Community Magazine May 2021

30 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE “I Discovered That it is Not Impossible” My friend Leah Nachmani (aka @dumbanddelish) kept her children home for the summer of 2020 because of the pandemic, and because it made sense financially. This year, she finds herself doing something she never thought she would. “I always assumed I’d send my children to camp from toddler stage and on, but after seeing how I survived at home last year, I thought I might as well save that huge chunk of money while I can,” Leah says. “It wasn’t fun or easy for me, but I discovered that it is not impossible. They’re still so young that they don’t know what other kids their age are doing, so they won’t feel they’re missing anything.” What, then, is Leah planning for her kids this summer, if they’re not attending camp? “We’ll be at the beach every day. I’ll be spending $1,500 for the whole family for the summer, rather than $3,500 per kid and then still needing to entertain myself and baby.” This made a lot of sense to me. If you’re not working, and you don’t mind the schlep to the park or the beach – or, better yet, you have a pool in your own backyard – why should you have to cash out on alternate summer entertainment? “The Children Expect to Go” Another community parent, who wished to remain anonymous, shared the following thoughts on the topic:  “This is the first year when we were able to pay for camp in advance. Years prior, it was always a stressor for us, mainly me. I couldn’t imagine how we would all of a sudden be able to pay this extra-large camp bill that was due on the first day of camp. My husband always assured me that Hashem would send the money in time, and that everything would be fine. Some years this was the case, but others, I had to send small payments throughout the summer until I eventually paid it off. It didn’t feel good, and the camp wasn’t always happy about it, but we did what we could to make it happen. Last year was a relief. Backyard camp wasn’t fulltime, and I had to carpool my kids around, but at least it was a financial break for us, costing a quarter of the price of real camp. I’m not saying that real camp isn’t worth the price for my kids, but if I’m sending my two-year-old, she’s not going on trips and doing all amazing things, so I don’t understand why it should be $3,500 for her. “I feel that in this community, camp is a right, not a privilege. I admit that if I absolutely didn’t have the money for it and had to keep them home, I would be capable, because I don’t work, but this is not the norm. We’re used to a certain way of life, and the children expect to go. All of their friends are going, and so we have to send.” As for her comment about the cost for her two-year-old, it is true that camps aren’t taking toddlers on exciting trips, but having worked two summers as a tiny tot counselor in Camp Ora, I can attest that it takes competent morahs and constant attention to run an organized group of toddlers doing various summer activities. (Also, there are diapers...) These staff members are generally older and expect real salaries; no one is putting teens in charge of babies. “There is Nothing Like It” Rena Golden, former Program Director at DSN (Deal Sephardic Network), and current owner and operator of Bashes by Rena, a birthday party planning business, also runs the “Summer by Rena,” program, a Pre/Post Camp, and other daily mini camps when there is no school. In 2020, her summer program took on the form of a backyard camp – which my own kids attended. It was fantastic. I was curious about her thoughts on this topic – both as a camp director, and as a parent. “I have a unique perspective on campbecause I get to see both sides,” Rena said. “Parents see it as a costly but necessary additional expense, both for child care and for community. At times, we could feel like we ‘have’ to send our children to certain camps just to keep up. “As a camp director, I know that camp is super costly to run.  Every activity must be perfectly planned by talented staff throughout the year. We need to pay for supplies, busing, trips, lunch, snacks, water, special shows, and all those awesome activities. These activities have a high cost, especially for bigger camps that run on a larger scale. Just today, I booked pony rides, petting zoos, a magic show, and face painting for my upcoming pre/post camps. It’s startling to see what we spend.”  Rena emphasized in particular the vital importance of hiring an exceptional staff. “Think about the staff you need to make a camp run smoothly. You need head morahs, teachers for sports, art and music, and more. It’s very important to hire the right people. The better the staff, the more it takes to find them, and it is also the largest expense.” There are also various other costs which, I must confess, I never took into consideration when discussing the sky-high cost of camp with my friends. Rena expressed her opinion that even the little ones have an enormous amount to gain from the camp experience: “I truly believe in the importance of camp for young children. When a camp is well-run, there is nothing like it for the kids. They gain social and emotional skills, in a low-pressure environment. They get to do things like sports, fun science experiments, learn how to cook or bake, art projects, and learn simple games and skills such as lanyard and red rover, my favorite camp game.”  Rena added that it is especially important to go to camp in our community because, in her view, “many of the enrichment activities that we learn in camp are things that our schools just do not have time to teach due to our dual curriculum.”