Summer camp season has begun — but with inflation at record highs, summertime child care has become an extraordinary expense for families already overextended by a higher cost of living. 

Anneliese Lawton, a mother of three from Burlington, Ont., said that the gymnastics summer camp that her children normally attend isn’t a financially viable option this year as their budget is stretched by inflation. The camp she had planned to send her two sons to costs $300 a week for each camper, a price she couldn’t afford.

“As soon as I kind of put that through, I was like, crap, we can’t afford for them to do this,”