Congo 2018: Review and Questions
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
First a question: Anybody's else's child coming home and waking up lethargic? My 8 yr old is not sick, and I hydrate him, but he didn't want to go this morning saying he was "forced" to run around all day. Anybody else?
Review; 5 yr old is in the little school (Great Adventures) and loves it. She did not like it the first week but since then, she's had a lot of fun. I love the app (Seesaw) and seeing pictures every day of what's she's doing. 8 yr old did ropes and said the counselors were mean. I imagine they are trying to keep the kids safe, but it's also a mixed age group so maybe 8 was too young. He LOVED the trails specialty camp although I can't figure out why. It seems like he worked all day. He's now in day camp and loved it for a few weeks but started complaining this week. Didn't want to go back, odd. Is he just bored after being there multiple weeks? What's with the busses? My children come off all hot and red but tell me they can't drink on the bus. True? I don't think the bus my kids take is having "behavioral problems" but I'm so curious what's going on there...for no good reason, just curious. |
Anonymous
| 5 year old DS has taken their camps all summer with no issue. I change up the camps every week so he doesn't take two of the same kind in a row. The sheer size of the counselors and change in kids each week you're going to an inconsistent experience. Provide feedback about the bus for sure, they would be able to rectify the situation pretty quickly. |
Anonymous
|
It is a day camp full of outdoor activities, which is good for kids. If your kids aren't used to it, though, it will leave them really tired out at the end of the day. Also, if he's not drinking water throughout the day, he will feel lethargic when he gets home regardless of how much you hydrate him when he's home. It's possible he is getting bored with the day camp if he's done it for several weeks now. While they do have different themes/special activities every week, for the most part it's the same stuff each day. Whether my kids get bored with that tends to correlate with whether they'd made friends in their group that they enjoy spending the day with, but when they're going to be there for many weeks, I try to break it up with a specialty camp every few weeks to give them variety.
My kids don't take the bus so I can't answer questions about that, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if there's a no food/drink rule on the buses to keep kids from making a mess of it. |
Anonymous
|
OP back: My kids are unreliable narrators. I have been the following has happened at camp (none true at all):
1. DD5 went to the hospital to get stitches. (she got band-aids in the nurse's station. 2. 8yr old (not in travel camp) went to Upton hills with all the kids from Congo. 3. They both went to the zoo and the flamingo was their favorite animal.(there's two problems with that one) So yeah, maybe they can drink water on the bus. 
|
Anonymous
|
My kid was also in ropes and I heard the “mean” counselor was moved out of ropes on the second day. The new counselor they got was supposedly awesome.
This summer seems to be going really well. Last summer here was more issues. |
Anonymous
| One more thing- I am surprised that devices are allowed at Congo. My kid keeps talking about other kids FaceTiming, texting, playing fortnight, playing games, etc... it is weird to me that fourth graders are on devices all day at camp. |
Anonymous
OP again: My kid didn't know about "fortnight" before Congo and tonight he drew pictures of it. What the heck? (I should probably google that now) |
Anonymous
There have been a couple email reminders so far this summer that campers aren’t supposed to bring devices to camp, but parents keep letting them do it anyway and the kids sneak it out when the counselor’s back is turned. |
Anonymous
| There was some hubbub (on MONA?) that Congo allowed kids to sing a song about rape in a taunting way at another kid and never met with that kid’s parents despiteyheir repeated attempts to contact? Just saying I heard it hasn’t all been hearts and flowers this year. |
Anonymous
|
when my child brings home a song I don't like, we talk about it. I didn't hear that particular song.
Re: 2018 responsiveness; they have been to me but I"ve called about ... having my camper moved from a camp he didn't like to regular day camp. |
Anonymous
|
Congo tires my DD out more than any other camp because they are outside and active all the time. This is our third summer returning and she still loves it. I was very bothered by some of the reports of the song from earlier this year, but so far we've had no indications of problems with her own experience.
Not drinking on the bus doesn't surprise me at all, and the bus rides aren't that long. Hopefully your child is drinking and refilling his water bottle all day. Asking them not to have food and drink on the bus is standard and not unreasonable. |
Anonymous
| I have mixed feelings about Congo. My 6-year-old seemed to love it but it's INCREDIBLY expensive for what we're getting. |
Anonymous
| This. I have 2 kids there this year. I have had to email repeatedly and they have gone 4 days now without applying sunblock on my youngest. After I brought it up 2x they finally removed the sunblock from his backpack which is what was done for my older daughter and for my younger one the prior week. They haven't returned his clothes that he wore to camp on Tuesday after he fell and bled over them. He just came home in the spare clothes. My older daughter was made to practice a dance routine 4 or 5 times a day last week to the detriment of science or art class for some stupid dance contest that her counselor won. Yesterday she reported that they all watched Coco. First it wasn't hot out yesterday so it would have been better for them to do physical stuff. 2nd we pay a lot for this camp and don't need my kids watching an 1.5 hour movie that we already have at home on Netflix. Dony plan on sending them back next year. |
Anonymous
| My DC does not like it at all. This is our first summer and we won’t return. |
Anonymous
Can someone give an update about this? I heard bits and pieces from various parents but still not sure exactly what happened. The song that was allegedly sung was pretty awful if what I heard was true. |