I'm a divorced mom, and sending my kids to camp is out of reach. I come up with activities for them to do at home while I work.

• I'm a divorced mom of two who can't afford to send my kids to camps over school breaks.
• My inability to easily send my kids to camp makes me feel like I'm failing them.

It's that time of year when I must accept that my kids won't ever be camp kids. I won't be signing them up for a plethora of camp experiences, and they can forget about overnight camp. For winter, spring, and summer breaks, as the years go by, camps remain out of reach.

During a stressful divorce, I gained new responsibility as head of my household and shifted my lifestyle from stay-at-home mom to full-time working parent. During the first year, I was living in distress. I was paying rent and phone and internet bills as well as managing car insurance and car payments. I was also remaking a home while fearing everything would come crashing down.

I spent sleepless nights wondering how I would accumulate some savings on my humble salary while restarting my life.

Working remotely and not paying for childcare during the pandemic provided some financial cushion. When summer camps started enrolling again, I wondered whether the cost would feel cheaper.

But I compared the cost of a week's worth of camp with what I made in a week — and I found that paying for camp would basically mean I'd be paying to go to work.

I feel like I'm failing

As a working parent striving for a better life and financial independence and supporting my kids' needs, I feel like I'm failing when I think of camp.

I feel deflated and ashamed as the texts from other parents come in explaining which camps my kids' friends will be attending. When someone in a text chain for my daughter's class shared a camp Google sheet and I couldn't fill in our row, my heart was crushed.

I told my mom about my concerns about camp, and she offered to chip in around $500. I felt some relief and started hunting — but then I realized it's not only the cost of camp that's a burden but the camp hours.

A cool pottery camp cost about $150 a week per child, but it's only for an hour and a half in the morning. It was the same thing at the arboretum's nature and wildlife camp. A music camp nearby caught my eye — it was under $300 for the week — but then I noticed it went only until 12:30 p.m.

Working parents like me may not have the ability to rush to these camps to pick up their child midday. That could mean they end up paying more money for a caretaker to pick their child up, or for care before and after — if the camp even offers that.

Camp is basically childcare

While they can provide memorable experiences and cool crafts to stick on the fridge, camp is childcare, and spending over $500 a week on childcare is a lot for many families.

I'm grateful for my hybrid work schedule. For now, my kids spend camp days in the living room with activities they can do without my guidance or supervision while I carry on with my workday. They build with Legos and Roblox, watch ESPN, paint, read, use iPads, visit friends, and play with slime kits.

To maximize my workday, I'll rely on easy picnic-style meals and microwaved hot dogs between Zoom calls and projects, and I'll place water bottles and snacks at a level my kiddos can reach. We'll make the evenings and weekends count — we'll be off to the trampoline park, a space show at the science museum, a favorite dinner spot, or the zoo — and we'll call it camp.