What's the color of T&C?! BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!

"The sky is blue! The water's blue! We're gonna make the gold team blue! What's the color of T&C?! BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!"

Who didn't love Color War?!! Best part of camp. Unless, of course, you were separated from your BFF(s).

It's not even September and what am I thinking about? Autumn, apple picking & light knit sweaters? No. Well, I am, but I'll get to that in another post. But right now I'm thinking about camp for E for next summer. Why? Because you have to sign up for that stuff before the first snow flurry even hits your front steps. They use scare tactics of having to spend endless days entertaining your own child if you don't sign them up soon enough. Yeah, I get scared when I think about that. And I only have one. So I've been doing a little investigating on day camps in the area for Summer 2012.

Granted, it seems the Jews are the main ones who have really embraced the idea of camp and fully embrace the benefits for all involved. When I mention camp to many of my non-Jewish friends it has elicited gasps of horror and exclamations of "You want to send your child AWAY?!". Well, yes. For at least part of the day. I mean, he's two. He's not quite ready for Sleepaway camp but I'm fairly certain it will be with excitement for us both when it comes time to pack up that trusty trunk when the time comes. Even spouses sometimes benefit from missing each other a little here and there. Besides, we send our kids to school and I know plenty of parents yearning for the start of the new school year sometime mid-summer.

E went to day camp this summer. He is 2.5. When I signed him up in December 2010 for this summer, I admit I was nervous. He's like my sidekick. He's extremely friendly, social & outgoing but he'd never taken a class without me & his only babysitters have still only been friends or family. He wasn't always so keen on that either. But this camp had an interesting set-up. It's the 2's camp at the Glen Rock Jewish Center. http://www.grjc.org/learn/summer-camps.asp  They go for three days a week, Monday-Wednesday-Friday, they don't have to be potty trained (E is not), they don't go in any large body of water, and the best part- the main camp "counselor" is the 2's school teacher for pre-school there. I couldn't ask for a better transition.

I won't lie. The first week was a little rough on the drop-off. I took him the first day. He cried when I left him a little. They usher you out quickly because at that age any lingering messes them all up. I didn't call during the day to see how he was doing. Not because I didn't care but because I figured it was pointless. We both needed to adapt and what good was it to hear he was crying for an hour (they said he stopped after five minutes & I choose to believe that)? It's not like I was going to come & get him. B took him the rest of the days that week & I think they both cried. B texted me (yeah thanks) that he could hear E crying from outside.

But after that, it was smooth sailing. I'd go to pick him up, he'd come out with me, I'd put him in the car and he'd say- "I go to camp again?!". He loved it. He started singing all these new songs, he was answering "yes" vs. "yeah", he was bringing home "projects", and he made new friends. Now he can't wait to go to school because he's excited to see Miss Jill & all his crew of friends (most of the summer group plus more are in his class come September). So, instead of crying and peeling him off me like velcro in September, we jumped that hurdle in July. My only complaint was that it was only 6 weeks instead of the camp standard of eight.

On to next summer. I could send him back to the GRJC. I love Hilarie the director- she's a no nonsense kind of woman with a heart. She knows how to deal well with nervous parents but she's not calling you to come there if your kid is crying. They just work it out. Plus the price is right. It's very reasonable. Probably the most reasonable of every camp I've looked at for what you get.

My issue is that with the 3's group, they go off-site by bus to swim at the Glen Rock Municipal Pool. I'm not sure how keen I am on that. I have a few reasons. If I'm going to send him somewhere on a bus, I'm wondering if I want to send him somewhere with it's own pool on-site. The GR pool is great. But it's used by at least two camps, maybe three, throughout each day, plus regular members. That kiddie pool gets very crowded and it's hard for me to keep an eye on him and I'm only watching him. Also, when he's in camp, *I* go there to relax. Not necessarily in the kiddie pool but I don't want to be in the vicinity of where he is during camp hours. If he sees me, he might want to be with me, I don't want to have to hide or not go, and I'd be tempted to spy which just isn't good or the objective of him going to camp.

If I had a unlimited funds, he'd be on the first bus to Ramapo Day Camp. http://www.ramapocamp.com/#/home/Powerball & Pick Six.

I also wouldn't mind checking out Spring Lake on Conklintown Rd. in Ringwood. http://www.springlakedaycamp.com/.  I actually worked there when I was going into college. It has a nice campus, similar to the one I went to as a kid (Shout out to the now defunct Town & Country, Old Tappan). I have a feeling though, that too, is out of my price range.

I certainly don't think at three years old it's imperative to go to an expensive and/or "private" camp. Hell, some kids never get to go to camp or just go to the town recreation camp & I'm sure they have fun. I remember before I went to private camp, I went to "rec camp" and I remember it being fun- I didn't know any different. I think you just hope you can provide the best experiences for your children that you can. I remember loving camp as a kid and just want E to be able to have that too. And if we can't give it to him now, I'd like to be able to do it in the future.

More realistically, I looked at Barnert Temple's day camp online. http://www.barnerttemple.org/learning/index.php3?page=399.  I see a few acquaintances send their children there (thanks to Facebook). The facility looks great, the pictures I've seen of these kids whose parents I know seem happy there and those parents have raved about camp there on their FB pages. It's more expensive than GRJC but the facility looks really great from the photos I've seen. Upon looking at their fees though, I have to say, I will have to get passed the BS factor I'm feeling from them. $100 "registration fee"?! What- for ME & the pediatrician to fill out paperwork, hand it in & for them to cash our check or process our credit card? Come on now. On top of that there was a fee for not being a member of the temple AND another fee for not being enrolled in their pre-school. I think the total for JUST the "fees" are up around $250! That's a lot of ridiculous fees in my opinion when$250 at GRJC is over 1/3 the TOTAL cost for the 6 weeks of 2's camp. To make it more palatable it seems like it would be better to give a full price, including that stuff and make it more attractive to members & those signing up for pre-school to get some kind of price break. It's all in the marketing. I help market for our store- it's simple stuff- Let people feel they're really getting a deal, not screwed. But as usual, I digress.

I do know at least one person in town who sent her three year old to Kids Clubhouse http://www.kidsclubhouseinc.com/Kids_Clubhouse/Summer_2011.html  for their summer camp this year. They seemed happy with it. She said her son did the 2's camp at GRJC & they were happy with it but she had the same reservations about the pool thing as I do. I don't know what the program is at KC but I will definitely check it out too.

Next summer though I'm definitely doing a five day program. My child has enough energy for six parents and he thrived wonderfully in camp this year. It was so cute to see him get excited for camp the night before and how he would run up to me at pick up holding his artwork, so proud to show it off. I loved watching him recognize one of his camp friend's a the pool, walk up to her and just say a casual, "Hey, Gabby". Like he was twelve. It gave him some better discipline too which is a total bonus. Though, unfortunately, he seems to have lost some of that already....This morning, I asked if he wanted waffles for breakfast and he said, "Yeah.".