ARMAGEDDON is upon us!

MrsDash

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 12:28 pm

*****Attention getting subject title.*****

I know I'm about to sound like our parents (or perhaps grandparents to some) who needed to walk to school, uphill, both ways! Sometimes in 3 feet of snow!

When I was a kid, only the wealthy kids went to camp. Sleepaway camp? Oh my! That was for the rich kids!

For the rest of us, it was pretty much a free for all.

None of us owned computers. No video games. The family TV (the only TV in the house!) all of 20 inches, was off limits as well.

We entertained ourselves! We played! Think every variation of ball games, rollerblading, biking, skateboarding, tag, house, dolls, barbies, GI joe, matchbox cars, legos, lincoln logs, super soakers, cops and robbers, story telling, exploring, dancing, building tree or club houses that never seemed to pan out the way we envisioned, climbing and falling off trees, coloring, board games, cards, jumprope, hide-and-seek, and running games that always resulted in getting our knees grass stained, and scuffed up.

Before you call me all high and mighty, my kids attend camps as well. I just miss the simplicity of those days. (Or as my kid so lovingly refers to as "the olden days!")

Anyone else care to share their nostalgic childhood, specifically the days before the term "screen time" existed?

amother

Iris

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 12:54 pm

Huh
Keep living in the past and you'll get nowhere
your great grandparents didn't even OWN ball! forget about rollerblades/skateboards. they played with the rocks and grass
Maybe they should have had YOU imagine playtime without all those stuff you mentioned

MrsDash

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 12:56 pm

amother [ Iris ] wrote:

Yo, thankfully the 80s created the chill pill because you may need to take a few Very Happy

Iymnok

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 1:25 pm

My mother took us camping. We tried to get a site by the creek so we could build a dam in the freezing water. Wed sometimes meet up with some cousins at a campground. After claiming a site, wed grab our bikes and scour the campground for discarded firewood. If it looks like a full bundle we'd ask the ranger if that sure was taken. We'd often end up with enough wood for a nice sized campfire.
We spent the days at those campgrounds riding our bikes, hiking and swimming. Swimming was best in the mountains. Those lakes were primarily used for fishing which is best around dawn and dusk. That left us with a private, secluded lake that we could all swim in midday.
We were always on the lookout for berries. Often it was blackberries or thimbleberries. The salmonberries tasted good, but I didn't enjoy the seeds. The best was huckleberries. Small, red and a bit tart. The flimsy branches let us bent down the top to get those precious gems.
There was always something interesting around the bends on those hikes throughout Washington state.

amother

Tealblue

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 1:42 pm

MrsDash wrote:

Yo, thankfully the 80s created the chill pill because you may need to take a few Very Happy

I'm an 80s kid and my siblings and I went to sleepaway camp for many years starting around age 10. My parents were definitely not wealthy.

ETA: We used to go to day camp too. My mom was a SAHM but she used to get summer jobs at camp to get us in for free or at reduced rates. Most of our friends went to camp as well.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 1:42 pm

OP, day camp has nothing to do with being rich or not. Did your parents work? If yes, then there was no way to leave kids at home alone. And I grew up in the 80s & 90s. We came home from camo and went bike riding up and down our block, almost never got together with friends, unless we were turning on the sprinklers. But we had to have a parent home to have friends over, so that was only in the late afternoon / evening.
Not everyone who sent / sends to camp is wealthy. They just need their children looked after while they are at work. Im not sure why this is such a hard concept to understand.
Did you have a parent at home with you during the summer OP?

amother

Iris

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 2:59 pm

amother [ Vermilion ] wrote:

My mom went to sleep away camp in the late 60's-early 70's....
Both of my parents families went to bungalow colonies.

Same
My parents were both in the Catskills for the summer as far back as they can remember
And my grandparents were the opposite of wealthy

I wonder who needs the chill pill lol

amother

Anemone

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 3:13 pm

I think this is supposed to be a fun thread. Why are people getting prickly?

I wish I didn't work and could spend the summer just frolicking with my kids. I spent most of my formative summers in an unstructured environment.
Hopefully we'll spend some evenings at the pool and maybe do a day trip here and there.

amother

Antiquewhite

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 3:44 pm

My mother went to daycamp and when she was a teen she went to sleep away camp. My father went to sleep away camp for several years. So it probably depends on where you grew up. (I’m assuming you’re my parents’ age because you mentioned you have kids in camp)

Fox

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 3:49 pm

Summer camp and bungalow colonies originally became a "thing" for people who lived in New York before the development of air conditioning. Not only was there nothing for kids to do, the heat in the city was oppressive. Non-Jews also had camps, cabins, and all sorts of facilities in an attempt to get out of the heat.

In fact, if we go back to the 1800s, Harlem was the preferred getaway for wealthy non-Jewish New Yorkers.

Presumably, the need to vacate the city during the hottest months became a bit of an anachronism after air conditioning became common, but by that time, the practice had developed into a cultural phenomenon. For families living OOT with ample yards or extensive park systems, the necessity of summer camp is far less, and the concept of bungalow colonies has never fully caught on.

Summer camp also became part of the landscape because there were almost zero options for frum kids a few generations ago. A child attending a day school could have all his/her spiritual development undone by a summer playing (literally) on the streets.

But like air conditioning, ice makers, and a whole slew of other products, what was once an unimaginable luxury or a response to a specific problem somehow became a necessity. So now we have bungalow colonies with air conditioning and everyone has to go to summer camp. Perhaps it's only anecdotal, but it seems like I'm hearing more and more about day camps, even in NY. Cheaper than sleepaway camp and no need to vacate your home in search of cool air.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 4:11 pm

Fox wrote:

Why does everyone always assume that every thread is about new york? There are day camps all over the united states as well as other countries in the world.
All over the place. People needed structure for their children while they worked to put bread and milk on the table.
Gosh my father went to day camp in the 50s. Its not a new invention.

amother

Broom

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 5:06 pm

Iymnok wrote:

Clearly your mother didn't work. It was a good year when my mother could spare a week to take off and go on vacation.

I'll say though I have the summer off and figured I would keep my kids home and hang out with friends, but no one else is home for us to hang out with.

amother

Narcissus

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 7:24 pm

amother [ Glitter ] wrote:

Guys camps been going on since way back! Why grandma was sent to camp back in the 1940s

It was called Auschwitz

That was uncalled for.

I’m another 80s kid who went to sleep away camp for many years, and I didn’t grow up in NY.
Funnily enough I now take my own kids camping like lymnok reminisced about and they love it. But they also go to camp (day and sleep away) and it is very necessary!

amother

Orchid

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 7:38 pm

The problem becomes when what used to be an option becomes a must and if you opt out you’re considered weird. I desperately don’t want to send dd to sleep away camp but she’ll be considered weird if she doesn’t go and she’ll probably be resentful too.

amother

Leaf

Thu, Jun 09 2022, 11:33 pm

My mother went to sleep away camp in the 80s starting in first grade.
That was the norm then.

If anything we are cutting back.
Most camps only start with 7th grade these days.

It's good for the kids to be independent for a few weeks.
I would go back to camp in a heartbeat!