I have a love/hate relationship with summer. I love the long hours of daylight, and that my kids are free from homework. I love that we usually manage to take a little vacation as a family, where we can all relax and laugh and be reminded of how much we actually like spending time together.
But I hate dealing with summer camp. Every year, right around Spring Break, I start to have anxiety dreams about organizing my kids’ summer schedules. It’s not that I object to camp per se, it’s that the whole process is so disorganized and terrible and crazy-making. Think I’m exaggerating? Read on.
These days, there are about 837 different camp options to navigate. You were just planning on sending your kid to plain old day camp? You’re way behind the times, friend! What about baseball camp? Zoo camp? Art camp? Aquatics camp? Lego camp? STEM camp? Improv camp? Robotics camp? Marine biology camp? Aerial arts camp? Yes, I swear that last one is an actual thing that exists.
1. All of the 837 camp options are really freaking expensive. The cheapest, most basic camp I can find within a ten-mile radius of my house costs two hundred and forty American dollars per week. Now, I live in Los Angeles, so that’s probably higher than a lot of other cities, but aaargh. That is a huge chunk of change.
2. Coordinating with other parents is basically the seventh circle of hell. I have two school-age kids. My son is easygoing and up for whatever camp I suggest, but my daughter is what I like to call “risk averse”. She will only agree to a camp if she has at least one friend attending with her. This means I have literally been emailing spreadsheets around to the parents of her ten best friends for weeks, trying to coordinate. Spreadsheets, people.
3. Working mom guilt rears it head with particular ferocity in the summer. I have a ton of working parent friends, and we are all trying to book up our kids for the summer out of necessity. Solidarity! However, I also have a ton of SAHM friends, and I get very, very jealous when I see them maybe booking a week here or there, but not really stressing over the whole thing. Lazy mornings, unstructured days…summer is a time when the grass can really feel greener. (She says as she types this article while sipping a cup of coffee, alone and unburdened in her office.)
4. The logistics are maddening. Every single camp has different drop off and pick up times, a different list of supplies needed, different lunch policies, different health and family information forms to fill out…just thinking about the forms alone makes me want to put my head down on my desk and cry.
5. All complaining aside, I know this is an uptown problem. I’m lucky to have so many options so close to home, and I’m lucky to be able to send my kids to these cool places. They’re going to have a blast this summer. I am actually a little jealous of LEGO camp, to be perfectly honest.
That being said, if someone reading this has a magic wand she can waive and magically arrange some kind of carpool schedule for the month of July, I’ll be deeply indebted to you forever.
About the author: Erin Matzkin is a mom of three, technology attorney, and writer. She’s a regular contributor to Babble and her work has been featured on Scary Mommy, Huffington Post Parents, and Project Eve. In her free time (as if there is such a thing) she writes about working and parenting at www.WorkKidsWine.com with her best friend Heather. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; she’s decided she’s too old to learn Snapchat.
2 Comments
It’s worth the trouble as the kids love them!
To the parents that “made” children go to camp!!!
You should be a shame of your self, making your poor kids go to summer
camp…summer is a time to ‘stay home and watch endless cartoons
with out any type of ‘interuptions, what so ever’
>>what happen to me back in 1980, i was made to go to summer camp
while at camp, i was the ‘devils child…’ i was so mean to the staf
they even told me how your family put up with you I dont know’
when I return to school in september, i put ‘ever bad thing’ in “what
i did for summer vacation’ in the report…it cause the school to
‘call my MOM’, BOTH MY MOM AND DAD did come to the school…and ‘read’ the
report, I WROTE, “THE SCHOOL..MY PARENTS” ASK ME why I wrote that
…after what I said, every one ears FELL OFF–only to repeat this
for 3 more years..finaly (going to be the 4th year) the school ask me
am i going to summer camp, of course I said F** no, I AINT GOING…
and if i do…TRUST ME YOU WILL HEAR ABOUT IT—THE last friday in june
came arround– {the following monday would be the day camp start} i slept
late that Monday…to be ‘funny’….. well when i got up..no one said
(any thing about camp…one week went by…two weeks…a month,….late
August, then the ‘last Friday in August’ was here (the following Monday would be in September–1st day of School)… then Monday came arround
got up, went to school, I was saying to me self, I AM IN SHOCK, THIS
ENTIRE SUMMER, I DID NOT GO TO CAMP…AND THEY DID NOT HEAR ME COMPLAIN
I get to school, the staff ask me “on the 1st day” how was camp, I reply
I told you my *** was NOT going to camp, and I aint go..the school then notice, how “happy I was…they never seen me THIS HAPPY”..Again I had to write–what I did for the summer, I wrote ONE “simple WORD”
NOTHING, best summer I had in ‘years’, again the teacher collected
all students work…they again ‘call my mom’ my dad came alone ‘this time’
they then said, we ask Kevin class to write’ what they did durring the summer, he reply “NOTHING”, and we notice he is so happy…my dad told them
I ‘took’ your advice, and did not send him to camp, the school then advice
him keep him happy, if you dont I take it he will tell you–and you may not LIKE IT
———————————————————————-
to the kids/children that HATED SUMMER CAMP,
i got a suggestion……my mom/dad HATE WHEN I DO THIS
i COMPLAIN ‘AFTER’ THE FACT, SO SINCE THEY ‘sent me to camp
i tell every one EVERY THING, I HATED ABOUT SUMMER CAMP
AND IT GOT TO THE POINT MY DAD ‘FELT BAD’ I TOLD HIM I DONT CARE
I HURT YOUR FEELING, CAUSE IF YOU DID CARE ABOUT MINE, THEN
YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE SEND ME TO SUMMER CAMP, AND THAT IS THE
NUMBER ONE THING I CAN NEVER FOR GIVE YOU….NOTHING, NO AMMOUNT
OF MONEY…NOTHING AT ALL……..OK MAYBE ONE, TURN BACK THE HANDS
OF TIME!!!!!!!!!!
SEE KIDS, if you make some one feel bad for sending you to summer camp
and “complain WHEN YOU GET HOME…no one can shut you up…since the damage
is already done