The Horrors of Camp

My son's first summer camp experience started this Monday.  When faced with the prospect of my poor parents (who are finally living the spoiled lives of empty-nesters) having to watch E from 7:30 in the morning till after 5 in the evening, we had to come up with a better solution.  And luckily, this fair city in which we live is blessed with a plethora of working parents who need summertime care for their kids, so I had many places from which to choose.

I really wanted to avoid anything which smacked of daycare.  I HATED daycare when I was E's age and my mom was working (and she rarely worked AND I had siblings with me).  And we attended a very good daycare that my mother carefully chose. I think it was the aimless playing for hours that I disliked.  I don't remember it very clearly, but regardless, the experience left a distaste for daycares in my mouth.


And luckily, I've never had to utilize one.  My parents were ready and willing to help watch E while I went to school when he was younger, and through a series of fortuitous circumstances (aka my guardian angel smacked some events around for me), E was first in a great preschool, then pre-K and then all-day kindergarten.

So when looking around for something for E to do this summer, I had a pretty long list. I needed someplace with drop-off before 8 (still too late for me, as I have to be at work by 5, but D can drop him off then and still make it on time) and with pick-up after 5. And if it's not daycare, those hours alone are pretty hard to find in a day camp.  It had to have a large number of kids, so the likelihood of him being stuck in a group of 10 year olds was lessened.  It had to be close to my parents' house, in case they were picking him up. And I think that's it.

We settled on a place about midway between our house and my parents' home, a place that during the normal school year serves as a kids' gymnasium for the purposes of gymnastics, dance and karate lessons.  However, they also have a POOL.  So during the summer, they turn themselves gleefully over to weekly day camps.  They average 60 kids per camp, and have the option for morning care starting at 7:30 AM and evening care till 5:30.

My son was not thrilled when informed that he was going to receive the privilege of going to summer camp. He desperately ran through the list of every adult who's ever taken care of him, asking why he couldn't just stay with them during the day.  And finally, when I informed him that it was either camp or daycare, he reluctantly admitted he'd rather go to camp (which is kind of strange, since he has no reason to think ill of either camp or daycare...).  I was sort of puzzled by his reluctance to attend, since I had assured him that he'd get to swim and play with kids and get gymnastics lessons, etc, but I didn't question it too much, assuming that he was just thinking he'd rather stay in his grandparents' pool all summer.

I took E to see the facility prior to signing him up. At sight of the pool, my son the fish finally started displaying some enthusiasm for the whole idea.  The lovely front desk lady took us on a tour and outlined the camp schedule and was wonderful with E.  And after we were through, I asked him if he wanted to attend and he said yes without hesitation.

I was patting myself on the back as we left, and casually said to E, "See, I told you that you'd like it." And he replied, "I thought I'd have to be gone overnight and that's why I didn't want to go."

Tragic, right? My heart broke right then and there.  No wonder he was so desperate to avoid camp, since he thought it meant he'd have to be away from home all summer.  And he was so good about it too! After his initial flat-out refusal, he calmly accepted his fate.  If I had decided he needed to be shipped off to boarding school, off he would go.  I felt super bad.

Luckily, E has thoroughly enjoyed the last three days, coming home full of chatter about his new friends and the things he has learned both in the pool and in the gym, and giving physical demonstrations of the "ocstable" [sic] courses he's traversed.  He even joyfully agreed to signing up for another week.

And he hasn't had to stay the night there even once.  So we're all happy.

If you're friends with a certain friend of mine who's going into Radiology and he tells you to watch a certain B-horror flick entitled "Sleepaway Camp," whatever you do, don't do it.