4.25.2012
I just completed, I think, all of the forms for summer camps and summer internships. My children are older now. The number of forms that I had to complete this year was significantly less than the number of forms that I had to fill out when the children were younger.
When my children were 5, 7 and 12 years old, I had one folder for each child that contained all of the summer camp forms that needed to be completed. If I was not organized, I might miss a deadline or forget to fill out an important form. There were forms to fill out for them to be a member of the swim team. In addition, each sports' camp, theatre camp, tennis camp or academic enrichment camp had different general information forms. Each camp also needed pictures, medical history forms, medical authorization forms in the event of an emergency, photo release forms, and clothing sizes for the camp uniform, which was usually a t-shirt or a swimsuit.
When you have just one child this task does not seem too daunting. If you have three children attending at least three different camps and sometimes attending more than three different camps each, you want to pull your hair out. I would get writer’s cramp because these forms all had to be filled out by hand. In the year 2000 A.D., when we were living in the stone ages, no one had forms that were completed on the computer. No one had auto-fill. Even on this day in the year 2012, I had to complete several forms the old fashioned way by using handwriting and not computer typing.
My son is studying abroad this summer. I needed a copy of his passport, an insurance information and release form, which also needed an authorization form completed by our insurance company. Just in case he had a medical emergency abroad, we might get reimbursed for it. Insurance companies rarely reimburse us for medical emergencies in the USA, so I doubt that we will get any money from them if the emergency takes place in a foreign country. Finally, I had to complete a passport information form, in the event that my son lost his passport. These forms were in addition to the Enrollment Contract, the Rules Contract and the Statement of Understanding Contract that were completed by my son when he applied to be accepted to this language immersion and art history study program 5000 miles away from home. He also had to get 4 additional passport photos taken that will be used for an international student ID and a bus pass.
In addition to all of the forms that had to be filled out, there is also an eight-page guide called, “Notes”. It took me one full day to read and complete all of the forms and call the insurance company. I also think that I should hire a lawyer to make sure that I am not signing away any of my rights to litigate the school, in the case they lose my child. Yes, that has happened to my son before when he traveled abroad on a school trip.
It has been a few years and I can only now talk about it without my blood pressure going up. My son was a rising 8th grader; that means he had completed 7th grade but had not yet started 8th grade. He studies Latin and French. He had the opportunity to go to Italy or France with a group of 15 boys chaperoned by three teachers from his school.
As you may recall, the summer of 2008 was the true beginning of The Great Recession as far as Main Street was concerned. Bear Stearns had already collapsed and the stock market was on shaky grounds. I was visiting Goldman Sachs on the last day that they were an Investment Bank. The following Monday they had become a Bank Holding Company. But I digress. I just want to emphasize that a lot of people were afraid that they would try to withdraw money from their ATM machine and nothing would come out. I really do have a lot of inside information about Wall Street.
Instead of 15 boys traveling to Italy with three teachers, 6 boys went to Italy with 3 teachers. I normally travel alone with my three children so this student teacher ratio was very low…2 boys to 1 teacher. I felt a sense of relief that they could keep track of all the boys. They toured Rome, Pompeii, Capri and Florence. They even visited a classmate’s family that owns a villa in Tuscany. They were very lucky boys, until my son got lost at the train station in Florence.
I will repeat this last statement. "THEY LOST MY SON AT THE FIRENZE TRAIN STATION IN ITALIA."
How can three teachers chaperoning 6 boys lose 1 boy at the train station? All you have to do is hold a boy with each hand. One adult watching two boys. It sounds easy to me. Here is the story that I was told by my son and his friends who went on the trip.
“They were late for the train that was to take them back to Rome for their departure to the USA on the following day. One of the teachers decided to go to McDonald’ s before they boarded the train.”
I paid how much money for my son to go to Italy to eat American fast food. I should have gotten a refund for his trip.
“We were running to catch the train." The teachers said, "Get on the train." My son is a very fast runner. My son got on the train. The doors closed. The teachers and the rest of the group were still standing on the platform. When he turned around and realized that no one from his group was on the train, he started banging on the door. The teachers were banging on the train doors from the platform. The train departed the station on time.
“But this train was not going to Rome", where their airplane was scheduled to depart the following day, it was headed to Bologna. It was going in the opposite direction. Luckily, my son is very smart. He found the conductor and showed him his itinerary. He did not have his passport. Of course his teachers had his passport. They were the responsible ones. The conductor did not stop the train. He did contact the Florence train station. At the next train stop, he was escorted by the Police on the next train to Florence. His group was waiting for him.
One of the teachers during this episode cursed so much that my son said that he had never heard some of the words before. The school did not call to notify me that my son had been lost. I only heard about it when I picked him up from the airport when all of his friends came over to tell me what had happened to him. They all had PTSD.
DO I GET A REFUND NOW?
Let’s not talk about how much food they ate over the two weeks when they were in Italia. My son came home emaciated. He lost at least 10 pounds during the trip. He said they ate meat only once during the entire trip when they were at his friend’s villa. They ate lots of pasta, pizza and McDonald’s. My son does not eat fast food. He is a very healthy eater.
In the summer of 2008, the US dollar was very weak versus the Euro dollar. The teachers did not have enough money to properly feed the children. No one on this trip was on scholarship. Why didn't the teachers call the school and advise them that they needed more money? I am sure that the families of the 6 boys would have gladly paid a supplemental fee to make sure that their children were given an adequate amount of food each day. My son was starving when he came home. He had been lost. He also thought that he had been bitten by bed bugs at the Convent that they stayed at in Rome.
The teachers did make a lovely photo book about the trip that included a quote from my son.
“I am proud of myself that I came on this trip, because I have seen one of the greatest cities in the world. I would have never imagined that a city would be this rich in historical architecture. I know in the future I will come back, but there is nothing like witnessing something so glorious for the first time.”
My son denies writing this quote.
Was this trip was worth it? I guess he will always remember this trip to Italy. Hopefully, this summer will be uneventful.
DAYM
6.2.2012
Addendum
My son got sick at school last week and had to come home from boarding school early. He finished his classes but was unable to take his exams. He has some kind of mysterious virus or mono.
He will not be able to go to France this summer. We are not eligible for a refund because he got sick after the deadline for any refund.
Has anyone ever gotten a refund from a summer camp? Please let me know.
DAYM
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