What do they do every summer?
They send their kids to day camps that run through the summer.
Working parents put together a variety of solutions to cope with child care needs during summer. They hire babysitters, they place kids in summer day cares (sometimes on elem campuses), they ask grandparents for help if they live nearby, they put kids in summer camps, they take paid or unpaid leave from their jobs; they take vacation with the kids—they juggle everything.
Many of these summer solutions are expensive for the average American working family.
During the school year, childcare in the form of elementary and middle schools being open and in person and on campus is a blessing for working parents, and it’s been a baked-in assumption in our society for many years that it exists as a child care solution.
(And keep in mind that most families involve working parents and in fact most “families” these days are actually single working moms).