<p>Wow, 14 pages. I can tell that this discussion is “over” but I’ll add one more post. I was a camp counselor. Daughter is currently a camp counselor. D and I both went to a number of camps in Minnesota and Ohio - language camp, scout camp, Y camp, band camp, day camps sponsored by private schools, by public school districts at large or by special programs within public schools, by cities, by scouts, and perhaps more. Some were one or two weeks long; some were four or six weeks long. I love camp counselors, but I would no more have thought to tip a camp counselor than I would have thought to tip my dental hygienist for cleaning my teeth. I haven’t ever seen anyone tip a camp counselor, either. Hmmm. Of course I know that camp counselors don’t get paid much.</p>
<p>I have gathered from this thread that if you send your child to any full- or half-summer day camp or to a private sleep-away camp in the Northeast and the brochure does not describe the camp’s tipping policy, you should ask the other parents or the camp director if it is customary to tip the counselors. I am adding this to my “you learn something new every day” list.</p>
<p>Hi, I am a current college student and have worked at different camps over the years as a counselor. I understand that summer camp is expensive, but the money really doesnt go to the people taking care of your children. I made $800 last summer, which sounds pretty good, but averages out to about $2.80 per hour. I continued to work as a camp counselor because it is what I love, though financially I can’t afford to do it another year. I literally lived on tips last summer, so please, tip your counselors!</p>
<p>Seriously? I wondered if this was a joke thread. We live in the pacific NW, and my kid has been a junior counselor, intern, and will be a camp counselor this summer. He does it because he loves it. He has done it for free the last couple of years because you can’t get paid until you’re 18, and after then, the hourly rate is low. But he would still do it for free.</p>
<p>I’ll have to ask him in the morning what he thinks about this, but I suspect he would laugh and say tipping would never happen, would not be allowed, and they would think it was ridiculous. Not like he’d be one that would turn down cash if it was legal, but I just don’t think it happens around here.</p>
<p>If you read through the thread, you will find that tipping is regional in nature. When I first saw this thread, I kind of freaked out because I had never tipped counselors. I went to the parent handbook for my boy’s camp in the midwest and read that tipping was prohibited. I called the daycamp my child attends and they though I had lost my mind.</p>
<p>I worked for five summers at Girl Scout summer camp in the 70s in New England. My last two years I was Director of Horseback Riding – with 5 instructors, 20+ horses, and 120 riders in my program. I never got tips. My total savings for the summer were around $750.</p>
<p>I suspect my daughters worked at the same camp.My oldest was riding staff, she received a lot more than her sister who was a counselor for middle school kids & who had a more difficult job.
Although she loved it too, she needs to make money in the summer. ( but tipping wasn’t a part of it).</p>
<p>“I suspect my daughters worked at the same camp”</p>
<p>That would be funny if they knew each other. He’s been going there for several years. It’s a YMCA camp, and the best time of his life every year. I suspect the favorable male/female ratio for the counselors is a player.</p>
<p>I’m sure they would love tips, but that ain’t happening!</p>