I was never homesick–felt a bit guilty I was having so much fun and freedom but not a bit of homesickness, ever, even when I went to a GS camp when I was 14 for 2 weeks plus an extra week in LA. I figured my family would do just fine without me, and they did.
Not everyone gets homesick but there are threads every fall about kids not adjusting to being away, parents worrying about their kids not adjusting and parents who are having a difficult time adjusting to an empty nest.
Yes I was happy away, as were my kids. Some of my sibs were somewhat homesick, as were some of my nieces and nephews. We are all so different.
Not with everyone in NY. In my old working-class NYC neighborhood in the '80s, most of the kids were effectively left to our own devices over the summer and/or were expected to find a job to contribute to the family till/personal spending money as early as late elementary school.
Summer camp? That was for the few kids who were well-to-do and even then, some of the more well-to-do parents preferred sending their kids back to parents/grandparents in Puerto-Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Long stay overnight camp is statistically more popular among Jews than the rest of the poulation. It arose from a combination of factors including for many a way to meet other Jews, especially of the opposite sex (85 years ago every Jewish kid…which was like 10… Was sent to summer camp in my father in laws small Midwestern town). Alan Dirschowitz has written about this aspect of Jewish overnight camp, many of which were co-ED for just this reason. Many Jewish camps keep stats on how many former campers met their spouse at camp. When my sister in laws kids kstarted At the same Jewish overnight camp As mine ( she’s not Jewish by birth and didn’t go to camp) was shocked at how much casual coed mixing there was. They all stand in line for the outdoor showers together ( wearing robes but nothing else) And from a young age there were coed dance every Sunday night. It all seemed so " normal" to me. Lol.
One thing about many Jewish overnight camps ( at least the ones I and my kids went to). There was Some real downtime. After a lively religious service ( singing, puppets etc) on Saturday mornings, there were no regular activities. You could just hang out with your friends all day, or read by yourself at the lake, take a nap, or take out a canoe.
I went to a coed Jewish camp but the boys bunks were across the lake (which was really s pond) and we definitely didn’t line up for showers together!
All camps have free periods were one can do what they want. And the dreaded rest period after lunch every day (though I think that’s probably gone the way of the dodo bird.)
My son’s camp is not a Jewish camp but most of the campers, though not all, were Jewish.
I can’t say for sure but one of the reasons Jewish camps started was likely because Jews weren’t allowed to attend other camps. The same reason there were Jewish country clubs - they weren’t allowed to join other clubs - so they started their own.
"Not with everyone in NY. In my old working-class NYC neighborhood in the '80s, most of the kids were effectively left to our own devices over the summer and/or were expected to find a job to contribute to the family till/personal spending money as early as late elementary school.
Summer camp? That was for the few kids who were well-to-do and even then, some of the more well-to-do parents preferred sending their kids back to parents/grandparents in Puerto-Rico and the Dominican Republic."
Cobart, first - parents today are not leaving their kids to their own devices all day and no one is hiring elementary school kids for a summer job.
Second - we were talking about the fictitious family with two working parents in NYC earning $500k a year in 2017. They are definitely sending their kids away to camp in the summer.
if you gave $1 billion dollars to most people they would be bankrupt in a couple of years. how it happens I am not sure but it happens again and again and again.
@Emilybee but the point (how we got to summer camp) was in what way that that amount of money spent is a choice, and thus not a reason to characterize as “broke.” As @zobroward says, for some people, no amount of money is enough. This is not a function of the money, but of choices characterized as necessities.
@garland I agree. This is a choice and is something the author is pointing out to lessen to remaining funds available to make the family broke.
I hate to quote Dr. Phil (or at least I think it was Dr. Phil who said it) , but he is right when he says “you don’t solve money problems with money.”
But his fictional family isn’t broke at all! They put away $36k a year in their retirement funds and on top of that give 18k/yr to charity - not to mention $18k a year on vacations and $10k on miscellaneous. Now, they couid take a huge proportion of that money each year and put that into other investment accounts, but that certainly isn’t a necessity for them.
According to his theory I’m broke because I don’t have anything left over either after all my expenses are paid and remaining money goes to non necessities like vacations/entertainment and into investment accounts. Heck, I’m spending $40k to have my big bathroom and powder room remodeled. Shame on me for doing this since I’m broke according to the author.
This article was silly and nothing more than click bait.