Expensive Summer Camp Epidemic Hits NYC!
Fancy summer camps, it turns out, are expensive. On NYTimes.com, women's issues blogger Judith Warner decries the "affluenza" afflicting those who send their children to $10,000-a-summer overnight camps. Of course, in the universe of wealthy Manhattan parents, $10,000 to send the little ones away for eight weeks is practically pocket change. But which camps can get away with charging that much?
In the summer of 2007, Gawker compiled a list of some of the most expensive summer camps; we can only assume that tuition has gone up since then. Some examples: Camp Laurel, in Readfield, ME, which last summer charged $10,000 for the season; the girls-only Camp Matoka, in Smithfield, ME, at $8,700; and the boys-only Camp Cedar, in Casco, ME, which was asking parents to cough up $8,900 last summer. The girls-only Tripp Lake Camp, in Poland, ME, long a favorite of Manhattan private schoolers, declined to disclose this information, but we can safely assume that it's in that range.
That being said, it's not like day camps in this area are much cheaper. Several camps in the New York suburbs offer transportation from various pick-up locations in Manhattan, including Pierce Country Day Camp in Roslyn, NY, which costs $6,950 for eight weeks (that includes transportation from Manhattan; it's only $6,575 if you bring your kids on your own). For that kind of money, your child will frolic on a 27-acre campus, in "a meticulously groomed estate-like setting offering our campers the finest in recreational and athletic facilities," according to Pierce's website. That includes a 5100 square foot facility with three 50-inch flat-screen TVs, an 8-foot projection screen, and a professional karaoke unit.
What ever happened to the days when kids were happy with a campfire and a ropes course?
This whole thing is a bunch of nonsense tinged with envy from the journalista class. I even wrote a comment on the NY Times Opinion boards defending affluent people's right to write a check, if they want to send their kids to camp. NY Times article last week hinted at, and Judith Warner, turned the camp thing into utter class warfare and then implied that parents who send their kids to camp do not care about their kids. And many comments on the boards seemed to agree with her.
And, who's to say that sacrifice is not involved for parents who send the kids to camp. Understand that PBS is now jumping on the bandwagon of these vapid camp articles. Not sure when it will be on.
What one will do to avoid the tainted Boy Scout troop memberd.
This trend is in line with the cost of renting or buying an apartment in NYC -- especially in Manhattan. I grew up in Manhattan's upper westside in a financially struggling, yet very happy family. New York City used to be the kind of place where you could manage to expose your children to a wide variety of activities without going broke or getting deeper in debt. New York is losing the very grit and heart it had --becoming run over with over indulgent parents whose ability to pay such exhorbitant prices drives the costs of things higher and higher. I am now in the position to pay these high prices myself, but refuse to get caught up in the madness! I choose to utilize and keep afloat the long time standing neighborhood family organizations that have provided excellent care to tens of thousands of children over many decades. Thank God some of them are still reasonably priced!! It's such a shame NYC is becoming ever more hostile and uncomfotable for the lower and middle income families.