Camp Vent!!

[JoiseyMom]

If that is the going price then it shouldn't seem expensive to you I guess. I would consider it average in that case. I guess what I didn't understand was in one post you said it was expensive then in another you said it was average. An average camp probably doesn't think extra shirts should be included.

I guess when you price the places they go, its not so expensive. My girls have done a few different camps and always enjoyed them. Its whatever the kids get used to I think.

So, just because all the camps are the same price doesn't mean they still can't be expensive?? Yes...6k is expensive..it's a lot of money. But that is the going rate around here.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I don't understand the need for this vent. Its not the first time you have used this camp, yes? Did they change the rules from last year about the amount of shirts you get?

DD is in the travel program this year, and they go on 3 trips a week and they are required to wear the camp shirt. She has never left the campus before this year. So since this is her first year in the travel program I had no idea what to expect. I expected that there would be a shirt for each trip day...silly me expecting that for the cost. Why is this so confusing??

 

[PinkRhombus]

You know...it is the general assumption that EVERYTHING in that area of the country is way way way way more expensive.

I don't like that people are saying she's bragging by saying $6000. $6000 there is NOT the same as $6000 here.

A $350/month efficient apartment here (Louisville) would be 5 or 6 times there.

And half of the stuff on this section of the board isn't budget related (note the plethora of topics headings starting out with "OT"

 

[kevschickee]

I, too, do not get, this thread. Ask for another shirt. I'm sure they have extras. Explain how you don't want to waste water and soap and electricity washing it twice. They'll give you 1 and then when you leave. I would too.

And yes, this is on the wrong board!

I agree!!

 

[princessmom29]

Well that is the state I live in. Most of the areas are working class, where both parents work. If I could find a full time job that paid decently I would be at work. Heck..I would take a decent part time job!! Realize something...the townhouses where I live in my town are going for over or close to 300k!! They weren;t that high when I moved to one...but I sold one 10 years ago for 160k and last year it was being sold for 2x that! The parents I know that can't afford to send their kids to camp keep them home. The others send them to camp. The rec isnt good for working parents since it is only to I think 2 or 3. Then they need to hire a baby sitter. Yes it is hard. I was a single mom when I moved out here 19 years ago. Thankfully I had a mom that could watch them after camp/school.

And let me ask you this, I was not a working class family when I worked full time and my DH worked full time and I happen to have a pool in my back yard?? So you feel that working class is only people that are both working to put food on the table?? Well if you can only live like that in my town, then you can't afford to live here since you wont be able to afford the taxes!! There are no rental apartments in my town, only private homes. Even though I am currently a SAHM, we are a middle working class family.

And even living where I live we have struggled financially. With the economy and layoffs and college for 2 kids and medical expenses and all the other things that can be thrown at a person. I have done it all and thankfully so far survived. My area is very expensive..but so is most of the state. Was it this bad when I moved her 19 years ago as a single mom? Nope...but it is now.

Now camp shouldn't have to be 6k, but you can say homes shouldn't be 1 mil or even 700k! Gas shouldn't be over 2.50 a gallon, eggs should be cheaper and so should milk. But these are the times we are living in.

But my thread wasn't about that. My thread was about a camp charging 6k and my feelings that more t-shirts should be included for that price. But instead I get bashed for spending that on a camp. I don't control the economy of the state or the country I live in.

ANd I do agree it is expensive and insane. But this is the world I live in. How do I get them to change their rates? I can't. If my kids don't go, some other child will fill that spot real quick.

My point exactly. You have a totally different view of working class. Apparently the true woking class has been totally classed out of your town, and a new socioeconomic strata vhas been set up where privlliged is the new working class. The truly working class can no longer survive in that kind of environment, and I don't think it's right.
You are making a faulty assumption in saying that we are not paying the same thing for housing. I live waaay outside the city b/c that is the only place we could afford a house. My folks live in the city in a townhouse that costs roughly the same as yours. We are paying almost $3.00 for gas, and my property taxes are low b/c I have a homestead exemtion, but my parents pay through the nose. Things are expensive everwhere. We have million dollar homes too. There is still no way in you know what I would EVER spend $6000 on summer camp!!! Sorry, but thats the way I see it. I would just never fuel that kind of insanity by sending my kids. To me supporting that kind of highway robbery says that it is ok. They have to be making money hand over fist b/c parents have the attitude that thet "have to send them b/c everyone else is and there isn't any place else" If everyone stopped paying that for camp you can rest assured changes would be made! I mean really do they need all that stuff? No! Parents demand it so it is provided. I see it as totally insane to expect weekly trips to six flags as part of summer camp!! It sound like things have just gotten out of control and need to be downsized big time!

 

[mjkacmom]

My point exactly. You have a totally different view of working class. Apparently the true woking class has been totally classed out of your town, and a new socioeconomic strata vhas been set up where privlliged is the new working class. The truly working class can no longer survive in that kind of environment, and I don't think it's right.
You are making a faulty assumption in saying that we are not paying the same thing for housing. I live waaay outside the city b/c that is the only place we could afford a house. My folks live in the city in a townhouse that costs roughly the same as yours. We are paying almost $3.00 for gas, and my property taxes are low b/c I have a homestead exemtion, but my parents pay through the nose. Things are expensive everwhere. We have million dollar homes too. There is still no way in you know what I would EVER spend $6000 on summer camp!!! Sorry, but thats the way I see it. I would just never fuel that kind of insanity by sending my kids. To me supporting that kind of highway robbery says that it is ok. They have to be making money hand over fist b/c parents have the attitude that thet "have to send them b/c everyone else is and there isn't any place else" If everyone stopped paying that for camp you can rest assured changes would be made! I mean really do they need all that stuff? No! Parents demand it so it is provided. I see it as totally insane to expect weekly trips to six flags as part of summer camp!! It sound like things have just gotten out of control and need to be downsized big time!

Jersey girl here, and I really don't think you can compare the cost of living between NJ and AL. A starter-upper costs $500,000, and the yearly property taxes on that are over $10,000 a year. You can't survive on under $100,000 income a year. The ONLY thing we have going for us is lower gas prices! 6K here is equivalent to much lower in other areas.

 

[Cindy B]

Jersey girl here, and I really don't think you can compare the cost of living between NJ and AL. A starter-upper costs $500,000, and the yearly property taxes on that are over $10,000 a year. You can't survive on under $100,000 income a year. The ONLY thing we have going for us is lower gas prices! 6K here is equivalent to much lower in other areas.

I live in NJ --and I have "survived" on less than 100K for 7 years here. Heck, my first here back in NJ -- we "survived" on less than 40K--this was back in 2002!

It can be done-- if you are thrifty if you SAVE and not overextend yourself. We have a small home and we base our mortgage on one income. Our mortgage just went down to $900 a month but my taxes are about $4K.

I am not in the rural backwoods of NJ either-- this is a thriving suburb with excellent school districts, close to major cities.

You can survive on less than 100K in NJ. It can be done. We have two paid in cash cars, a low mortgage, modest vacations almost every year and such like that. We don't overspend and we are comfortable. There are many many people that live in NJ in an under 100K income-

Of course everyones idea of comfortable is different.. but I have lived in poverty when I was younger-- and I know what true survival is. To this day, I don't eat Velveeta because it gives me flashbacks of the free government cheese that always tasted oily and never melted right.

 

[mindyd]

I normally don't comment on these threads BUT I really can not believe that washing a shirt is that big of a deal? You love to throw up what you are paying so why don't you just pay the $15.00 and buy extra shirts.

I am sorry but I am really annoyed that people are losing their jobs and don't have food and you are whining about washing a shirt. If this is your biggest problem in life you are very lucky. My 9 Year Old Daughter just battled Cancer and let me tell you I gladly wash her clothes every day and thank god that she is here for me to wash her clothes.

My Children play Sports we have games back to back I come home and wash the clothes it really is not that big of a deal and how much effort does it take to wash a load of clothes.

edited to add:

I do pay thousands of dollars year on Sports and I don't expect them to do my laundry and provide more than one uniform for me maybe they should come cook Dinner for you also?

 

[Leajess99]

My point exactly. You have a totally different view of working class. Apparently the true woking class has been totally classed out of your town, and a new socioeconomic strata vhas been set up where privlliged is the new working class. The truly working class can no longer survive in that kind of environment, and I don't think it's right.
You are making a faulty assumption in saying that we are not paying the same thing for housing. I live waaay outside the city b/c that is the only place we could afford a house. My folks live in the city in a townhouse that costs roughly the same as yours. We are paying almost $3.00 for gas, and my property taxes are low b/c I have a homestead exemtion, but my parents pay through the nose. Things are expensive everwhere. We have million dollar homes too. There is still no way in you know what I would EVER spend $6000 on summer camp!!! Sorry, but thats the way I see it. I would just never fuel that kind of insanity by sending my kids. To me supporting that kind of highway robbery says that it is ok. They have to be making money hand over fist b/c parents have the attitude that thet "have to send them b/c everyone else is and there isn't any place else" If everyone stopped paying that for camp you can rest assured changes would be made! I mean really do they need all that stuff? No! Parents demand it so it is provided. I see it as totally insane to expect weekly trips to six flags as part of summer camp!! It sound like things have just gotten out of control and need to be downsized big time!

VERY GOOD POST!!!!!!!! Also, what is it teaching these kids?? Why is it necessary to send a kid off to day camp rather than spend time with them?? As a SAHM/disabled Vet, I love spending time with my kids and doing things with them in the Summer. They spend so much time in school and then there is not a lot of time to do things with them during school. Summers are MY time with my kids. Now I can understand the situation with those having to work as I had to when I was on active duty and my kids attended daycare/school age services. There is nothing wrong with that. I just don't understand the need to send kids to camp like this (camps for sports, dance, education, etc are different) and then complain about it.

 

[princessmom29]

Whatever the cost of living wherever you are I think it is really going overboard to expect that camp consist of all of these expensive trips off campus. A PP said that they would expect more time off campus than on. Let me give you a little insight into what is more than likely going on at those camps that are taking the kids to all these "fabulous" activities all the time b/c I have seen it from the inside. Their mentality is likely " We don't want to have to actually plan activities for these kids and actually interact with them. That is too much work. I would actually have to get off my butt and do something and make an effort to connect with these kids. we'll just overloard them with activites and trips we can do off campus and let someone else do the work. We can just pass the cost on to the parents b/c they will pay whatever we want to charge if we bill ourselves as the best, most exclusive camp around. After all it is only the best for little Johnny right? That way we'll be making money hand over fist and never actually have to do anything!" So rather than actually getting healthy interaction with their counselors doing things like a game of kickball or a craft project, or learning something new, they spend there days on rock climbing walls, driving gocarts, or at six flags where the couselors only have to sit back and supervise.
I worked at one of these on a much smaller scale here for about 2 weeks when I was in college before I found another camp where interaction with the kids was more important than flashy stuff. I hesitated to share this, but I thought you might want to know what the real reason likely is for all the go, go, go.

 

[Leajess99]

I normally don't comment on these threads BUT I really can not believe that washing a shirt is that big of a deal? You love to throw up what you are paying so why don't you just pay the $15.00 and buy extra shirts.

I am sorry but I am really annoyed that people are losing their jobs and don't have food and you are whining about washing a shirt. If this is your biggest problem in life you are very lucky. My 9 Year Old Daughter just battled Cancer and let me tell you I gladly wash her clothes every day and thank god that she is here for me to wash her clothes.

My Children play Sports we have games back to back I come home and wash the clothes it really is not that big of a deal and how much effort does it take to wash a load of clothes.

edited to add:

I do pay thousands of dollars year on Sports and I don't expect them to do my laundry and provide more than one uniform for me maybe they should come cook Dinner for you also?

Mindy, Bless your family for what they have gone through and I am so glad your daughter has won her battle with cancer. My 12 year old cousin is a cancer survivor as well. That was a very hard time in our family while she was being treated and I am so thankful for how far the treatments have come. Thanks to St Judes and the other research programs there is a better future for so many children.

 

[princessmom29]

Jersey girl here, and I really don't think you can compare the cost of living between NJ and AL. A starter-upper costs $500,000, and the yearly property taxes on that are over $10,000 a year. You can't survive on under $100,000 income a year. The ONLY thing we have going for us is lower gas prices! 6K here is equivalent to much lower in other areas.

A starter home is not $500,000 everwhere in New Jersey. Mabye in the community you choose to live in, but not everywhere. As for property taxes my parents are like $6500 so they are close!

 

[mindyd]

Mindy, Bless your family for what they have gone through and I am so glad your daughter has won her battle with cancer. My 12 year old cousin is a cancer survivor as well. That was a very hard time in our family while she was being treated and I am so thankful for how far the treatments have come. Thanks to St Judes and the other research programs there is a better future for so many children.

Thank you very much! My Daughter is doing really well and hopefully will stay that way. I am glad that your Cousin is also doing well and I hope he continues stay that way!

 

[Leajess99]

Whatever the cost of living wherever you are I think it is really going overboard to expect that camp consist of all of these expensive trips off campus. A PP said that they would expect more time off campus than on. Let me give you a little insight into what is more than likely going on at those camps that are taking the kids to all these "fabulous" activities all the time b/c I have seen it from the inside. Their mentality is likely " We don't want to have to actually plan activities for these kids and actually interact with them. That is too much work. I would actually have to get off my butt and do something and make an effort to connect with these kids. we'll just overloard them with activites and trips we can do off campus and let someone else do the work. We can just pass the cost on to the parents b/c they will pay whatever we want to charge if we bill ourselves as the best, most exclusive camp around. After all it is only the best for little Johnny right? That way we'll be making money hand over fist and never actually have to do anything!" So rather than actually getting healthy interaction with their counselors doing things like a game of kickball or a craft project, or learning something new, they spend there days on rock climbing walls, driving gocarts, or at six flags where the couselors only have to sit back and supervise.
I worked at one of these on a much smaller scale here for about 2 weeks when I was in college before I found another camp where interaction with the kids was more important than flashy stuff. I hesitated to share this, but I thought you might want to know what the real reason likely is for all the go, go, go.

The Six Flags here has had several issues in the past with sexual assault in the water park, injuries to riders, and more. I don't even take my own kids to 6 Flags. We have 3 parks within 2 hours of us and the others are better alternatives. Seeing how Six flags is now bankrupt I wouldn't step foot onto their property as we already know they have poor maintenance procedures and this was PRIOR to filing bankruptcy.

 

[JoiseyMom]

My point exactly. You have a totally different view of working class. Apparently the true woking class has been totally classed out of your town, and a new socioeconomic strata vhas been set up where privlliged is the new working class. The truly working class can no longer survive in that kind of environment, and I don't think it's right.
You are making a faulty assumption in saying that we are not paying the same thing for housing. I live waaay outside the city b/c that is the only place we could afford a house. My folks live in the city in a townhouse that costs roughly the same as yours. We are paying almost $3.00 for gas, and my property taxes are low b/c I have a homestead exemtion, but my parents pay through the nose. Things are expensive everwhere. We have million dollar homes too. There is still no way in you know what I would EVER spend $6000 on summer camp!!! Sorry, but thats the way I see it. I would just never fuel that kind of insanity by sending my kids. To me supporting that kind of highway robbery says that it is ok. They have to be making money hand over fist b/c parents have the attitude that thet "have to send them b/c everyone else is and there isn't any place else" If everyone stopped paying that for camp you can rest assured changes would be made! I mean really do they need all that stuff? No! Parents demand it so it is provided. I see it as totally insane to expect weekly trips to six flags as part of summer camp!! It sound like things have just gotten out of control and need to be downsized big time!

The weekly trips are not for every kid in camp. Its for the travel program only, and that is only for the older kids starting in middle school. And I don't see parents demanding anything! Camps out here have alot of competition, so they start offering more and more things.

NJ has one of the highest property taxes in the country.

And I am not and never have been living a priviliged lifestyle. My money goes in and out as quickly and anyone else. Maybe more so because of the high cost of living here. I don't own a designer anything! My car is 8 years old. My first car I owned for 18 years!! Am I surrounded by those that are privliged...yes. My DH and I worked for hard to get where we are and to buy our modest home and to support our 4 kids. And we have had a hard time of it in NJ with the recession of the after 2001 and the current economic times and numerous layoffs and backslides.

You are making wide assumptions by wanting everyone to be considered the same no matter where they live. Yes...people that make 100k a year can struggle where I live. Does that make them none working class?? No, that is just the way things are where they live. Lots of people from NY adn NJ are moving down south for a less expensive lifestyle. We have actually considered it too.

Honestly there is no difference between people that make 50k combined and live pay check to paycheck in a less expensive part of the country then the couple that make 100k and are struggling just the same.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I normally don't comment on these threads BUT I really can not believe that washing a shirt is that big of a deal? You love to throw up what you are paying so why don't you just pay the $15.00 and buy extra shirts.

I am sorry but I am really annoyed that people are losing their jobs and don't have food and you are whining about washing a shirt. If this is your biggest problem in life you are very lucky. My 9 Year Old Daughter just battled Cancer and let me tell you I gladly wash her clothes every day and thank god that she is here for me to wash her clothes.

My Children play Sports we have games back to back I come home and wash the clothes it really is not that big of a deal and how much effort does it take to wash a load of clothes.

edited to add:

I do pay thousands of dollars year on Sports and I don't expect them to do my laundry and provide more than one uniform for me maybe they should come cook Dinner for you also?

Geez...you people are so freaking judgemental!! OMG...I don't care about washing it (well I do..I dont want to do laundry during the week..I am sorry if I am too busy for that ...shoot me). My point was for what the camp costs they should provide the extra shirts.

 

[kevschickee]

Geez...you people are so freaking judgemental!! OMG...I don't care about washing it (well I do..I dont want to do laundry during the week..I am sorry if I am too busy for that ...shoot me). My point was for what the camp costs they should provide the extra shirts.

You complained about this on a BUDGET board. A board where people come to learn ways to save money and you are complaining about a camp that costs 6 grand not giving more than 1 t shirt. DH and I both work and do laundry during the week IT CAN BE DONE get over it

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I have no idea either...maybe my spelling was off !!

Your spelling was off. You meant to type expensive, but you apparently switched the i and the s and got hit with the filter.

 

[mindyd]

Geez...you people are so freaking judgemental!! OMG...I don't care about washing it (well I do..I dont want to do laundry during the week..I am sorry if I am too busy for that ...shoot me). My point was for what the camp costs they should provide the extra shirts.

Yes I am being Judgemental because this is just crazy. You have gone on and on about washing the shirt you have thrown up how many times about the cost of the Camp then go on about how its the same price as others but you get more perks. Honestly do you think any one would feel bad that you have to do Laundry? We are all busy but yet I still manage to do my childrens sports uniforms etc. It does not take very long to do a load of laundry.

There are how many posts on here about people losing their jobs etc I almost lost my daugher so I am sorry if I don't feel a bit sorry for you. I mean really either buy more shirts or move on.

Also if you are so tight that a little bit of electricity and a small amount of laundry detergent is going to break you maybe you should reconsider a cheaper camp with 'Less Perks'.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Whatever the cost of living wherever you are I think it is really going overboard to expect that camp consist of all of these expensive trips off campus. A PP said that they would expect more time off campus than on. Let me give you a little insight into what is more than likely going on at those camps that are taking the kids to all these "fabulous" activities all the time b/c I have seen it from the inside. Their mentality is likely " We don't want to have to actually plan activities for these kids and actually interact with them. That is too much work. I would actually have to get off my butt and do something and make an effort to connect with these kids. we'll just overloard them with activites and trips we can do off campus and let someone else do the work. We can just pass the cost on to the parents b/c they will pay whatever we want to charge if we bill ourselves as the best, most exclusive camp around. After all it is only the best for little Johnny right? That way we'll be making money hand over fist and never actually have to do anything!" So rather than actually getting healthy interaction with their counselors doing things like a game of kickball or a craft project, or learning something new, they spend there days on rock climbing walls, driving gocarts, or at six flags where the couselors only have to sit back and supervise.
I worked at one of these on a much smaller scale here for about 2 weeks when I was in college before I found another camp where interaction with the kids was more important than flashy stuff. I hesitated to share this, but I thought you might want to know what the real reason likely is for all the go, go, go.

Oh please, get off your high horse!! The camp my kids go to is wonderful. All the counsleors for the younger kids are all licensed teachers. The teens get college students. The ONLY KIDS that go off site are middle school and higher! 7th graders can stay on site or choose the group that goes 1 day a week to Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor. 8th graders go offsite 3 days a week. 9 & 10 graders have travel, with some over night trips, or a combination of training to work at the camp. There are so many planned activities and such great interaction at this camp, that makes all the kids come back year after year. Their standards are wonderful. The kids have swim 2x a day, one being instructional. They have boating, fishing, all kinds of sports, and they have clubs where they can pick their favorite activity. They have music, dance, drama, mini golf, cooking and numerous other things. I don't know of a local camp that doesn't have trips for the older kids around here.

The trips are to have fun and for the kids to enjoy their summer and not because the camp doesn't want to interact with them and plan activities! Why you would even think that is beyond me!! The only camp that doesn't want to organize activities and keep the kids busy and interact with them is my township rec, which is why my kids will never go there!! My older boys were the poor ones that had to suffer with that. I wish the camp my kids go to today existed back then!

And as I have said my DS8 is never off campus he is always kept busy on site. They also don't dump them at movies or bowling when the day is too hot or rainy! There are plenty of activities at their camp to keep them busy and they have a blast!