RetailMeNot Special Shoppers Trend Report: Summer Slide

School’s out and it’s time for kids to put the books away and start their summer vacation, but that doesn’t mean that parents are going to let their kids rest and forget all they learned over the academic year. Digital offers destination RetailMeNot conducted a survey that found that a majority (82%) of parents plan to involve their kids in educational activities during summer break to head off the dreaded “summer slide”.

According to the survey:

• The most popular ways parents plan to get their kids involved in educational activities during the summer is with educational games (50%) and having their kids read books on their own (60%).
• It might be an uphill battle, however. The poll indicated that over two in ten parents (21%) find it difficult to motivate their children to participate in educational activities when they’re off from school. And when it comes to kids staying sharp over the summer, more than one in five (21%) parents worry their child will not retain the information he/she learned during the school year.
  • It is not just moms worrying about their kids over the summer, fathers are equally as concerned (Females 22%: Males 20%)
• This fear could be derived from experience – compared to the rest of the school year, over one in ten (15%) parents find their child having more trouble with school work during the beginning of the school year and nearly as many (12%) find their child to be less motivated during this time.
• With screen time at a high during the summer - more than two in five parents say their child spends more time playing video games (44%) or watching TV (43%) during the summer - parents will be looking to use tech to help their children retain their academic skills. More than one in four (26%) plan to download educational apps for their kids to use and 23% will be directing their child towards educational websites.  
• The poll also revealed that 31% of parents find it difficult to keep kids entertained over the summer and 27% find it hard to maintain a regular schedule.
• So why not let someone else do the work and send the children to summer camp? Only 26% feel that most summer camps provide children with educational activities and close to three in ten parents (28%) feel that summer camp is too expensive.  

Survey Methodology

Kelton Research conducted the RetailMeNot July Survey. Survey (Wave 1) was conducted between May 28^th and June 2^nd, 2014 among 281 nationally representative parents, using an email invitation and an online survey.  Quotas are set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the entire U.S. population ages 18 and over.

Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results.

In this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 5.9 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.  The margin of error for any subgroups will be slightly higher.