It's August, and for a kid that means one of two things: Summer is done or almost over.
For some parents, the financial burden of summer child care is just getting started.
Child care is one of the biggest costs for some families in the U.S., where the cost of child care for two kids has eclipsed the cost of rent in all 50 states. During the summer months, worries about child care and kids' access to meals regularly provided at school tend to escalate. A growing number of parents are taking on debt to cover the cost of summer child care, camps and other activities, a new study found. Other parents who can afford it still feel the stress of finding summer child care, as slots for camps and summer schools fill up long before summer begins.
More: One mom nearly got a divorce after a dishwasher dispute. The mental load was to blame.
"This is not a new problem," said Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree. "Summer camp has been expensive for a long time, and it's only getting more so."
