The Best Summer Camps & Sports Leagues for Your Kids
Plan your child’s summer camp and sports league schedule for this year—or get ahead for next.
10:30pm in the land of the midnight sun — Anchorage, Alaska.
What’s New This Week 🏕️
Planning ahead is the real parenting superpower. With kids into soccer, science, and everything in between, there’s a camp or league with their name on it. Let’s break down the best options for a fun (and sanity-saving) season—this year and beyond!
Best Summer and Fall League Sports for Kids: Based on your kids age, temperament, and interests, these sports are good to mix and match while they develop!
Summer Camps for Kids - A Parent's Guide to Planning: This year might be the year that your little one is ready for sleepaway camp! But even if they’re not ready for quite that level of commitment, there are lots of types of camps to keep them busy and encourage next experiences! Here’s how to make sure both you and they are prepared for the first time.
The Rigors and Rewards of Sports in College Admissions: Maybe you’re a few years into sports leagues already and your children are showing aptitude and passion in one specific area. Check out this personal experience from a student athlete who received a full-ride scholarship because of their dedication!
And if you missed it… for those parents with toddlers, not quite ready for leagues or camps, a list of easy at-home activities for the summer!
What We’re Reading This Week 📖
What The Big Beautiful Bill Means for Families:
Increases child tax credit to $2,200 per child, up from $2,000. Parents who don’t earn enough to pay income tax will not see the benefit.
Sets up “Trump Accounts” for newborns, seeded with $1,000 from the government — available to all families of all incomes.
Cuts SNAP funding, so that states must shoulder some of the financial burden; TBD on what state assistance and requirements look like; families will also have to work to qualify for the benefit for kids 14 and up
Changes the way parents and students can borrow for college, including changes to pell grant awards, fewer loan repayment options, and limits on parent plus loans.
How Do You Teach Computer Science in the A.I. Era?: Some educators believe CS can be broadened to become more like a liberal arts degree, with greater emphasis on critical thinking and communications skills.
NYC Art Schools See Surge in Gen Z Enrollments: Uncertain economic times are typically correlated with more students choosing pre-professional tracks, like law or medicine, that are perceived to be safer investments. But at a time when AI threatens many workers' job security, the arts may have a leg up on more traditional career tracks because they can offer a comforting, human sense of purpose.
Nightbitch (2024): A dark comedy/thriller about a new mom adapting to her SAHM life. It gets super weird, but I really enjoyed it.
How We’re Feeling This Week: 👯♀️
Old friends
Last week, I was in Alaska on a girls trip with my closest friends from high school. No husbands or kids. It was the longest time I’ve spent away from my daughter yet, and it was amazing! An entire week of uninterrupted sleep, pure adult conversation, and no meal prepping, negotiating, yelling, or counting to three.
There’s a certain foundation that organically develops when it comes to friendships like ours that have endured 30 years. No matter how long it’s been since we last spoke or what has transpired or changed, we always seem to pick up right where we left off. Like going home to see my parents and plopping on the sofa, it’s nostalgic, comforting and a reminder of who I was and who I am today.
Me and my high school friends in a crevasse on the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska.
New friends
This week, a few of us parents went out on a Tuesday night to celebrate one friend’s birthday and send off another friend who will be moving to Hong Kong. It started with all you can eat hot pot followed by three hours of karaoke until 1:30am! Imagine that for a school night.
I feel lucky to have found this group in this phase of my life. Making “mom friends” isn’t easy, but somehow this crew seems to work. Maybe it’s because our kids are around the same age and know each other, which makes it easy for everyone to hang. We also share similar cultural backgrounds and values; all our kids are enrolled in some kind of Mandarin enrichment. And we have shared interests, willing to travel deep into Brooklyn for real Chinese food and hours of singing and drinking.
I’m not sure what the precise recipe was for these groups, but I do believe real friendships like these are a gift. And these female friend groups feel important and empowering.
Finally, while it was so much fun to escape the mom/wife role, nothing beats coming home to this:
To old friends and new mom friends,
Your Team at MomBrains