Less Young People Camping?

Where we are from there has been no drop in camping and the younger crowd seems to get into it a few years after having kids. Campgrounds booked for months in advance and lots of new units. I don't think housing is that much more expensive. Houses were 600 to 900 square feet in the 50's and 60's. Now they are 2100 square feet and even the cheap ones have granite counter tops and 200 dollar fawcets. Build a home to 1960 norms and sizes and I suspect the cost will be comparable after inflation is figured into it. Big TV's and Computers were thousands of dollars even 20 years ago. Now they are a couple hundred at best. Fuel hasn't gone up in 7 years other than the during the economic collapse at the end of the last administration. I don't see a slow down in camping anytime soon.

winnietrey wrote:

loulou57 wrote:

michigansandzilla wrote:

winnietrey wrote:
In my opinion, way, way to much money and time is spent on all these youth sports activities. And family time is sacraficed as a result. I think it is a poor choice.

Every parent seems to think their kid is going D1 and this sumner stuff or endless road trips to play some tournment somewhere is the key.

I disagree. And feel it is a poor choice for the families.

But again that is just me.

I couldn't agree more. Most kids aren't going to get scholarships to play ball in college but parents prep them for a life dedicated to high level sports. Why? I encourage my kids to play sports, but not at the expense of my entire summer or vacation account.
Even playing high school band, which I admit is probably something I will encourage my kids to try, costs $1500 for the year and a huge summer commitment. I will travel with my kids until our schedules don't permit it anymore.

I have to totally disagree with the opinions of family life being neglected due to sports.

Our sons family....dad, mom, son 11, daughter 7 all play hockey. Dad also coaches sons team, mom coaches daughters. Their 3 yr old takes skating lessons. In the summer the kids play soccer. Mom is doing a degree as well as works full time. They camp every other weekend together and 3 weeks. One week south all together in the winter.
They spend all their time together, nobody is at a sitters day or night.

Daughters kids boy 11, daughter 9 both play hockey. Mom skates on precision. Dad never misses a practice or game. Mom also takes a course at uni,and works full time. Summer they play soccer or baseball. They ski together. They camp every other weekend and also for 3 weeks in summer. Their kids re not aat sitters either.

Families can be involved with sports and their family time is not intruded on. Maybe it is the way of life up here, I don't know, the majority of families live this way, but to say that family life is affected and money could be spent better is ridiculous.

Sounds like the son and DIL have a wonderfull balanced life. We did pretty much the same . Both of us coached etc.

But we knew when to say enough is enough.

My objection is when the whole families life revolves around a kid sport. All their time and money goes to that, and they do nothing else.

Parents love to say Little Johnny or Susie plays on this or that premier league.
Translation of 98% of premier leagues is, parents who are willing to pay to keep the coach employed. Whether the kid is any good or not

Their kid maybe a big deal in XYZ league, But they tend to forget about the other 90% of kids whose parents, can not or will not pay.

They tend to get a big surprise when that kid goes to a big high school. And runs into those other kids

I'm agreeing with winnietrey yet again.

Your family sounds like they have it figured out.

The standard seems to be a little bit different in my area. In the past week these are the conversations I've had with 4 unrelated friends when we discussed our vacation plans for this year:

Family #1-Pays out $400/month year round for a 9 year old's competitive dance classes and competitions. They used to camp with us, but due to daughter's dance schedule, they just don't have the time so they sold their pop-up.

Family #2-Husband gets 13 days of vacation time a year. This year, one week of his vacation time will be spent in New York at a baseball travel competition for his 11 year old. The child will play ball all day for 5 days straight at a cost of $1500, not including lodging for the other family members. They are out of money for the year for vacations. They used to tent camp but haven't in years because they attend too many baseball games.

Family #3-Has 2 weeks of vacation time per year. One week will be spent as a family vacation in Florida. The other week will be spent at a travel baseball competition in Myrtle Beach. Their 13 year old will be playing ball all day, every day for 5 days straight; again at a cost of $1500. They were thinking of stopping in DC on the way home so they could enjoy time together as a family, but my friend said her son is typically exhausted after the competition and it might not be worth the stop.

Family #4-Our best camping buddies, that got us interested in camping, now are restricted. The 14 year old is in the color guard in band. Practice starts the first week of August and the cost for the season is $1500 (must be the magic number). She frequently has competitions on the weekends in the spring and fall which requires the family to stay within a 30 minute distance if they do decide to camp. Their 13 year old son plays football in middle school and practice starts the end of July and is 5 days a week. It only costs $500 for him to play football, but that's a total of $2000 for only 2 of their 4 kids to play a sport. They basically are broke at this point and can't go anywhere either.

I'm not saying that this is wrong for everyone, it's just certainly not right for me and my family. Everyone has a right to make choices for their own family and I'm sure that these people are doing what they feel is best for their family. To me though, to be honest, it seems like we have very few resources (money and free time) and these competitive dance and travel sports suck the life out of both of them. But, to each their own.

I'm no expert in families but can agree with most of the comments in this thread. As a kid growing up with 10 siblings, my dad made the most of his two-job income by taking us tent camping and weekend hiking. We were all Boy and Girl Scouts and learned about trees, leaves, plants, animals and birds. We tried eating things that grow in the wild and to build a fire.

Today, there is a huge disconnect from nature. Granted, I am very connected to the internet but if there isn't wifi I'm not dead in the water. Social networking has a lot of good. It has allowed me to be in contact with my family in the U.S., thank goodness for Skype.

That said, social networking has created a false sense of living. We see many things on the internet about how people live but in reality it is a false sense of the word "living". The standards are set so high that people are now in debt up to their ears. Kids take more classes, sports program, additional classes that they no longer have contact with reality. Everyone thinks they're going to be a superstar. That's not reality and as a teacher I can say many children suffer from depression and anxiety because they cannot live up to the expectations put upon them by family and society.

Getting back to nature is key. That's what we are, and we will never change the fact that we are part of this great planet, and as animals, must learn to live among it, appreciate it, respect it and breath it.

Get those kids disconnected once in awhile. Show them how to build a fire, look for food (some think it only comes in a supermarket and milk comes from a carton) sleep under the stars. Not all the time and not without our great creature comforts, but with a sense of their being.

Just like us old farts, we need to learn about Iphones, hash tags, bill pay, etc. It works both ways.

Francesca Knowles wrote:

loulou57 wrote:
You are right about some parents not teaching their kids all that there is to offer if eyes are opened to see.

Last year our grandchildren found a creature none of the family had ever seen. We were in northern Ontario and the kids were swimming in the lake. They brought out these tiny snakes, almost translucent and the size of a piece of cooked spaghetti. Has anyone seen them? Somebody named them hair snakes ?

Did they look something like this, Loulou?



If so, it's a parasitic worm (Gordius aquaticus), though NOT of the kind that infects/uses people. Usually. I think.

Thanks for looking that up.
They are more transparent and thinner. I guess spaghetti is a little thick. Maybe more the thickness of a sewing needle very thin and clear. The pic you show looks like a tape worm gross!!!!

Younger generation has less money...fewer jobs, lower paying jobs, higher cost health insurance or no health insurance. Everything has gone up by about 400% since 09 imo from personal experience. Gasoline has relaxed a bit but was a little less than a dollar for a while, in late 08, just a ways from here.
There is the other side where professionals and so on are buying million dollar home ,right out of schools, and even RVs.
That's just what I see. Oh quite a few are figuring, to save money, on fuel and are buying expensive cross over SUVs? and xo on, on 6 and seven year loans and leases.
Doing what they have to do to survive right now but sacraficing the future. They are between a post and hard spot.

When we go camping, it seems like everyone in the country loves camping (and travel). However, when I talk with co-workers, friends and acquantances, I would swear nobody camps or even travels. When vacation comes around, they stay home or visit family once again. I believe it's because family resources are very stretched compared to years, and decades, past.

Some interesting numbers:
ITEM . . . . . . . . 1950 . . . . . 2012/2013
Avg wage . . . . $3,200 . . . . $44,000
Avg Home . . . $8,500 . . . . $289,500
Avg Car . . . . $1,500 . . . . . $31,000
Galllon Gas . . . $0.18 . . . . . $3.80

In the end, I wouldn't mind if the number of people camping remained flat (less crowds). When I want to be surrounded by thousands of people, there's plenty of ball stadiums close to home. We visit once or twice a season, but that's plenty enough.

I don't believe in our neck of the woods there is a drop in the younger generation of campers. I do believe that younger generation may have cut down on the number of outings per year. We sure did! And we are not that young. Unfortunately the economic downturn affected the amount we were able to camp and it did for the younger crowd of campers I know. All of our children camp and a lot of their friends their ages do. I see them all camping a bit more than the last year or two or three. But it still is not anywhere near what it used to be 6 or so years ago. Things take time to get back up, after being so far down. I do know the price of gasoline is a big factor, as well as the price of propane today! Wow! We know quite a large group of younger generation of campers just from our small circle of life. Maybe that has something to do with where we live. You can drive an hour from our home and camp. I do agree that it is a great way to spend quality time together. My parents took my family camping quite often our whole lives and thankfully my Husband and I were able to pass that on to our children. What a great tradition to pass on!!

DutchmenSport wrote:
Unfortunately the current young generation is truly a "me" generation. Anything that takes any planning, saving, or forethought is way beyond their apprehension. If they go and get instant gratification without any planning, forethought, or saving, you'd probably find more younger people camping. Fact it, it does take "work" to go camping, and the younger generation has really never learned how to "work" for anything! They'd rather go to Six Flags for a day of instant gratification than plan a year or two to purchase a camper they can use for several years in the future! (Then spend their disposable money on mindless computer and video games!)

Very well said!
Kids these days have it way too easy, and are not prepared for the real world. Guess what, there are winners, and there are losers. That RED pen is detrimental to their psychological well being? Please! Stick your finger in a light socket,,,, you learn not to do it again. That is child proofing.

How many of us had the opportunity to go backpacking across Europe for 3 months?

Nobody under 40 that comes into my office even knows how to fill out a post card with their name and address.and these are the teachers that parents trust their kids to. This entitlement generation knows nothing of adversity, and most have wanted and needed for nothing.

Say what you want about how great technology is, but it has destroyed the younger generation. Go to dinner and see how many families are actually talking, not on their phones texting. When I was growing up, dinner was at 6:30, NO exceptions. Now I see commercials telling parents to have dinner with their kids at least 3 times a week.

Here in AZ, if they are camping, it is most likely in a financed to the gills toy hauler or RV, that they cannot afford. Camping requires work, and they have no desire to work for anything.

Canada appears to be different. Different economy, different ethics and morals, and many more good paying jobs.

IMHO, I think life in general actually has gotten easier. The problem is that people "have" to have things. Us included. We are in our mid 40's we both work. Combined income six figures. Do we have to? No. But we would need to move and live in a different house in a different location. We pay more for our house where it's at because of it's location. Basically school district. We could pay probalby 25% ;ess for our house if it was about a half mile down the road in another school district. But it's where we want our kids to go. So we make the sacrifice for it. If we were on one of our incomes, then we wouldn't have the 2013 MH or the 2013 Ford Explorer my wife drives. We also wouldn't have the other toys we have (golf cart, kayaks, multiple flat screen tv's , multiple computers, ipads, etc).

The problem is people who say "I can't"... I hate it. Especially if you never tried. The reason there are more older people camping/rving is because they waited all their life to do it. They felt like they couldn't do it or they had to wait. We can afford to do it now and we are good enough health to do it now. We don't know where we will be in those situations in 20 years at retirement. I be darned if I am going wait to enjoy it and maybe won't ever get to it.

The younger crowd (and some of the older crowd too) have gotten so lazy and set in their ways. They have to have things. They are used to people giving it to them. They will say "their aren't any jobs out there", when there are. It may not be the job you want, there are jobs out there. If you want a specific job or there are an abundance of jobs elsewhere, then you go to them. It's my grandparents did with mill jobs and construction work. If a mill closed down, then they would move to another town where there was work. Heck they don't even go out and put in applications any more. They sit at home on their fanny in their pajamas and fill them out online. They don't want to work manual labor or fast food. But if you have no income, that income is generally better than nothing.

Besides the enjoyment of being outdoors, many people camp because it's generally cheaper to do so. That is if you are not making a payment on something or continually having to repair something. But then again, many people are not happy with a tent, pop up or small older travel trailer. To me, if there's a will, there's a way. A smoker will find a way to get cigarettes and a drinker will find a way to get alcohol, no matter how little money have. To me, a true camper will find a way to camp as well. It may not be an elaborate cross country trip. It may be the state park nearby, but if you truly want to do it, then you will find a way.

down home wrote:
Younger generation has less money...fewer jobs, lower paying jobs, higher cost health insurance or no health insurance. Everything has gone up by about 400% since 09 imo from personal experience. Gasoline has relaxed a bit but was a little less than a dollar for a while, in late 08, just a ways from here.
There is the other side where professionals and so on are buying million dollar home ,right out of schools, and even RVs.
That's just what I see. Oh quite a few are figuring, to save money, on fuel and are buying expensive cross over SUVs? and xo on, on 6 and seven year loans and leases.
Doing what they have to do to survive right now but sacraficing the future. They are between a post and hard spot.

The funny thing is that it's preached that you must have a college education. Kids (and often parents) go out and take on huge student loans for an education that will not get them hardly anything on their ROI (return on investment). Why would I waste 4 years (or more) of school and spend $50,000 or more on college to get a job making barely $40,000 if that. Then they are stuck paying on those student loans for 10 years or more afterwards. Then people tell you they are having a hard time getting those jobs they went to school for. People need to stop thinking that way. College is a good thing and required for many jobs, but there are so many jobs and careers out there that don't require it and you can make more money.

People are also too busy trying to keep up with the "Jones'"....

What's sad is the thought process now adays. I know someone that spent several years in the Army. Got out and went to work for a Sheriff's Dept. Worked there a couple years and then no longer. Not sure why they are no longer there. But they are divorced and have a couple kids. They pay their child support with the money from their GI bill. Then they decided to go to school for something, so they took out a student loan in order to do that. They had no job and was living on $100/month leftover from student loan. Granted they were living their parents and then another person. But all they did was complain that there were no jobs. I pointed out many different jobs. I sent them a link to a security job. They have security experience (military/sheriff dept), but they said they applied for one a while back and they were told they were over qualified for it. I mention simple things like delivering pizza or even fast food. Thier response, oh I've put in applications ,but either don't hear anything or they are told they are over qualified. BS. This conversation took place a month or so ago. Guess where they started working last week? McDonalds. I guess they weren't over qualified after all. They finally got desperate enough. I heard them even state "yeah, I didn't want to work in fast food"..... Peoplejust need to get their priorities straight.