I'm Paying a Fortune for Camp for a 4-Year-Old. Here's Why It's Worth It

This summer, my 4-year-old son will be attending a wonderful arts-integrated summer camp. The camp is enriching and exciting and expensive. I'll be paying several thousand dollars for him to attend camps during most of the weeks of the summer.

While this is a big expense, it makes sense for my situation despite the hit my bank account will take. Here's why it makes sense for me to give my credit cards a workout and pay the money for him to attend.

Sending my son to camp allows me to work

The biggest reason it pays off for me to send my son to camp is that doing so allows me to work. I don't have regular childcare through most of the year, so when my son is at preschool or at camp, those hours provide me with the opportunity to get uninterrupted work done, rather than having to try to do my job around nap times or playtimes or waiting until my husband comes home in the evening.

Since my hourly rate is higher than the cost per hour to send my son to camp, paying the fees for him to attend is a no-brainer. Of course, the cost eats into what I can earn -- but the economics of it still make sense since I'm bringing in much more than I'm spending.

The camp is convenient and close to my house

I perhaps could have chosen a slightly less expensive camp to take my son to, but this one is just nine minutes from my house -- which is a big deal since we live in an area that's kind of rural during the summer months.

Since there's not much that's close to my house, I could easily have ended up driving him to a camp that was between 20 and 40 minutes away. Since I have to do both drop off and pickup, that would have cut into my work time in a major way.

It makes more sense for me to pay the extra for the camp I found for him that's close by, so I get that extra time to do a little bit of extra work and further offset the cost of the camp.

The camp provides him with the socialization he needs to stay on track

Finally, the last big reason why paying for the camp makes sense is because it will help my son develop his social and academic skills. As a COVID baby (he was 6 months old when the pandemic started), he missed a lot of time learning how to be with friends. He has made a lot of progress over the past year in preschool at figuring out how to play nicely with other children, and I think the camp will provide him the chance to continue developing his social skills in a positive way.

The bottom line is, kids are expensive and it's important to be prepared for costs like summer camp if you are a working parent. I made room in my budget early in the year to be able to afford this, and many parents could benefit from doing the same.