Day Camp/Sleep-away Camp Tuition

a mamin- have emunah!

know that hashem will help!

Everyone wants to be paid upfront.

Do you blame them?

If you can afford to spread the payments out, ask if they would consider post-dated checks or credit card authorizations.

I know people who have taken out low interest promotional credit card loans when a big expense came up (0% interest with a 2% or 3% fee).

Hatzlocha!

Not every kid really needs to go to camp a whole summer. I send each child for only as many weeks as I feel they need, not just want. I will not go into debt or leave my babies with a sitter for more hours than I already must to give my kids the luxury of camp. Last summer, I sent two kids for only 2 weeks.

That is my current position on this topic, subject to change at some point.

Camp is a luxury, not a necessity.

I dont know where you live, but around here, everyone goes to camp!

Kids have to go to school. Despite the fact that you say “everyone goes to camp,” school tuition comes first. That makes camp a luxury.

The camps certainly view it as a luxury, entitling them to charge what they want without any scholarships (not to say that no camps give scholarships, but it’s less frequent than in schools). For many families, however, it is close to a necessity, based on the individual child and the family situation.

So what do you say to a child when they come to you and ask to go to camp because all their friends are going and they want to go also but you just cant afford it? I know my child is a very good child and aidel but I see the bitterness coming out because she will be left home when everyone she is friends with is away.

Elicpa that was really well put.

So what do you say to a child when they come to you and ask to go to camp because all their friends are going and they want to go also but you just cant afford it?

No.

In addition, perhaps you are living in the wrong neigborhood if everyone else has wealth and you do not. This issue will continue to raise itself.

So what do you say to a child when they come to you and ask to go to camp because all their friends are going and they want to go also but you just cant afford it?

I have another suggestion. Go to your local shul and start asking for Tzedaka during Chazoras HaShatz. Or better yet, suggest that your child do it.

Wolf and GAW: How many children in your neighborhood are sitting home this summer , not going to either a day camp or sleepaway camp, with both parents working???

1: We have a “low cost” day camp (I think it runs about 75$ a week) run by a local institution.

2: I think you have hit the heart of the matter. School with tuition discount is viewed as discounted babysitting, and people expect the same from camp.

Might I suggest if you and your school feel that camp is critical, ask them to fit the bill. I have a relative that did exactly that, and the school paid for the teen to go to camp.

How old is the child in question, and what do you do erev Yom Tov when the same problem pops up (no school, but parents are working)? Some additional info might help with a real solution.

I have another suggestion. Go to your local shul and start asking for Tzedaka during Chazoras HaShatz. Or better yet, suggest that your child do it.

I’ve decided this is too harsh on my part. My point is that the child should earn the money needed if they really want to go.

My children are in the range of 7-30. All of them have attended various camps Baruch Hashem throughout the years. I have never had to keep them home because we couldn’t afford it, Baruch Hashem. I only said that it was difficult to arrange. I may have sent to sleepaway later than others but they get their eventually.

So no solution is needed.

a mamin & nachas

thank you

miritchka

thank you

re:your comments

1. you’re correct, the gedolim did say to send to school but only because a majority of parents weren’t able to educate their children at home properly. Yes, i’m being a little sarcastic. No child in 2011 should be educated at home for educational, social and other reasons except in very rare circumstances(shluchim are a rare circumstance). My point was it’s not black and white that camp is a luxury. Perhaps we can wear sheets and not buy clothing. 🙂 Many things are a neccessity.

2. I meant cell phones for adults. I agree that children should not have cellphones. Though today some might say for safety..u see, its not black and white. It depends where, who and why.

3. Depends where you live. Some communities can’t walk or take public transportation into Lakewood, Monsey or Brooklyn or XXXX. One parent might be driving one way and the other the other way, so as i said, what might be a luxury for one might be a neccessity for another.

Hello elicpa,

Are you new here? (relation to the famed eclipse?)

btw i dont like teenagers making their own money too much because some of them think they could spend it as they wish, without any approval from their parents

Interesting point that might make a good thread. I’d have to think about it.

I’ve thought about it, and I agree, unless the money is put away for the future.

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions.

elicpa….wow, that’s interesting. Is veteran’s guess correct?

You wanna know if a poster is dyslexic?

I live in a mixed neighborhood meaning people living paycheck to paycheck and people with alot of money.

I made sure my children understood, at a young age, constantly reinforced, that we/they can’t always have what we want. That mom and dad work very hard to take care of their family. Sometimes all my kids were able to go to sleep away camp all summer, sometimes they went for half a summer and often they stayed home, either in day camp,or working in one.

This sense of entitlement has got to stop !! Part of bringing up children is teaching them values. They need to understand family finances, not the dollar and cents, but the structure, the order of importance. First tuition, then mortgage, then food and insurance and then everything else !! Take them food shopping, show them the bill, have them figure out the yearly cost. Show them the tuition bill, let them know and understand how hard you work to take care of them.

You should feel no guilt in “depriving” them of an experience that they desire. You are the parent, you know what is right, you know what your budget can afford. Be matter of fact, not confrontational, not defensive, but educate.

Unless you want to end up with a young adult who has no coping mechanisms when they can’t have what they want. Better they learn it in a loving safe environment, then out in the cold world when they are starting their own families !!

Eclipse:

No one can impersonate you!! NO ONE!! You don’t need me to tell you that. (notice how you’re rooted every time you come back after an absence, no one would so much as croak if I’d leave, or worse, come back)

I’m not a frog, I’m Little Froggie. Don’t be afraid to call me that, it’s better than some other names I’ve been called (here <GASP> and elsewhere)