American Summer camps

[Remotecontrolatmyside]

Why have American style summer camps ever taken off in the UK? Is it because it would be unaffordable for the vast majority of the UK population? They always look like so much fun in films (I know that might not be the case in reality) and would solve a lot of child care issues maybe?

Maybe not the demand, we get mote holidays here

I think it’s because American summer hols are 3 months long! It’s a huge amount of time to find childcare for.

But most people still get less than 30 days annual leave which has to cover Easter, Xmas, summer and half terms.

True

As well as the reduced amount of holiday days many Americans get.

The holidays are longer as has been said, and generally annual leave allowances are absolutely awful so there isn't the option for many to look after their children in the holidays.

I volunteered whilst at uni for 3 summers though with Camp America and absolutely loved it! I don't think a lot of traditions and the like would translate well here though, and I'm not sure you'd be able to attract cheap staff (and make it somewhat affordable for parents) in the same way- not saying its good they do that but it's true. We weren't paid much at all but had accommodation and meals paid for and then everyone used the money they did get to go travelling after for a week. The locations are also often stunning and children travel from a wide radius to attend, not really the same attitude to stuff like that here often.

Plenty of Christian organisations run camps, also YMCA used to, PGL do too if you're looking for some.

Most of my American friends seem to have bad memories of Summer camp and mostly remember the terrible homesickness and bullying. I'm sure some love it but personally I couldn't have imagined anything worse as a child.

They are usually very outdoorsy, too, and we don’t have the reliable weather for campfires and canoeing for week on end.

All valid points

I live in Canada and one of the best things is the fact that we have day camp (where your kids don't sleep overnight) which my kids adore.

I do not know how UK parents manage to find childcare for the entire summer, begs belief

Day camps exist in the UK.

Shorter school holidays here. Often nearly 3 months in the summer compared to 6 weeks.

And people generally have more paid holiday leave from their own jobs, especially compared to the holiday leave US employees often get.

We have day camps, and you can pay to have your children go for residential holidays at places like PGL in the summer, though usually its only 4 or 5 nights rather than longer.

I didn't realise American kids get 3 months school holidays, what a nightmare for the parents!

Yep. Bit way more families have stay at home parents, because houses aren't extortionate on the whole, like they are here and you probably need two incomes!

This is a good point too!

Day camps are sporadic in this country I think, there's one here that serves a huge area and no hope of getting a space.

I imagine the lack of cheap land next to lakes etc make it too expensive. There’s probably stricter rules here about adult to children ratio as well, all costs more.

I had a friend who worked at a fat camp in America one summer, wish I had done it. They used to confiscate all the banned foods the kids parents would sent to them (whole boxes of Twinkie’s etc) and eat them. It was a really expensive camp as well.

They are very expensive for normal US families too. When My boys were teens, I looked into it for the middle child (oldest was heading to Uni) Ds2 would have loved it, sports outdoors, you name it. However the cost was huge I could get flights to UK for the summer (me and two of my three kids) and see family for the same amount.

My DD (18) went to one for a couple of years, for a two-week session each time. She absolutely loved it, it was right by the sea and they went sailing, fishing, archery, camp fires, etc. it was only a hour’s drive from home so we could’ve easily picked her up if she’d hated it.

I don’t personally know anyone who sent their children to camp for several weeks, most did two-week sessions, perhaps some did two sessions with time at home in between.

DD’s now got a summer job as a camp counselor at the same camp! I think the pay has got more competitive in this tight labor market as she’ll be earning about $20/hr.

My kids do residential camp every year. It’s only 2 weeks but there are loads of them and they love it

I've just looked up the fees for the one I worked at in USA, it's $15000 for 7 weeks, which is £12K. Don't think my child tax credits run to that.

It's a fairly niche thing in the US too. Only really wealthier families are doing sleep away camp. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1155268/parents-sending-kids-to-summer-camp-us/

Others are doing much as we do in the UK - day camps/clubs/family/etc

There are UK based ones, my eldest went to ATE every summer. They run for the whole six weeks - my daughter only ever did a week at a time as it's all we could afford but there were children who did the whole summer, and people who came from abroad to do so too.

www.superweeks.co.uk

@Crumbcatcher @Grumpyfroghats

You must’ve worked at a posh one! The one DD’s working at is $850/session and the YMCA is $787. They also offer 10% discounts if you register early.

The overly long summer holidays in the US are definitely an issue. I was horrified when we first moved here! I really hope the schedule changes at some point, half-terms and a shorter summer break would be far better.