skaters staying w/ familys while away training

[Sk8Bunny]

Hey everybody, i have a question. I go to this summer skate training camp every year, and well, next summer( in 2004) my parents are hoping to send me for the whole 8 weeks, but what they want is to find me a family that i can stay with so it will be cheaper for them and they wont have to stay with me that long(and be away from work). we think we may have found a family i could stay with, who has kids that both skate at the rink i will be skating at, but we dont know what we should be looking for and what to ask them? when we go to the rink this summer(it is out-of-state), we are hoping to see the house and meet the family a bit better. Have any of you guys had a similar experience? whether that be sending your kid off to a family, or having a skater stay with you and your family-if so, could u give me some tips? What can we expect the family to do(like how much they will drive me to where i need to be, etc), and what should we do on our end? This is a brand new situation to us and we just hope everything works out. Thanks.

[Mrs Redboots]

The most important thing is for you to make friends with the other skaters this summer - supposing you simply can't bear them? Two months is a long time.....

Firstly, do you have any allergies or anything? After all, supposing the host family have dogs or cats, and you can't tolerate them. And if you had severe allergies, where you need to carry an Epipen, for instance, you probably won't find any family willing and able to take that responsibility. And what about food preferences? Are you easy to feed, or do you have to have a special diet (if only vegetarian)? Can the host family let you have your own room and/or bathroom, and if not, who will you be sharing with?

Your mum will expect to pay for board, lodging, laundry, linen, and probably transport to the rink (it depends on how the other skaters get there). She will need to make sure the other mother has full details of your insurance (just in case!) and of any allergies you might have.

You will need to find out what sort of household contribution is expected from family members, and do your share of chores - does everybody help with the dishes after supper, for instance, or do you take it in turns to load/unload the washing-up machine?

At the very minimum, you would expect to make your bed, keep your room, or share of room, tidy, put your dirty clothes in the relevant place (or do your own washing at a time that doesn't inconvenience everybody else) and collect your clean ones. And be sensible and thoughtful about listening to your own choice of music (headphones are a great idea!), and acquiescing in what the family want to see on television, not insisting on your own programmes.

Basically, if you are going to become part of another family for a couple of months, you need to be grown-up enough to adjust to their ways, even if they're very different from your own family's ways. Different isn't automatically worse!

[Elsy2]

I had a skater stay with us for two weeks a few summers ago....I just integrated her into the family schedule like she was one of my own. She did go home on weekends which was nice for all of us as she was very young and homesick, (I think she was eleven years old). My daughter was 13 years old at the time, and it got a little tiring for her I think. She didn't like sharing her room after a while. Her family paid me $75 a week for her living expenses as I recall.

[Black Sheep]

Last summer, I went with my coach and some of his other students to train for a week at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. I was supposed to stay in a nearby hotel, but I got lucky! I found out that some close family friends of ours lived only eight minutes away from the rink, and they had me stay with them for the whole week, saving me $$$$ on food and lodging! 8-)