Unnecessary expenses that have become the norm-

seeker

Fri, Dec 30 2016, 12:17 pm

amother wrote:

It's not only becoming the norm, it's become in many cases the only option. Camps often don't go past a certain age for campers- I seem to recall the oldest bunk being summer after 9th grade- but you can't work at the camp until the summer after 11th. Summer after 10th is usually the year most who do travel camp go. The only other option is just a regular, non camp summer job, but for some reason there aren't so many of those available anymorw (not just in the frum world, it's a problem in the secular world too that summer jobs for high schoolers have become an endangered species leaving many teens with literally nothing to do for nearly 3 months).

That's strange, when I was camp age the timing was different for each camp but each camp went straight from oldest bunk to waitress.

Chayalle

Fri, Dec 30 2016, 12:25 pm

ttbtbm wrote:

I'm a couple of years younger than you and of course there were travel camps in my days too. The difference today is that travel camps are becoming the norm. In my high school class 2 girls did some sort of travel camp program one summer. My high school daughter was at a loss last summer because so many of her good friends were doing travel camps and she didn't want to go to regular sleep away camp on her own.
Yes, these camps have been around for a while but now they are becoming the norm.
A super expensive norm.

Exactly. Truth is, just plain regular sleepaway camp, at a reduced Kollel rate, kills my budget every summer. I'm trying to decide if DD should go back this summer (she's in 10th grade) or if we should call it quits. At least her friends still go to a regular camp. My older DD stopped going to camp because her friends had "moved on" to travel camps, which was simply way beyond our means.

Chayalle

Fri, Dec 30 2016, 12:27 pm

seeker wrote:

That's strange, when I was camp age the timing was different for each camp but each camp went straight from oldest bunk to waitress.

IME the sleepaway camps go straight from the oldest bunk to waitress...but the local camps have a gap year between the hiring of JC's and the age for regular counselors. Leaves the girls with one year where it's difficult to get a job.

BatZion

Wed, Jan 04 2017, 2:33 pm

amother wrote:

Okay, that's funny, I don't know what community you are a part of but my relatives in Israel live really simply and for the most part don't keep up with the Joneses. However, we are all sending our maaser money for them to marry off their children and buy them apartments as well as for basic living expenses for some of them. I don't find that way of life preferable at all.

Dearest Slategray.

May I hazard a guess that you're talknig about a certain community here in the Holy Land? Guess that- I don't find that way of life preferable either but you know what? These are skewed choices in communities that people choose to be a part of. One doesn't need to marry off children far beyond one's means and buy an apartment for eveyr child getting married (?!) or pay for basic upkeep. Please don't slander the entire people living in EY according to the utterly ridiculous standards that certain communities choose to live by.

For the record- we are not a part of such a community but my husband was learning for the first few years BH and guess what? We married within our means, made a very simple, beautiful wedding, saved half the money given to use by our parents for the wedding in order to live off it. We have never asked relatives for hand-outs and beH will never do so.

So actually I prefer to live here simply than live ridiculously here or in Chul- as do the vast majority of the people here.

amother

Silver

Wed, Jan 04 2017, 3:45 pm

BatZion wrote:

Maybe her relatives would also choose to live off half the money their parents would give them for their weddings,except their parents can't afford to do that. Good for you that your parents had the means to support you in such a big way!

SixOfWands

Wed, Jan 04 2017, 3:58 pm

seeker wrote:

That's strange, when I was camp age the timing was different for each camp but each camp went straight from oldest bunk to waitress.

Nope.

First, there's a gap. They want kids away for at least a year before working.

Second, a lot of camps want kids studying at yeshivas and sems to waiter/waitress. Counselors are former campers. But see above.

But mostly, the travel camps overlap with what used to be the last few years of overnight camp, with the final year being that "gap" referenced above. Kids tire of the camp experience, and want to do something else.