Late June arrives. School ends. You have 11-12 weeks stretching ahead.

Your kids have Spanish friends who are staying. You have grandparents who want their turn. You have a job that doesn't give you August off, unlike Spanish parents. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you're wondering whether your kids should spend part of summer "back home," reconnecting with cousins and a culture that feels a little less familiar each year.

This is the puzzle nobody warns you about. And January is when it gets solved, or when it starts unraveling toward a June scramble.

Here's what nobody says out loud: how you fill those 12 weeks reveals something about your family's integration you might not have articulated yet.

Some families send their kids to the UK or the US for six weeks of summer camp and time with grandparents and other family members. The kids reconnect with where they're "from." They come back with stories their Spanish friends don't quite understand.

Other families go full local. Spanish sports camps, municipal escuelas de verano — summer programs — and afternoons at the pool with neighborhood kids. The grandparents visit here. The kids' summers look like their classmates' summers.

Most families land somewhere in the messy middle. A patchwork of both, satisfying neither, costing more than either.

None of these is wrong. But the choice matters more than the logistics.

Your kids' ages change the entire summer game:

Your kids' Spanish:

This determines more than you'd think.

If your kids are fluent, they have access to municipal programs (€50-150/week), local sports intensives, and the informal neighborhood network where kids just show up at each other's houses.

If they're functional but not fluent, international or bilingual programs become necessary. That's €250-400/week for day camps, more for residential.

If they're still struggling, summer becomes either remedial immersion or a retreat to English environments. Both are valid. Neither is cheap.

Where you live:

Marbella and the Golden Mile have international options everywhere. English-speaking camps, premium pricing, and expat networks that organize group activities.

Málaga city has more Spanish-dominant programs but also international schools that run summer camps for their own communities.

Smaller towns along the coast often mean Spanish-only local options or driving 30-45 minutes each way for something bilingual.

They want two to four weeks. You need childcare help. Your kids find it boring by day five. And the grandparents are exhausted by week two, but won't say so.

The families who've figured this out tend to:

The harder question: how much of your summer belongs to maintaining relationships you moved away from? There's no formula. But pretending the question doesn't exist makes it harder.

Some families send kids to summer camp in the UK, Ireland, or the US. Sleep away for two to four weeks. The idea: keep them connected to where they're "from."

What often happens: kids discover they don't quite fit there either. The accents have drifted. The cultural references don't land. They miss their Spanish friends. They come home relieved.

This isn't failure. It's information. Your kids are telling you something about where home actually is.

If you're doing the home country trip, book it for what it is: exposure and connection, not identity maintenance. The kids will take from it what they need.

The families who look calm in June are the ones who built local infrastructure in years one through three.

They know which sports club runs a good summer intensive. Club de Tenis Puente Romano in Marbella does junior tennis camps from €180/week. Real Club de Padel Marbella has kids' programs. Sailing clubs in Benalmádena and Estepona run courses through July.

They know which neighborhoods have kids around in August and which families disappear to the grandparents' village.

They have a network of other parents to share pickups, pool afternoons, and the odd emergency day when a camp falls through.

If you don't have this yet, summer is harder. But it's also how you build it.

If your kids are 10+: Decide whether sleep-away camp abroad is happening. If yes, research and deposit now. UK camp deadlines are often in February, while US camp deadlines are often in January.

If you're counting on local camps: Identify three options at different price points. Email or call to ask about registration dates. The Spanish answer will be vague. Ask anyway.

If grandparents are coming: Propose dates now, before Easter travel locks everyone in. Suggest specific weeks rather than "sometime in summer."

If you're not sure what your setup is: Map out the 12 weeks on paper. Mark out when you can take leave. Then mark when grandparents could realistically visit. See what's left. That's what needs filling.

When calling about camp registration:

"¿Cuándo abre la inscripción para el campamento de verano?" — When does registration open for summer camp?

And the follow-up:

"¿Se necesita empadronamiento?" — Do you need town hall registration?

For municipal programs, the answer is usually yes.

Summer isn't a logistics problem. It's the annual audit of how your family actually lives here. The 12 weeks reveal whether you've built local infrastructure or still rely on connections elsewhere. Whether your kids' lives are here or on pause until September. None of the choices are wrong. But making them consciously, in January, beats making them desperately in June. Book something this week. Even if it's just the flights.

Onwards — A. and the WaypointSur team with negotiated grandparent dates

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