S/O- sending kids to camp

amother

Rose

Tue, Jun 30 2015, 5:17 pm

does anyone else feel guilty and a lousy mother reading about some of these AMAZING women who keep their kids home from camp??

You know when you are having one of those nights? when no one is listening, the house is upside down, your dh is hours away from being home and you just feel like a lousy parent?
thats me tonite.
and then reading those posts about keeping kids home....
kudos to all you women.

Maya

Tue, Jun 30 2015, 5:26 pm

amother wrote:

No, actually, I feel like a terrific mother who sends her sons away to a full day of camp where they can have ten times the fun they can ever have while being home with me, to people who are paid not to get burnt out and snap at them like I would after being together all day.

amother

Bisque

Tue, Jun 30 2015, 6:53 pm

Same as Maya.
I don't feel guilty. My kids would not appreciate it at all no matter how fun I make it. They love daycamp and having a social life. They need friends or they eventually go nuts from being with each other too much.

Also it's forsure not worth it if I'll end up losing my cool and getting stressed out, even if it's only sometimes.

Also- from my own experience growing up, I much more preferred daycamp than if I had a whole summer to spend with just my mother and siblings. (and theyre all great btw)

seeker

Tue, Jun 30 2015, 8:04 pm

Please don't. I'm on the keeping kids home thread too but will happily send my kids to camp for part of the summer. For us it's largely a financial decision and I imagine that is the case for others too - they're not doing it because they're supermom but because they don't have a choice, and many of them (not all. Some do a great job and feel it's the best setup for them) feel guilty for not being able to give their kids the camp experience their friends are having. I'm sure when my kids are older they'll want the more interesting social and activity life of camp. I feel like it's good to spend time together as a family here and there, and not always look for ways to escape ("OMG!!! The kids have been out of school 24 hours already, why do we have a whole week until camp starts?!!!" I.e. we have no idea how to spend time together. sad.) but three months straight is a whole lot.

seeker

Tue, Jun 30 2015, 8:42 pm

BTW, camp is not school. If you like the concept of Mommy Camp but don't feel you have the stamina for it, and you have the time yourself (e.g. no work obligations) you can totally pull your kids out of day camp for a day or two here or there to enjoy quality time. In fact that sounds even more amazing if you could do it for one kid at a time or for your kids in one age group at a time. In a different kind of setup, my kids' day camp graciously allowed us to pay for a half summer but instead of choosing first half or second half, they are going for the middle (half of each month.) That way I spend less on camp, we have time together, but not so long at a stretch as to make us go completely bonkers. Just enough to chill out together and be ready to go back to camp/school at the end.

mommy43

Tue, Jun 30 2015, 9:06 pm

My kids want to go to camp but we can't afford it right now its hard to keep them entertained all day. I need ideas of fun things to do with them I don't want them to feel like they're poor and different

seeker

Tue, Jun 30 2015, 9:17 pm

mommy43 wrote:

Big hugs!

But honey, you're on the wrong thread. Try this one: http://www.imamother.com/forum.....73467 Or if you're not in NYC I'm sure there have been others but you can start another one. Anyway even the NYC thread includes a lot of general advice and sympathy that is not location-specific.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Jun 30 2015, 10:06 pm

Not at all. Im with Maya. I feel like a wonderful mother for sending my daughter to camp (well here its kaytana from 8 - 1 and only until 9 av, but its something) she loves structure to her day and will enjoy her down time when she comes home.
I know that if she were to be home ALL summer with no structure, her summer vacation would be horrible.
Nobody should feel like a bad mother for sending to camp. Feel like a good mother, either way, to camp or not. Its the bst for your children, whichever you do.