With the start of the summer school holidays in the UAE this week, an old question has returned to many families' homes; where and how will the kids spend their time this summer?

Summer camps remain the most popular option for working parents, but this year prices have made headlines more than ever. The cost of the simplest programs starts at around 300 dirhams per week, and more specialized camps in areas like programming, robotics, sports, or content creation can exceed 6000 dirhams per month for each child.

For families with two children, this amount easily surpasses 12000 dirhams; a cost that many say, alongside inflation and rising living expenses, has put new pressure on household budgets.

At the same time, parents' preferences have changed. Many are no longer looking for purely recreational camps and prefer their children to learn skills such as coding, podcasting, filming, video production, or game design.

However, despite the high costs, many families believe that there are not many options in the heat of the UAE summer; either they have to pay for structured camps, or they have to compete all day with screens and iPads.

Source: Gulf Times