Mishpacha Mag. and kids buying food at canteen in camp.

↑ watergirl ↓

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 9:05 am

yolo81 wrote:

and for all the people commenting to drink the tap water. would you bec I would not!!!!!!

With all due respect, how old are you? I am 42. When I was at overnight camp, tap water was the name of the game. And it was not filtered. And we were fine. In fact, that was actually a color war breakout one year - that there was a problem with the water we all drank and we had to go to the local hospital for antibiotic shots, they loaded us all on busses and we went to the hospital and they were happy to play along. THATS how normal it was for everyone to drink tap water. The REALLY rich kids had tradition soups and they used hot water from a specific shower head to cook it (it was hotter than the others for some reason). It was all the fun of being at camp. It's ok to not like the food... it's camp!

↑ Goody2shoes ↓

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 9:06 am

HonesttoGod wrote:

You do know that boiled water is ok right?
I guarantee they’re not boiling it before putting it in the faucets.

Seriously if I’m sitting at home eating schnitzel and mashed potatoes why do my kids (for whom I paid money to send to camp to have a. Good time) need to be eating pb+j with crackers because they didn’t like the supper?!

From reading comments here though it seems girls and boys camps are different. There is absolutely no pressure at my boys camp. No fancy clothing etc etc. the canteen has basic food options (yes schnitzel sandwich and franks is basic) which I prefer over nash and I really don’t understand why people think it’s extravagant.

Also to the another who mentioned grilled cheese with an iron, my boys are not allowed any appliances whatsoever. This thread is bizarre. I’m beginning to feel really bad for some kids.

Most kids know that camp doesn't have the same comfort as home and that's ok. No need to feel bad for them.

↑ Goody2shoes

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 9:09 am

watergirl wrote:

Exactly my thoughts! I might be a few years younger then you but I think we had pretty much the same attitude. We got lucky enough to leave the hot city for some fresh air, who cares if there were spiders, no hot water, interesting and sometimes unedible food and hard matesses. We were in camp! In was all so much fun.

↑ B'Syata D'Shmya

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 9:13 am

HonesttoGod wrote:

Seriously if I’m sitting at home eating schnitzel and mashed potatoes why do my kids (for whom I paid money to send to camp to have a. Good time) need to be eating pb+j with crackers because they didn’t like the supper?!

If I understood you correctly you want the camp to provide proper, tasty meals? Or you think its ok for the canteen to make up for the camp kitchens offerings.

I think there is an element of social pressure that should be acknowledged. Kids who might be ok with the camp food are socially pressured to buy the canteen food and not eat the food that others have deemed eeeeuuuuwwww...(I remember cooks that really tried to please the palates of the campers - anyone remember Mickey from Sternberg ??Mystery "meat" balls?? My husband said in his yeshiva they called the meatballs "nosen lechem lechol basar")

Since you send your kids to camp to have a good time like you write, the meals are considered secondary or tertiary in importance. Same as in Seminaries.

The sad thing is that its possible for camps to provide good food at low costs.

↑ watergirl

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 9:15 am

yolo81 wrote:

what is the big deal. the boys work so hard during the yr they never get off so if they want to get a burger or steak big deal. I do feel bad for kids that can’t afford it. I happen to send my kids with extra money and stuff to alway give out. why is their a whole thread bashing kids. if you don’t belive in canteen or sending ur kids packages etc don’t but respect that each parent has a choice!!’.

The bolded is the big deal! Part of the magic of camp was the leveled playing ground we were all on eliminated the social boundaries (engineered by our parents) and enabled everyone to become friends on the same terms. If you can say what's the big deal, and then say you feel bad for those who cant... but then say each parent has a choice, then you REALLY don't get it at all.

Imagine for a moment a bunk of kids who had a dinner that was really just meh. Kind of dry chicken, rice, green beans... then a few hours later they go to their bunks and all haul out their nosh and share it with each other. Or pull out the bag of chips they got from the canteen and eat that, then go to bed. That's how camp used to be. This was all part of the social aspect. Not, after a meh dinner, half the bunk goes to the food truck and gets a burger or steak, and YES! It is a BIG DEAL! Because the camp made it that way. That kid who would love to go sits back because he can't afford it. Maybe he asks a few kids for a few french fries... after a week of this, he is now the bunk mooch and that frames how the kids look at him all summer. Or the kid like my son who would not have the money to do this so often and sits sadly while he is left behind... he should be sad that often? At camp, where it's supposed to be fun? And now it's a low point in his day because every night he is smacked with the reminder that his family does not have the money for this extra treat?

And no, this is not a thread bashing kids. It's a thread discussing a magazine spread highlighting one of the saddest aspects of the frum camping scene today. Kids are not being bashed. They are just doing what their parents set them up to do. It's the practice that people are unhappy with.

I was especially sad at the mention of the Oorah camp where they sold the food at cost because they wanted to encourage the kids to hang out in the cafe area. Even at cost price, those kids who don't have the money for it now are loosing out on this important social aspect of camp?

PinkFridge ↓

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 9:20 am

keym wrote:

A disclaimer that im talking for myself, my community and my experience.
I am under my screen name, and you are not, so I actually have no idea who you are, which community you are in, etc.

My purpose in sending my boys to camp is not to "rough it up". It never was. And my Rabbanim never had that in mind. Not for the past 30 years at least.

My purpose in sending my teen boys to camp is to provide them a structured atmosphere where they can learn, have fun, and relax. Where the atmosphere in conducive for learning and growing, where they can play sports, go swimming and get fresh air without worrying about what they'll see or be exposed to.

It's not a new thing either. It's known that many of these boys yeshiva camps had a running in the Bais Medrash all day to make it as comfortable as possible. And that Roshei Yeshiva were instructing their camps to instal fans in the bedrooms more than 40 years ago.
Anyone who wants can pm for exact places, etc.

Meaning it never was to "rough it up". It was for a change of scenery. A relaxing environment.
.

Look, it's warmer in the mountains now.
But camp on the whole wasn't for the high maintenance kids. Or maybe they went to the camps that were known for catering to those kinds of kids (whether or not the reputation was honestly earned).

↑ PinkFridge ↓

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 9:22 am

amother Mint wrote:

Making life as comfortable as possible is not a concept in line with the Torah.

You can say pas b'melech tochal but 3 words: Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin. And a few more: Slobodka also tried to create an image of a dignified yeshiva man. Did that mean they ate gourmet or slept on the finest mattresses? No. But they didn't have to scramble.

And some of those earlier camps were in effect kiruv camps so maybe they made sure to have nice facilities.

amother

Tomato ↓

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 10:35 am

I have a few boys in sleepaway, they are not all in the same camp, they all have these elaborate canteens with hot food. Dairy and meat… pizza, burgers etc… this is on top of camp food, on top of nosh they bring up, and on top of all the special treats the camp gives them with late night dougies, Rita’s, le chocolat etc etc… my issue is more then the money, it’s so unhealthy. One of my boys is overweight and I don’t know how to deal with this. I can’t make a big deal because then he’ll want it even more and everyone else is getting it. I’m nervous he will gain so much weight. He called me erev shabbos that all the parents either drop off homemade shabbos food if they are upstate or if they aren’t they send dougies for a shabbos treat. Seriously? It’s just absurd the amount of food that they are being given constantly…

amother

↑ Tomato

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 10:58 am

Also, to all the posters talking about how canteen has now unleveled the playing field- I actually think that happens in many ways even without canteen being an issue. My boys need all tiros, not a cheaper brand. Slides have to be under armor, sweatshirt is also brand name etc etc etc… you can’t just bring any nosh, it’s not like they just bring a bag of pretzels and potato chips, we need jolly ranchers, jerky, cy chocolate etc etc etc… any my son is not any more gashmiyusdik then the next boy. Believe me. But they need electric fly swatters, neck fans, the most powerful flashlight. What I’m trying to say is that everything is over the top, the canteen is just the icing on the top but it’s not like if they got rid of the canteen the issue would be gone. This is part of galus and it needs be dealt with in a bigger way then saying it’s all bc of canteen… just my two cents…

amother

Hibiscus

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 12:32 pm

I have a 14 year old boy in camp now and he is my youngest. Based on what we gave his older siblings, I put $30 in his canteen account, even though the recommended amount per session from the camp is $80-$100, which I think is insane. I did tell my son before he left that we will see after two weeks whether he really feels that he needs more and will then decide. When he called home for the first time, he said there was an incentive program to learn before Shacharis and the reward for each week in which the boys come to learn early is $10 to the canteen. Kol Hakavod to the camp for arranging this! My son will now have more than enough canteen funds for the summer and I didn't have to break the bank.

↑ HonesttoGod

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 12:35 pm

B'Siyata DiShamaya wrote:

Not at all. The camp DOES provide good food. BUT every kid has a different taste as I mentioned before. And if my son doesn’t like the supper one night, I am absolutely ok with him being able to buy himself a small burger or sandwich. AFAIK their camp doesn’t sell steak(!). My boys are not pressured at all to buy from the canteen but when they want it, it’s there.

One son has a boy in his bunk from a well known wealthy family, his parents send dips and jerky for shabbs. This son has never once asked for that. When I sent him popcorn for 1 shabbs, he was just as happy.
The same kid also asks for packages constantly. So we asked him what he feels like he’s missing because we sent him to camp etc etc what is he missing? He said “nothing it’s just the fun of having and opening a package”.
At home he gets to open our packages if we let so I get it. We send him popcorn and letters and a bag of candy when we can - that’s his enjoyment. Other kids don’t care.

Do I think camps are going ott ? Maybe some are but I also think a vital middah for kids to learn is NOT EVERYONE HAS TO HAVE EVERYTHING!!! And just because it’s THERE doesn’t mean they HAVE to have it.

amother

↑ Dill

Mon, Jul 31 2023, 1:20 pm

amother Tomato wrote:

This. It's obscene how so much of camp and day camp and really all of frum life centers around food. How much we are moving away from food as fuel and towards food as entertainment. We are setting us all up for a lifetime of health issues. Kids who are hungry after dinner should be having a fruit or vegetable. Not potato chips or noodle soup and certainly not shnitzel sandwiches. For posters who are happy their kids have real food options, I'm genuinely not sure a canteen shnitzel sandwich or burger is all that different nutritionally from a noodle soup. Crackers with peanut butter are more nutritionally sound than pastrami sandwiches.
It's lovely that camp Simcha has an adorable candy land for a canteen but it's sad because those kids more than others need solid nutrition, not free reign to unlimited candy.