Anonymous wrote:i am a camp counselor. dealing with children is NOT easy, and we only make minimum wage. these are physically grueling days. tipping is expected and if people don't it is actually offensive. we are college students and really, REALLY need this money. the pay alone is terrible and some kids are downright brats. don't get me wrong, i love the job, otherwise i wouldn't do it. it blows my mind to think people are that cheap, especially when it comes to their children.

Why don't you get a different job if the pay is so awful with being a counselor?

Tipping counselors is totally foreign/bizarre to me. And I don't really care that I'd become a "favorite parent" or if counselors were betting who would or who wouldn't tip.

If I were going to tip, I'd be sure to do it at the beginning of the summer, not the end. What's the benefit in tipping at the end (other than appreciation, which is very generous if you want to do it, but logically it makes more sense to tip at the beginning)?

My 2 children are going to 10 different camps this summer for the 10 weeks that I need to cover. It never occurred to me that I would have to tip in addition to all the money I am having to shell out already.

i am a camp counselor. dealing with children is NOT easy, and we only make minimum wage. these are physically grueling days. tipping is expected and if people don't it is actually offensive. we are college students and really, REALLY need this money. the pay alone is terrible and some kids are downright brats. don't get me wrong, i love the job, otherwise i wouldn't do it. it blows my mind to think people are that cheap, especially when it comes to their children.

Anonymous wrote:i am a camp counselor. dealing with children is NOT easy, and we only make minimum wage. these are physically grueling days. tipping is expected and if people don't it is actually offensive. we are college students and really, REALLY need this money. the pay alone is terrible and some kids are downright brats. don't get me wrong, i love the job, otherwise i wouldn't do it. it blows my mind to think people are that cheap, especially when it comes to their children.

Oh dear. Perhaps this is not a good job for this summer.

i am a camp counselor. dealing with children is NOT easy, and we only make minimum wage. these are physically grueling days. tipping is expected and if people don't it is actually offensive. we are college students and really, REALLY need this money. the pay alone is terrible and some kids are downright brats. don't get me wrong, i love the job, otherwise i wouldn't do it. it blows my mind to think people are that cheap, especially when it comes to their children.

I would say it depends on how many weeks that your child is in camp. For one week, I wouldn't bother giving money. But if your child is at a camp for the majority of the summer, a little something is much appreciated. Counselors make barely any money and work very hard taking care of the kids. My daughter was at a camp for 4 weeks this summer and we gave her counselors 20 dollars each with thank you notes.

For people complaining that camps are so expensive to begin with- please realize that the people who spend the majority of time with your kids - the counselors- barely see any of that money. So if you are able to send your kids to a pricey camp, can't you afford to give them at least 20 dollars or so at the end of the summer?

I was a counselor in college for one summer. Worked 8a to 5p M to F for 8 weeks taking care of 16 five year olds. Was paid less than 1000 dollars for my efforts. With parent tips at the end of the summer, I made another grand. This was in the late 90s. Its hard work and it was nice to get tips.

Anonymous wrote:I was a camp counselor for a few years in college. We weren't allowed to accept tips or gifts of any kind. I've never heard of tipping camp counselors, actually.

Same here. Except I accepted a gift sent after camp and got in trouble. It was a great big gift basket of shampoos and bath stuff from La Costa Spa.

Anonymous wrote:My preferred mode of appreciation is a thank you letter, detailing exactly why I am grateful to this person. Anyone can write a thank you letter, therefore it does not introduce an economic bias in the relationship. Also it limits the number of people who receive such a letter, since instead of smothering everyone in sight with insincere sentiments or filthy lucre, it forces you to think about what this person brought into your life or your child's life.

I hate tipping educated professionals (whatever their stipends or salaries) just as I hate paying my friends. A relationship as important as my good friends or my children's teachers should not be influenced by cash. Actually I really do not approve of tipping anybody whom I already pay for services. Other developed countries do not have this tipping frenzy and their children are well looked after at camp and school regardless.

I do contribute to the end of year gift at school - since the cash that I give the room parent will be converted into a spa day, or some other gift the teacher has hinted at.

+1. In my European home country, giving gifts to teachers (especially cash) is completely unheard of would be looked at as bribery. The tipping culture in the US is completely out of control. It just gives employers license to underpay their staff.

I like the idea of the letter.

My preferred mode of appreciation is a thank you letter, detailing exactly why I am grateful to this person. Anyone can write a thank you letter, therefore it does not introduce an economic bias in the relationship. Also it limits the number of people who receive such a letter, since instead of smothering everyone in sight with insincere sentiments or filthy lucre, it forces you to think about what this person brought into your life or your child's life.

I hate tipping educated professionals (whatever their stipends or salaries) just as I hate paying my friends. A relationship as important as my good friends or my children's teachers should not be influenced by cash. Actually I really do not approve of tipping anybody whom I already pay for services. Other developed countries do not have this tipping frenzy and their children are well looked after at camp and school regardless.

I do contribute to the end of year gift at school - since the cash that I give the room parent will be converted into a spa day, or some other gift the teacher has hinted at.

I worked many summers as a camp counselor -- two in high school come to mind and two in college, though there may have been other stints I'm not remembering offhand. In college it was a high-end, academically oriented camp. Second year I was the 'academic director.' Tipping camp counselors has never crossed my mind until I saw it brought up on these boards.

I was a camp counselor for a few years in college. We weren't allowed to accept tips or gifts of any kind. I've never heard of tipping camp counselors, actually.

I spent 12 years as both a camp counselor and administrator at 4 different camps, both day and overnight camp. I have never heard of counselors getting tips from parents. This was in the Midwest though.

Anonymous wrote:I have been thinking about this - my LO is 4 and has been in "camp" all summer with 2 of her preschool teachers and a handfull of assistants/counselors. Wondering if I should give them an "end of summer" gift similar to "end of year" gifts we give to the teachers.

Don't over think it. They want cash