We make a lot of sacrifices and forgo a lot of experiences to provide for our future.
That's entirely the wrong way of thinking about it. Consider this: even if you had no need to earn a living - say you are a trust fund baby - you still do not have the time in your life for all possible experiences. You must select the ones you want to have. So if you for instance select tent camping with the kids in a fairly nearby place over driving across the country in a 40-foot RV, have you sacrificed or foregone anything? No, you've just chosen one of two (possibly, according to your tastes) enjoyable experiences to have.
That all depends, what if you can't afford to do either without sacrificing savings for the future?
I didn't use the term "sacrifice" lightly. I don't go around like a martyr every day or anything, but are you really trying to deny that those on the lower income level, raising kids, aren't making sacrifices in the now for the future?
Just imagine it from this perspective, trust fund baby has 100,000 things he/she can choose to do. Time is their only limitation, not money. As you go further down the income spectrum, people are limited by time but also by disposable income. But just like the trust fund kid, we see all 100,000 choices, even the ones we would never be able to afford. Down at my income level, I'm well aware of the 100,000 choices but can realistically only afford 5% or less of them. It's only human nature to be disappointed or even feel like you've made a sacrifice when everyone above you is choosing to eat chocolate cake and cheesecake and pie and cookies and ice cream and your only option is lemon tart.
Your example wasn't really the best either, since especially with camping, if you go with merely the intention of "camping" you could do that in your back yard and not spend a penny. Most campers I know like to be exposed to and expose their kids to new places and parks and trails and historical sites. The nearby campground
will be a sacrifice, not a solution.
There are only so many easy sacrifices you can make(lattes, no cable, secondhand clothes, etc)before you start having to dig into the hard ones. For example, in our case, our older two children are special needs. Trust me when I say that I have thoroughly examined the public education offerings and am not impressed. I would do almost anything to get them into a private school that specialized in meeting their needs. The tuition, however would be more than half our income. So the next option is to homeschool them so that I can adapt my approach and curriculum to their needs. This is not the solution I feel is best for them. The solution that is best for them is out of our financial reach. Do you see what I mean?