Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that a child who has never been camping is not necessarily from a ‘deprived’ background

513 replies

Urbandweller · 16/07/2021 20:57

DD’s school organised a camping trip for Y5. DD is younger and didn’t attend but her class teacher went to chaperone. I was chatting with her about it today and she said she was so glad the school was able to organise the trip as so many of the Y5 kids had never been camping and would never otherwise get the chance to go. It was clear that she felt sorry for the children who hadn’t been before and was shaking her head sorrowfully, saying many of them are the same poor kids who have never been to the beach and this is one of the saddest aspects of deprivation...

AIBU to not see the link between camping and deprivation? We’ve never taken DD because it’s my idea of hell, nothing to do with lack of funds!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
claralara42 · 19/07/2021 11:29

FFS, she wasn't saying that kids who hadn't been camping were deprived, she was saying deprived kids don't get to go camping.

Holly60 · 19/07/2021 11:30

@claralara42

FFS, she wasn't saying that kids who hadn't been camping were deprived, she was saying deprived kids don't get to go camping.
Haha I think you’ve hit the nail on the head!
cheapskatemum · 19/07/2021 11:31

YANBU, I love camping, but the thought of my Mum & Dad taking me & my brothers has me rofling! My brothers went on cub & scout camps. I had definitely never been by Yr5, yet had a very middle class childhood. We went to Yorkshire Dales/Scarborough or the Balearics on holiday. I don't consider that deprivation Smile.

Holly60 · 19/07/2021 11:35

@flourescentstar

Don't be daft. Privately educated dc have all sorts of luxuries not afforded to non private schooled dc. My dc is at a boarding school! If a deprived dc went there (nowadays it's very rare for a primary aged dc to be sent without paying fees, hardly any I know have bursaries or scholarships for under 11s) they would most likely have the opportunity to do all of the activities mentioned but it's a choice. No one I know in my dc year has gone camping over the holidays though. Poor souls if they do.

Camping imo is not something most people would choose over a nice hotel or at least people that have experienced both. That for me is the link between camping and deprivation. My link anyway. My own experience and that of the people I know.
And to whoever said I got the wrong end of the stick and it's dc who can't even go camping, is this because they aren't signed up to any clubs, my parents loved shoving me of to Cub Scout camp for free every year. One of the benefits of being poor, show you're from a low income family and it's all for free! Maybe that doesn't happen anymore.

Either way I thank goodness I will never again know what it is to run across the grass after a cold rainy night in a tent Grin

Our family has always chosen camping over a nice hotel. If we camp it means we can go to Europe for the entire summer, touring and seeing lots of different areas. It also means our adult DC and families can join us which they wouldn’t be able to do if we were staying in hotels as disposable income is going on other things at the moment. To be honest, because it’s camping we are able to pay for each of our DCs to have a two week holiday, which we wouldn’t be able to afford if it was two sets of a fortnight in a lovely hotel in Europe. The little ones LOVE it and it teaches so many great skills and a fab outlook. Somehow jobs (such as washing up) that would be seen as onerous at home are great fun whilst camping, and off they go merrily to muck in together washing, rinsing, and drying etc.

Me and DH do also go and stay in hotels now too, but to be honest because we spent so many years camping, it doesn’t really feel like a ‘proper’ holiday if we aren’t in our tent with all our family around us Grin

HoppingPavlova · 19/07/2021 11:55

I imagine that if you are really evil in life, and you are sent to Hell, it would probably be one big overcrowded camping ground. Heaven on the other hand would be 5 star hotel rooms. Purgatory is those bland budget holiday cabins.

Neondisco · 19/07/2021 12:20

Camping is shit. Personally it's a deprivation to have to go.

Seriously though there will be many families who can't afford it. But there will be many who have absolutely no desire to, sir to how shit it is. So you can't assume all children who haven't bern camping are deprived.

LittleGwyneth · 19/07/2021 12:30

I've never been camping. Spent quite a lot of time in Mauritius though.

SleepingStandingUp · 19/07/2021 13:00

@cheapskatemum

YANBU, I love camping, but the thought of my Mum & Dad taking me & my brothers has me rofling! My brothers went on cub & scout camps. I had definitely never been by Yr5, yet had a very middle class childhood. We went to Yorkshire Dales/Scarborough or the Balearics on holiday. I don't consider that deprivation Smile.
As previously stated FFS, she wasn't saying that kids who hadn't been camping were deprived, she was saying deprived kids don't get to go camping.
WalkingOnTheCracks · 28/09/2021 15:31

@WalkingOnTheCracks

My children come from a pretty affluent background, and they have never been camping.

The reason they have never been camping is that I was made to do it a couple of times when I was a child and I hated every fucking minute of it.

If they ever want to do it, I wouldn't stop them, but I'd have nothing to do with it, apart perhaps from transferring them money when they wanted to call a cab to get them the hell out of there.

Just as a coda to this....

My 17-year-old daughter turned up at her boyfriend's Friday to be told that they were going camping with friends, and that she'd enjoy it, really.

Three days, two nights, and she hated every fucking minute of it.

You may say it's nature, you may say it's nurture. Me, I'm just delighted to be the parent of such a sensible, well-balanced and clear-sighted young woman.

mustlovegin · 28/09/2021 15:40

YANBU OP. Camping is hellish

ItWasAgathaAllAlong · 28/09/2021 16:16

If not going camping = a deprived childhood, then I'm very pleased I had one! lighthearted. Had to go camping - just the once - with Girl Guides, and it was my idea of hell (left Guides immediately afterwards, I was so traumatised!).

My own DSs have never been camping either - and they are certainly not deprived either.

A 'deprived' child is the one who is chasing a cooked potato over a filthy kitchen floor for their tea (yes, that really has happened where I live/work). A 'deprived' child is one who experiences no love but only abuse in the family home, and is denied access to an education and all the basics that come with being a safe, fed and cared for child.

If a teacher (and I am one) thinks that 'not going camping' is the mark a 'deprived child' then that teacher is either highly privileged where they live, or has a very narrow world view/experience Sad

BecauseMyRingBurnsSheila · 28/09/2021 16:19

My DC think they are deprived because they've never been camping. But it's also my idea of hell!

They've been to Eurodisney (GPs paid) so not actually deprived! DH has never been camping because his DPs took him to Disneyland Florida so again hardly deprived!

I however have been camping and hadn't been to Disneyland till my PILs paid for us to go!

Macncheeseballs · 28/09/2021 16:22

I love camping and I love posh hotels, never did either as a child

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread