the information was everywhere and nowhere.
My name is Rachel. I'm a working mum. I have two kids — Ella, who's 5, and Finn, who's 2. I work. My husband works. We make it work, most of the time, because we've built a village around us — him, me, his mum, my sisters-in-law, other parents from school.
But this year was the first time I had to face down eight weeks of summer holidays with a 5-year-old, no childcare, and nowhere near eight weeks of annual leave.
So I did what every organised parent does. I started looking for summer camps.
"One camp was on Instagram, but only if you followed the right account. Another was in a WhatsApp group, but only if you were in that WhatsApp group."
I wasn't just trying to fill weeks. I was trying to be strategic. I wanted Ella to go to camps where her friends were going — so she'd walk in and see a familiar face, not spend the morning crying because mummy had to leave. I needed to coordinate drop-offs and pick-ups with my village. I needed to map out eight weeks in one place so I could share the plan and everyone could see it.
That place didn't exist. So I made it.
a spreadsheet that got out of hand.
Sortd is a directory of summer camps and kids' activities — in one place, filterable by age, location, and week — with a planner built in so you can map out your whole summer and share it with whoever helps you hold it together.
It started as a spreadsheet. On a Monday night. Just for Malahide, just for me. By the end of the week it was a website.
the invisible labour lands differently.
I'm lucky. My husband and I genuinely share the load. When I'm in London two days a week, he does everything solo — morning negotiations, drop-offs, food, doctors' appointments, braids, bedtimes, middle-of-the-night wake-ups. All of it, whilst also working and growing his own career. And when I'm home, I lean in so he can be more present at his work.
We've worked hard to get to that balance. And still — still — the invisible labour of figuring out childcare, activities, logistics? It lands differently. It lands on me. It lands on most mums I know.
Not because our partners don't care. Because the information isn't in one place. Because the system isn't built for families where two people are working and neither of them has time to spend three evenings a week hunting through Instagram.
Sortd won't fix all of that. But it can fix this one bit of it.
open sortd. find eight camps. close the laptop.
I want you to open Sortd, find eight camps, book them, share the plan with whoever's in your village, and close the laptop.
I want your kid to walk into camp and see their friend standing there.
"I want you to get to work without the mum guilt sitting on your chest all day. That's it. That's the whole thing."
Sortd is built and curated by Rachel, from Malahide. New camps added as I find them. If you know of one that should be on here — let me know.
Follow along on Instagram: @sortd.ireland