Camp Vent - Enforce your own rules!

[RachelEllen]

Just a vent.

We dropped DSS (11) off today for his very first overnight camp experience. We were new to the process, and read through the instructions very carefully. It explicitly stated that drop-off began at 2pm. It went on to say to not try to get early check-in or arrive early to your cabin. I remember wondering why they made that point as it never would have occured to me to go early.

Anyhow, we arrived at 2pm on the dot, drove right into camp and had about 12 cars ahead of us in drop-off line. Drop-off was not a short process, there was a camp store form to fill out, temperature checks, getting luggage out of the car, took us about 30 minutes total. Anyhow, when we enter the cabin, there were only 2 unclaimed bunks!! Out of 20!! Some bunks were in a fresh screened porch area with a view of the lake. DSS ended up in a lower bunk by the bathroom. He was so excited to get there and you could see his face fall. We just helped him get set up, were very positive and left, but on the way out I did ask a counselor how early people got there. He said people began to line up at 8am! And that they had to lock the cabins during lunch break or people would sneak their stuff in. After lunch, the pretty much just let people in.

I find this so annoying. It was such an unwelcoming feeling to walk into the cabin and find everyone with their choice territory all staked out. Why not make it a random process and get rid of the incentive to get to camp 6 hrs before official open?

Anyhow, just wanted to vent here, as we certainly did not show our annoyance to DSS. I'm sure he will have a great time!

 

[sunshine1178]

Sorry about your experience. I have no respect for people who don't follow rules, nor for people who don't enforce them. I have a real issue with my daughter's soccer/cheerleading coach because of it.

 

[kaytieeldr]

That REALLY stinks, but next year you'll know that you have to arrive early. Yes, even if they choose to enforce the rules next year.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This has probably been on going and why those other cars lined up so early. They knew the rules would be bent.

I don't mind lining up early. But I do have an issue with places that don't follow their own " we don't open until..." guidelines.

If they didn't open until 2, would your son have had a better choice of bunk? Or were campers registered first come (in the car line), first served?

I hope this doesn't put a damper on his experience and he enjoys the camp.

 

[RachelEllen]

Well, it's hard to what would have happened if they hadn't let people in early. On the one hand, people may have been so into getting their choice of bunk, they may have formed a line down the highway and waited in their cars for 6 hrs. (This is a rural camp with just a gate off a small highway.) And yeah, in that case we would have not only been in the end of the line arriving at 2pm, we would have had to wait hours and hours for the line to clear through.


Or, I'm thinking more likely, the town would not have tolerated this total blockage of their roads every weekend during the entire summer (it's a week long camp). Perhaps that happened, in fact, and lead to the camp having to let people's cars on premises early, who knows! However, I'm thinking not only would people be less willing to sit in their cars for 6 hours, there would be incentive for the camp to find some better system like randomly assigning bunks and having no reason for people to try to register first.

It's funny, when we first arrived and were about the 12th car in line, I was thinking, wow, we are about the first one's here. Then, as we waited about 20 minutes to get cleared through to the cabins and only 4 more cars lined up behind us, I began to realize something wasn't as it seemed!

 

[C.Ann]

Well that stinks! I find it so annoying when there are "rules" put in place and then the very people who created these rules don't enforce them..

I think in a situation such as that a better policy would be to have some kind of "drawing" in terms of who gets which bunk..

I hope your DSS still enjoys the experience though.. Hopefully there will be so many fun activities that by the time he uses his bunk, he'll be too tired to care..

 

[kidzmom3]

my kids used to go to a nice camp in Boxford MA. It states clearly not to bring food or electronics. First year, we see the big rubbermaid containers full of food coming in with the kids, sodas candy everything. We literally leave our kid there, drive to a town with a grocery store, buy him a bunch of stuff and a container and bring it back to him. It was disheartening, but at least we saw it so were able to correct the problem.

 

[SpecialK]

I think you should suggest that next year, they assign check-in numbers based upon when payment/deposit is received or some type of lottery.

 

[kimblebee]

My daughter went to Guide camp last summer and a few times on the packing instructions it clearly said, even bolded at times, to only bring one bag/suitcase and a bedroll. I went out and bought a hockey bag because that was the only thing big enough to fit all the stuff she had to bring. It was a tight squeeze but we made it work. We showed up at the dropoff spot and we were the ONLY people to have followed the rules. The worst of the worst was one girl who had 6 Rubbermaid large totes plus a suitcase plus her bedroll.

 

[disneydance]

Honestly my opinon is if you want to line up at 8am and be bored till 2 then be my guest! I don't think what bunk you get will make or break your camp experience how much time are you going to spend in the cabin anyway?!? Camp is such an awesome experience I'm a teen who looks forward to my week to four weeks at camp every summer! People really aren't rule followers and many rules are not followed and alot of time people get away with it! I've been to many different camps over the years amd the experiences and memories I have made will last a life time! It's awesome time to make friends and just relax! I just love camp so much and inthe end who's going to remember who got what bed?!?

 

[LiberalPrincess]

Honestly my opinon is if you want to line up at 8am and be bored till 2 then be my guest! I don't think what bunk you get will make or break your camp experience how much time are you going to spend in the cabin anyway?!? Camp is such an awesome experience I'm a teen who looks forward to my week to four weeks at camp every summer! People really aren't rule followers and many rules are not followed and a lot of time people get away with it! I've been to many different camps over the years and the experiences and memories I have made will last a life time! It's awesome time to make friends and just relax! I just love camp so much and in the end who's going to remember who got what bed?!?

Great post. And wisdom well beyond your years. Was the child really disappointed by his bunk, or was he reacting to his parents? This is not the Four Seasons, it is camp. And how many kids pray for a lake view? Really?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Based on the OP's description, I think he was genuinely disappointed. Really - who wants to sleep next to the bathroom for a week, especially given that there were bunks on the open/screened sunporch where the campers had a great view of the lake?

I hope it rains all week , not so the OP's son has a bad week, but so those campers who arrived early regret grabbing what at first appeared to be great bunks.

 

[NHdisneylover]

OP--I think you have every right to be annoyed and to vent here--which it sounds like is all you are doing. I agree that it is frustrating when people and places do not follow the rules.

That said, I am sure it will be only a minor glitch in an otherwise good week at camp. if your son's camp is anything like the one my son went to, even being the first to arrive THIS week doesn't mean you have many choices. At DS's camp many, many campers stay for more than one week long session. So, for example, when DS comes in in mid July over half the bunks were already someone else's who is staying over from the week (or weeks) prior anyway. The same thing happened at my summer camp as a child. It is just a part of camp life.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The worst of the worst was one girl who had 6 Rubbermaid large totes plus a suitcase plus her bedroll.

But only one actual suitcase I'm drawing a blank on the name of the camp, but it's still open? My brother went there, and then was a counselor there, mm-mm years ago!

 

[barkley]

OP--I think you have every right to be annoyed and to vent here--which it sounds like is all you are doing. I agree that it is frustrating when people and places do not follow the rules.

That said, I am sure it will be only a minor glitch in an otherwise good week at camp. if your son's camp is anything like the one my son went to, even being the first to arrive THIS week doesn't mean you have many choices. At DS's camp many, many campers stay for more than one week long session. So, for example, when DS comes in in mid July over half the bunks were already someone else's who is staying over from the week (or weeks) prior anyway. The same thing happened at my summer camp as a child. It is just a part of camp life.

that will be the situation for campers arriving next week at the camp dh dropped dd and ds off at today-a good number of the campers do multiple weeks so they are already on-site and have picked out a bunk before the new arrivals begin to show up.

with the camp my kids go to registration is not permitted to begin before 2:30 p.m. but a parent can arrive with their kids and sit in the car for up to an hour prior (but cannot do anything other than sit in the parking lot-no entry to the camp area). prior to that the parking lot is off limits to all but those that are picking up departing campers (and technicaly they have to be picked up by 10 a.m. or there's a "childcare fee" that's purposly high priced to discourage parents from being late).

btw-with 20 bunks to a cabin it does'nt surprise me at all that only 2 were unclaimed if there were 12 cars ahead of you when you arrived. we dropped off 2 campers in our single car, and it's not unusual for allot of families to be transporting multiple siblings in one vehical (some camps like ours give generous sibling and multi week discounts).

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Ugh. Sorry you all had a frustrating start to the camp experience. Hope your son has a great time and comes home with lots of great memories and new pals!

 

[RachelEllen]

btw-with 20 bunks to a cabin it does'nt surprise me at all that only 2 were unclaimed if there were 12 cars ahead of you when you arrived. we dropped off 2 campers in our single car, and it's not unusual for allot of families to be transporting multiple siblings in one vehical (some camps like ours give generous sibling and multi week discounts).

I don't think it's going to make or break his camp experience. And my husband I didn't even mention it to each other until we had dropped DSS off. I wondered if he was annoyed and he was wondering if I was annoyed and it turned out we both were quite annoyed, so I don't think DSS picked up anything from us, as were mainly involved in getting him settled in.

We were also considering sending him for the week before and the camp told us that no one from his cabin was stayng over that weekend, so we decided for his first year not to.

He was in one cabin of 20, however, so its very unlikely the cars in front of us at 2pm had more than 1 or 2 from his cabin. Even if they did, there was no way anyone could get through checking in, get into the cabin, and get their bed made and unpacked in the time it took us to get it. It was very clear those kids had checked in early.

Like I said, its not going to destroy his experience. Its just very annoying. Especially since we did spend a good deal of time going over the camp rule with him. (Why no DS? Why no email? Why no candy? etc etc)

 

[allison443]

That said, I am sure it will be only a minor glitch in an otherwise good week at camp.

I think this is a great way to look at it! It is a minor glitch-let it go.

OP hope your stepson enjoys his camp week!

 

[barkley]

I don't think it's going to make or break his camp experience. And my husband I didn't even mention it to each other until we had dropped DSS off. I wondered if he was annoyed and he was wondering if I was annoyed and it turned out we both were quite annoyed, so I don't think DSS picked up anything from us, as were mainly involved in getting him settled in.

We were also considering sending him for the week before and the camp told us that no one from his cabin was stayng over that weekend, so we decided for his first year not to.

He was in one cabin of 20, however, so its very unlikely the cars in front of us at 2pm had more than 1 or 2 from his cabin. Even if they did, there was no way anyone could get through checking in, get into the cabin, and get their bed made and unpacked in the time it took us to get it. It was very clear those kids had checked in early.

Like I said, its not going to destroy his experience. Its just very annoying. Especially since we did spend a good deal of time going over the camp rule with him. (Why no DS? Why no email? Why no candy? etc etc)

i have to laugh at your son's list of "why no's" they sound just like my son's the first year he went! within the first day he figured out the why not on electronics-he was too busy having a blast with all the non electronic activities on the candy, he found out pretty quickly that the camp compensated by offering tasty desserts ("and mom, you get dessert with dinner AND lunch!!!").


btw-depending on how the cabins are set up it can be an advantage to be nearer to the bathroom, as dd would tell you, "the hot water tanks only hold so much, so the closer you are to the bathroom, the better chance you've got that your mandatory evening shower won't be ice cold"

hope your son has a great time-hope you have one too (mine have been going for several years so it's gotten easier over time, but here i am up at 5 a.m. b/c i could'nt get to sleep what with the house being too darn quiet).

 

[golfgal]

I don't think it's going to make or break his camp experience. And my husband I didn't even mention it to each other until we had dropped DSS off. I wondered if he was annoyed and he was wondering if I was annoyed and it turned out we both were quite annoyed, so I don't think DSS picked up anything from us, as were mainly involved in getting him settled in.

We were also considering sending him for the week before and the camp told us that no one from his cabin was stayng over that weekend, so we decided for his first year not to.

He was in one cabin of 20, however, so its very unlikely the cars in front of us at 2pm had more than 1 or 2 from his cabin. Even if they did, there was no way anyone could get through checking in, get into the cabin, and get their bed made and unpacked in the time it took us to get it. It was very clear those kids had checked in early.

Like I said, its not going to destroy his experience. Its just very annoying. Especially since we did spend a good deal of time going over the camp rule with him. (Why no DS? Why no email? Why no candy? etc etc)

IT sounds like the kids were in the cabin from the week before, not your sign in day. Even if they went home on the weekend I would guess they still left all their stuff-I wouldn't want to have to haul it back and forth. Maybe this is why they have a later check in for the new kids so they can get the established kids settled first.