Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Camp Underwhelming

We signed Michaela up for a summer camp through our town, who generally has good programming. It's called Camp Whatablast and said the week would involve games, arts and crafts, and field trips. It sounded really fun so I sent in my $150 check for five full days of camp.
We went yesterday for the first day and it was a disaster. I felt so bad for her because she was so excited and a little nervous since we didn't know anyone there. I mentioned to two of the counselors that she was looking to meet some new people, hoping that they would introduce her to some kids or at least kind of stick with her and help integrate her in but they both said hello and then moved on. They started the day by coloring on blank paper with markers and crayons. When I went back at 12 :15pm to check on her (I had a bad feeling), they were coloring on blank paper with crayons and markers. When I came 15 minutes early to pick her up, they were... coloring on blank paper with crayons and markers. It was like the worst daycare I'd ever seen. To make matters worse, each time I went, the three or four counselors were all bunched together talking and not interacting with the kids.
Today they are going to a waterslide park in Mass. - 45 minutes away. I told them yesterday that Michaela wouldn't be going. There is no way I'm sending my five year old on a bus across state lines to go to a waterslide park with disengaged camp counselors and all older kids (there are only 26 kids in this session, 1st through 5th grade and they are all lumped together with more kids on the older side. All the kids looked miserable to me- like they had been dumped there.) I told Michaela that she can decide if she wants to go back. They are taking a trip to our town Park an Thursday and she wants to go, which is fine with me as there is plenty of supervision there. We'll see about the other days.
Needless to say, we will make some phone calls to whoever is in charge and write some letters to get our money back. We were hoping this would be a great enrichment for her summer, but it turned out to be glorified day care, and really not very glorified at all- just boring.

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