Summer Camp for the Family: Free for the Children and You Get Paid !

When my son was 8 years old I knew I wanted to do something special with him that summer. I started researching summer camps and learned that my son could go free to camp all summer if I worked as a nurse at camp. I was paid $2500 for the eight weeks, and my son attended camp for free, the cost of camp would have been over $5000.00 for the summer so it prooved to be a wonderful way for us to afford a summer long vacation, see new places and things together with housing and food provided.

I started my research and knew I wanted to be on the coast somewhere, I had always wanted to visit New England and began my search there. It is amazing to find out there are hundreds of camps for anything and everything from weight loss, to the arts to sailing camps. I found Cape Cod Sea Camps which is located in Brewster, Ma. ( Camps always seem to have openings for nurses, but I would start early if you know where you want to be.) I made one phone call and was informed by the camp director as to how it works, everything was all set within a couple of days. Turns out I selected one of the top camps in the country.

Someone from camp met me at the Boston airport, and we made the drive to Cape Cod. When we arrived at camp my son was taken to his cabin and I went to a group meeting in the outdoor pavillion. All the staff and counselors were introduced to each other by Sherri who had an unbelievable memory, she went around the group and told a little about each of us, including our birthdate, without notes ! After this, I went to the infirmary which is where the nurses worked and lived. We worked in shifts and on our days off we had time to explore the cape. This was one of the best summers I have ever had. I met alot of interesting people from all over the world and explored every inch of Cape Cod.

The camp is a sailing camp but offers a diverse program, including archery, riflery, tennis, sports, pottery, woodworking, photography, lacrosse,basketball, canoeing, windsurfing, just to name a few.
They have tours of different sights for the children all summer long and by the time the summer is over the children have seen everything available on Cape Cod including whale watching, theatre, as well as Boston trips.

My time with the children was special to me, I had my favorites of course, and enjoyed listening to them talk about their activities. I spent my summer passing out their medications and tending to a variety of minor ailments.
The children are not allowed to speak to their parents for the first ten days,
(they want them to bond with the counselors), so they spend alot more time in the infirmary in the beginning, as some of them experience a degree of home sickness,if it is their first time at camp. I provided allergy shots, and breathing treatments for a couple of the children, and even chest percussion for one of our children who had a chronic respiratory illness. We had a doctor who came to camp every morning who would treat children who might have the flu or other types of illnesses but for the most part the children stayed very healthy all summer and very busy.

The counselors are usually college age and most of their counselors came from Harvard, Brown or other colleges in Boston, but there were many other counselors who have been there for a very long time and all of them love what they do. This camp is over 80 years old and they are truly experts with children. They have several waterfront locations for watersports, and instruct in sailing, they use Cape Dory's on Cape Cod Bay and have small sailboat instruction at their Long Pond location where they have outings and picnics.

The food at camp was unusally good, and they have a huge kitchen which provides homemade meals from scratch for the camper's, including homemade breads.

There is a great outdoor theatre for play productions and they have award ceremonies at the end of camp which is alot of fun for the end of the summer.
There are many Directors for the variety of functions and the children are well supervised with a very low counselor to camper ratio. I always felt my son was well supervised and it was a pleasure to see how much fun he had, as I was fortunate enough to be there to witness his summer.

If you are a nurse, coach or teacher and have summer's off, camp is a great way to spend time with your child, yet know that they are receiving the best the country has to offer in a variety of activities to stimulate their mind.

It is easy to search the internet for specialty camps, simply type in summer camps for children. I would highly recommend Cape Cod Sea Camps if you can get in, but anywhere you spend time with your child all summer is going to be an unforgetable experience that you will talk about for the rest of your lives.
We spent three summers at camp and all were memorable.