September 10, 2025
Dear Editor,
It’s that time of year again. The kids are going back to school, but I’m still stuck on summer and thinking about what could have been.
My family is pretty average. Both us parents work and we have two kids. They are 14 and 10. During the summer, we get a few weeks of vacation and we go camping and visit with family. In this way we had a great summer.
But I’m stuck on the times when we aren’t off work and what our kids get up to. It bothers me that my kids spent so much of their summer when we were off working on their screens. It’s not good for them, they are irritable, and they regress when they go back to school.
Some colleagues at my work don’t have any summer camp options for their younger kids and often bring them to work, which creates its own set of challenges.
There are almost no options for summer camps in Inverness County. We were lucky to occasionally send our daughter to the summer camp offered by the wonderful Bayview Child Development Centre in Port Hood. But from our house that’s a 25-minute drive and then a 45-minute drive to work then a 45-minute drive back to pick her up and then a 25-minute drive home. That’s two hours and 20 minutes a day (I really wish I hadn’t done that math just now).
The county hires summer students but they put on one- or two-hour children’s activities across the county which, if both parents work, is completely useless. I’m not sure who can send their kids to these activities unless you have retired grandparents or don’t work in the summer.
I’m someone who thinks that if there’s a problem then society and, in particular, government needs to address it. How are we going to welcome new people to the county if we don’t have a plan, including summer childcare for children from birth to around age 13 (when the phones are handed out and kids disappear online and occasionally surface for Mr. Noodles)?
Surely the municipality needs to change their approach to summer activities to open full-day summer camps to help families like mine. Why couldn’t we have summer camps at the Cranton Crossroads Community Centre (for northern county kids) and collaborate with We’koqma’q First Nation to get their camp going in Orangedale (for southern county kids)? This would help so many families and give kids an active summer. It would also create good jobs for high school and university students. We also need bussing from central spots to get kids to these camps and back every day. This is not rocket science; plenty of municipalities offer this essential service.
I’m ready to help the municipality get this started and make a lasting summer camp solution that actually works for county families and businesses. But I know they won’t reach out. So, anyone who wants to help me drag them kicking and screaming, please send me an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thom Oommen
Nevada Valley
