What summer looks like for Minnesota families
Girl Scouts take part in a summer camp at Camp Lakamaga on Big Marine Lake, northeast of the Twin Cities.
CT Ryan Photography via Girl Scouts River Valleys
The school year is ending this week —for some districts, it has already— and there are a lot of kids celebrating the start of three months of summer vacation.
That change of schedule can mean a chance to sleep in, do outside activities and summer programs, spend time with family and maybe travel. For working parents, the work-life juggle takes a major shift in the summer.
MPR News producer Emily Bright spoke to parents from around the state to see what summer looks like for their families.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: Now, Maria mentioned that the school year is nearly at an end. As a matter of fact, it's ending this week. For some districts, it already has. And I bet there are a lot of kids celebrating the start of three months of summer vacation.
That change of schedule can mean a chance to sleep in, do outside activities, summer programs, spend time with family, maybe travel. For working parents, the work life juggle makes kind of a major shift in the summer. Producer Emily Bright spoke to a couple of parents from around the state to see what summer looks like for their families.
SUBJECT 1: My name is Lindsey Harney, and I am from Fergus Falls, Minnesota. My husband's schedule is pretty flexible. He currently works in a restaurant, and he is able to take our son, who is a fifth grader, to work with him.
He's not involved in any sports, so I know it can be kind of a barrier for him in terms of structured activities, although he's really good at cooking things and those kinds of things, which is awesome for him. So the fact that our son can come and hang out with him, help him throughout the day doing prep work for the restaurant is just phenomenal.
It's an interesting time of our lives, I think. When we were kids, we were able to go out and don't come back until the lights come on. And now it's not like that anymore.
SUBJECT 2: Well, I have to say summer is exciting because it looks like taking my daughter around to either sporting events, or going to the playground, being with other kids, and then also bicycle riding now-- but then also, the chances of going camping to different areas in Minnesota. So that's what summer looks like.
It's busy because of my daughter, but it's fun and it's OK. My name is Lauren Kelly Collins. I live in Minneapolis. And my kid is 10 years old.
I am a high school teacher. And it works out great. I never understood-- my mom was a teacher and media person at a public school when I was growing up, and I never thought about it until I was older with my own kid. But that is how she had so much time to spend with us during the summer and just go traveling and doing different things. And I totally enjoy it with my daughter.
SUBJECT 3: My name is Michelle Kyle and I live in Duluth, Minnesota. Summer is a little bit of everything for us. Both of our girls really enjoy sports, and so my oldest will be doing some volleyball camps and basketball camps. And then my youngest plays soccer.
As a working mom, I just have to be really intentional. I have to look at each camp and, does that work with my work day? Can I make it work to run on my lunch break and pick her up from camp and bring her home for the rest of the day?
Piecing everything together can be really tricky, especially when you're talking about doing that for multiple kids at different levels of some still in a daycare setting versus I find it especially hard for the kids that are too old to be in daycare or don't want to be in daycare anymore because of their age and are old enough to be at home. But I don't want my kids home all day long every day doing nothing.
And so I spend a lot of time really piecing together a meaningful schedule for her-- so a little mix of sports camps, and some downtime, and time with friends. And both of my girls go to Bible camp for a week. But every organization posts their information at different times. But I would say I start probably in February.
SUBJECT 4: My name is Himanshu Deshpande and I live in Savage. My kids are 14 and 12. My wife works for a school, so that's a really great thing because her schedule very much aligns with my kids'. So she is going to have some off time, in quotes-- I'm kind of making air quotes here.
Sometimes I get to take time off and do stuff with them. At other times, it's more of I wish I could do that. Our family is big on biking. We do a lot of biking around parks and trails around here. And usually, all the trips are followed by a picnic dinner.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, I love that-- a family bike ride with a picnic dinner. Lovely. That piece, by the way, was produced by Emily Bright.
That change of schedule can mean a chance to sleep in, do outside activities, summer programs, spend time with family, maybe travel. For working parents, the work life juggle makes kind of a major shift in the summer. Producer Emily Bright spoke to a couple of parents from around the state to see what summer looks like for their families.
SUBJECT 1: My name is Lindsey Harney, and I am from Fergus Falls, Minnesota. My husband's schedule is pretty flexible. He currently works in a restaurant, and he is able to take our son, who is a fifth grader, to work with him.
He's not involved in any sports, so I know it can be kind of a barrier for him in terms of structured activities, although he's really good at cooking things and those kinds of things, which is awesome for him. So the fact that our son can come and hang out with him, help him throughout the day doing prep work for the restaurant is just phenomenal.
It's an interesting time of our lives, I think. When we were kids, we were able to go out and don't come back until the lights come on. And now it's not like that anymore.
SUBJECT 2: Well, I have to say summer is exciting because it looks like taking my daughter around to either sporting events, or going to the playground, being with other kids, and then also bicycle riding now-- but then also, the chances of going camping to different areas in Minnesota. So that's what summer looks like.
It's busy because of my daughter, but it's fun and it's OK. My name is Lauren Kelly Collins. I live in Minneapolis. And my kid is 10 years old.
I am a high school teacher. And it works out great. I never understood-- my mom was a teacher and media person at a public school when I was growing up, and I never thought about it until I was older with my own kid. But that is how she had so much time to spend with us during the summer and just go traveling and doing different things. And I totally enjoy it with my daughter.
SUBJECT 3: My name is Michelle Kyle and I live in Duluth, Minnesota. Summer is a little bit of everything for us. Both of our girls really enjoy sports, and so my oldest will be doing some volleyball camps and basketball camps. And then my youngest plays soccer.
As a working mom, I just have to be really intentional. I have to look at each camp and, does that work with my work day? Can I make it work to run on my lunch break and pick her up from camp and bring her home for the rest of the day?
Piecing everything together can be really tricky, especially when you're talking about doing that for multiple kids at different levels of some still in a daycare setting versus I find it especially hard for the kids that are too old to be in daycare or don't want to be in daycare anymore because of their age and are old enough to be at home. But I don't want my kids home all day long every day doing nothing.
And so I spend a lot of time really piecing together a meaningful schedule for her-- so a little mix of sports camps, and some downtime, and time with friends. And both of my girls go to Bible camp for a week. But every organization posts their information at different times. But I would say I start probably in February.
SUBJECT 4: My name is Himanshu Deshpande and I live in Savage. My kids are 14 and 12. My wife works for a school, so that's a really great thing because her schedule very much aligns with my kids'. So she is going to have some off time, in quotes-- I'm kind of making air quotes here.
Sometimes I get to take time off and do stuff with them. At other times, it's more of I wish I could do that. Our family is big on biking. We do a lot of biking around parks and trails around here. And usually, all the trips are followed by a picnic dinner.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, I love that-- a family bike ride with a picnic dinner. Lovely. That piece, by the way, was produced by Emily Bright.
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