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

[Urbandweller]

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!

I think the teacher's point is just that children from deprived backgrounds tend to miss out on all experiences- days at the beach, camping, family holidays, trips to museums etc. I hate camping but our DC (although DH has taken DS1 camping before-) do lots of lovely things- beach, holidays, wildlife stuff, days out. Some children won't do any of those things- I think that's her point.

@LuluJakey1 exactly

OPwhy did you not say what you thought?
Then you could have given the teacher valuable insight.

We used to go camping when we were kids - more to do with there being more kids in the family than the old lady who lived in a shoe, and parents who loved going to the continent.

DHs face, however when I asked him if he’d ever even been in a tent, was an absolute picture.

oops pressed button too soon.

But if a kid was desperate to go a parent can find someone to borrow a tent from, take picnic food and just go for one night somewhere nearby? It would actually save money on electricity etc when out of the house! I was extremely broke for many years but can't understand your comment, it seems a bit OTT.

Thinking of my relative...

Single parent.
6 kids, 2 with extra medical needs.
No transport
Works every weekend

How should she just borrow a tent and take one of her kids camping somewhere nearby?

This is the reality of life for many kids.

I was brought up 8n a 'comfortable' family am in a 'comfortable' position.
I neve had any desire as a child or a adult to go camping I'd rather stick needles in my eyes

It's not just due to a lack of funds etc deprivation is so much more than that. It goes so much deeper. Years ago, I took a little boy out for the day. He was from a very deprived, chaotic household. We went to the beach which he lived 5 minute away from by bus. He was about 9 but had never been to the local beach and he was awestruck later telling me that it had been the best day of his life. It was so sad and has always stuck with me. That's the type of child the teacher was referring to not just your 'average' family who don't like camping but go on other holidays instead.

God that breaks my heart. And you're absolutely right, of course.

it is a bit odd , my dd loves camping and i dont mind it , but its awful if the weather is crap ,and the tent plus all the gear is expensive when you first have to buy it all and the barbeque . the cost of pitches though are obviously cheaper , i wouldnt say a kid thats never been is deprived , maybe she meant it in the way as some kids are so poor they havent even been able to afford camping never mind anything else

Where the teacher may have been coming from is that there are families who due to deprivation really don't do much at all, whether it be camping, holidays, days at the beach, museum trips etc.

Obviously many families do lots of things but maybe just aren't into the beach, or camping etc. I never went camping either and I wasn't deprived. We just weren't a camping family. We went to a lot of museums, the beach etc

@ZZTopGuitarSolo

But if a kid was desperate to go a parent can find someone to borrow a tent from, take picnic food and just go for one night somewhere nearby? It would actually save money on electricity etc when out of the house! I was extremely broke for many years but can't understand your comment, it seems a bit OTT.

Thinking of my relative...

Single parent.
6 kids, 2 with extra medical needs.
No transport
Works every weekend

How should she just borrow a tent and take one of her kids camping somewhere nearby?

This is the reality of life for many kids.

Obviously there will be extreme cases. How does somebody end up a single parent to six children, some of which have additional needs? Did her partner die? Did they not have life insurance?

My children have never been on a camping holiday apart from Glastonbury with their friends !! Camping is my idea of hell on earth and there is absolutely no way I would ever consider camping as a holiday!!

@Itsmemaggie

I just added that because I felt an overwhelming need to defend camping because of the bashing it’s getting on this thread.

it can be really fun its true , , one of the best bits for me was the last site we stayed at and on my way to the toilets at 2am i saw not one but several cotton bobtail wild bunnies all hopping about from the underneath of one caravan to another , had to go through the caravan bit from our camping pitch to the loos , loving rabbits and owning 4 it was great to see their wild cousins , you dont see nature like that in a hotel

There speaks a teacher who loves to camp.

Seems an odd baseline for the definition of deprivation or cultural experience.

I suspect that if you live in overcrowded and uncomfortable conditions then you'd not prioritise going on holiday to somewhere even moreso.

@BrozTito

If jewish people dont camp how did they manage to wander the desert for years with Moses?

They did it for 40 years so we'd never have to do it again

@beattieedny

I've never camped. My kids haven't either. I'm Jewish, we just don't do that sort of nonsense

Isn't there a festival where you're meant to build a temporary structure and sleep in it?

@GreyhoundG1rl

Odd. Skiing, yes. Camping, no. I wouldn't go camping if you paid me.

My thoughts as well

I’ve never gone camping. I’ve travelled the world and stayed in some fancy hotels. Camping? Over my cold dead body. Dds have been to a chalet type caravan on holiday, but never camped.
But, from the teachers point of view, I think she meant that the kids otherwise wouldn’t have gone on holiday at all.

Most childhood experiences are just part and parcel of the environment they live in. Does anyone think a child growing up in a rural area is missing out because they haven’t taken the tube through central London?!

Interesting. My DH took a group of Yr8s to London and for over 50% of them it was their first experience of the capital, going on tubes etc. So yes, I guess I would consider that missing out in a similar way.

Round here (rural) you’re much more likely to have camped out as a kid than done cultural stuff in a city that urban dwelling kids take for granted. Neither is ‘better’ per se, but you’re definitely not having as rounded childhood experiences as the kids that do both. And it does usually come down to money.

What a privilege to be able to be snobbish about camping because you can afford something ‘better‘.

You have to be really oblivious not to realise that camping is a cheap holiday, and the teacher is thinking of children who've not had even the cheapest holidays. She isn't pitying your child who always stays in the fanciest boutique in Paris!

I don’t think the teacher should have been talking about her students to you in that way. It is very patronising.

I've taken sixth formers on their first trip to London. It's about 1 hour by train. I was quite surprised.

My DDs have friends who first went on a train with their primary school (10 min walk from here to our nearest station).

YABU for those children who desperately want to go camping and cannot because of funds. But for those who could not care less, YANBU. It isn't an either/or situation.

Frankly, although I used to LOVE camping, at this point, I agree with my younger son...roughing it is only one premium channel to watch on the cable tv when room service brings my meal.

There was a time, though, when I'd do "Mom's TIme." I'd take off for four days during the dead of winter, often with snow on the ground, and camp in a nearby national park right by myself. I had an excellent tent heater, and I loved the aloneness of it all. I'd curl up and read all day long, and dream by the fire in the evenings. No insects or snakes then, either.