SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — As local leaders look at plans to slowly reopen Shelby County, many parents will now have to find childcare.
Head into summer months with many camps cancelled, that is an even bigger challenge.
Liz Phillips would normally be in the thick of planning for her Kids Cook summer camp. Now she’s debating whether to cancel for safety or offer a virtual experience.
“As I think about running a camp via Zoom, it’s a little bit like the questions I face as a teacher during the regular school year,” Phillips said. “I have to think about the different levels of resources my campers have at home.”
With some parents working from home and others having to return to work soon, she understands the difficulty of making sure children stay occupied.
“As a parent, I know the idea of a summer without anything for my kids is concerning,” Phillips said. “I’d like to be able to offer something to other families, too.”
It’s one of the reasons Angela Moore keeps her son busy with activities at the YMCA.
“My child, he was in summer camp, and it was just a great tool, an asset to him to help him be sociable with other children getting out and enjoying themselves and just be able to be children,” Moore said.
Not every parent has that option, which is why lawmakers say residents will have to find additional ways to support each other.
“It’s just going to require a little bit of work on our part, but I’m really excited about the idea of us coming together as a community again and being able to take ownership of our children and being able to protect them and help them out,” Rep. London Lamar (D-Memphis) said.
That may require family members, neighbors and friends to take on different roles to fill the gap.
“One of the things that brilliant teachers do that parents and caretakers don’t always do is they actually plan the day out proactively,” said Stewart Burgess with the Children’s Museum of Memphis.
There are several daycares in the area offering free services to essential workers.