. "School-aged children like to choose their own activities. Their friends become important and being able to choose who they play with is important."

With older children -- those in upper elementary and early middle school -- the same activities and schedule each day rapidly become boring. For them, a variety of less-structured activities spread throughout the summer may work best. For instance, two weeks of day camp, a week of overnight camp, a couple weeks of park program activities and a week of a skills camp, like tennis or computers. "Dual-earner parents may find it helpful to hire an in-home caregiver to shuttle kids from activity to activity," Steinberg says. "Or, sometimes a group of neighborhood parents may get together to arrange for informal supervision, with parents taking turns being at home one day a week to care for kids from several families at a time."

Steinberg suggests checking with local childcare resource and referral agencies, schools, city recreation or park departments and your county UW-Extension office for local sources of school-aged childcare. Day care and day camp programs caring for four or more children under the age of 7 must be licensed by the state of Wisconsin. Day camps can be voluntarily certified by the American Camping Association. "It's important to check to see if the operation or organization you are using is operating legally, and it is helpful to see what level of standards the program is voluntarily meeting," Steinberg said.