I am writing to express a concern regarding the current canteen system at the camp. While canteen money has traditionally been a fun way for campers to buy occasional treats like ice cream or drinks, the current offerings have expanded to include full meals such as sushi, sandwiches, and hot food.
Given the significant tuition we already pay, the camp should provide sufficient meals and snacks so that children do not need to rely on the canteen for sustenance. Furthermore, the availability of these expensive options creates an environment where kids expect substantial additional spending; our son went through his $150 budget in just three weeks, despite also bringing a full box of snacks from home.
I believe the canteen should remain a fun part of the camp experience without functioning as an additional, costly restaurant. I hope you will consider scaling back the menu to traditional treats rather than full meal options.
Best regards,
E.G. Lakewood
The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
9 Responses
I’m old enough to remember when camp canteen meant a freeze pop and a bag of chips.
Apparently, canteen has since received venture capital.
Now we have sushi, hot sandwiches, specialty drinks, full meals, and probably by next summer:
“Table for two?”
“Indoor or outdoor seating?”
“And would your son like sparkling or still?”
😂
Parents are already paying thousands of dollars for camp — which, last I checked, includes food.
So we’ve somehow reached the point where we pay camp to feed our children…and then send extra money so our children can buy food from camp because the food camp fed them wasn’t exciting enough.
This is genius.
And naturally, once half the bunk is eating sushi, your kid calls home like he’s serving in a developing country:
“Tatty… everyone has spicy tuna. I only have supper.”
There absolutely should be canteen.
Ice cream? Sure.
Chips? Absolutely.
A cold drink? Of course.
But when the canteen menu starts looking better than the restaurant you took your wife to for your anniversary, maybe we’ve gone a little too far.
Kids are going to summer camp.
Not an all-inclusive resort in Cancun.
Bring back the freeze pop.
Nobody ever called home crying because Yossi had a nicer freeze pop.
I think the problem is parents (like the writer above) who give their children $150 for canteen, AND a full box of snacks.
If there weren’t customers, there wouldn’t be a product sold.
The more parents like the writer, the harder it is on those who can’t afford the extra $150.
As to the camps, they provide good food, but why would a kid eat it when they could by treats easily from the canteen. The kids who eat camp food are considered second class citizens by those who can afford the canteens offerings.
Then parents complain about tips.
As a fellow that has worked in a sleep away camp for more than 25 years, I have definitely watched this canteen metamorphosis in real time. It is terrible chinuch, but a couple of points of clarification. The camps are serving MORE than enough food, that no one needs a canteen at all. As far as camps serving more and more elaborate food, it is for the most part just keeping up with the jones. We do it because all the other camps do it. At this point, it is really the parents only option to put limits on how much their kids can spend.
Idk what nebbie camp you went to back in the day, but Romimu, Munk, Bey Kayta, etc all had hot dogs, hamburgers, poppers, and fries. Im talking 20 years ago too btw. (BK closed in 2010 and was a teen camp for reference).
20 years ago you could get hot pastrami sandwiches, eggrolls and more, too.
Yes the canteen is expensive, but this is also part of the camp experience. As long as you set limits with your child like only buying one major thing a once or twice a week it could be kept to a sort of normal expense.
Well, too little too for this year 😳
Right you are. Part of the blame, the bigger part, I conjecture,, is the parents – of sorts – paying the child to stay in camp. Additionally, all the treats that our children have become so accustomed to, simply make for a generation of spoiled children. Treats have become our buying power – others will label it entitlements. Overall, our children must be taught financial prudence by us: that’s called parenting. If we train our children the way our parents – for some the way our grandparents trained our parents – not everything we see must we buy. And if we squeeze the canteen operators, they will cut back too! The bottom line is the buck and where it stops.
How about the questionable kashrus standards of many of these unsupervised canteens….
Like everything with the Jewish community, money ends up perverting everything until it becomes a battle between the Haves and the Have Nots, and then we tell poor people not to be jealous