Do you send your kids to sleep-away summer camps?

[momhappy]

Another thread got me curious. Do your kids attend sleep-away summer camps? If so, what age did they start? How long are they away?

 

[Mayk]

Since she was 11 she's done one week each summer and loves it.. Last year she had outgrown the YMCA camp and we did a three week camp in North Carolina. Absolutely the best thing I do for her. She's makes friends from all over the country and international it's non stop activity. She comes home exhausted but all smiles. I visit her everyday on the camp website where they post tons of pictures. The camp counselors write us and tell us how she's doing... She loves it and begs to do six weeks... Which I can't afford. But I love that she loves it!

 

[Enerchi]

All 3 of mine went to a 2 week sleep away camp, about an hour+ from our home. The boys started at 9 & 11, and daughter started 2 years later when she turned 7 - only because both her older brothers were already there so there was no homesickness for her.

All 3 ended up becoming counsellors at the same camp - my oldest was on staff x 5 years and now my youngest, this is her 4th year as staff!! They love it!

Tons of people from all over the province, Canada wide, International... and lasting friendships are made. I am so glad that my kids were able to go and it was as a very generous gift my mother (their grandmother) treated them to for several years. I highly recommend sleep away camps, if its within your budget. There are camping associations and open house events where you can go and meet the owners and some staff and often, for first timers, you can get a single week, not a full 2 week session at some camps.

I remember the first year all 3 were gone at the same time --- DH and I were lost! What do we do without kids?? It was so weird! but we did a bit of travelling and were able to eat when we wanted to, go out in the evenings, sleep in on the weekends... it was FABULOUS!!

 

[SB621]

Ahhhh stupid internet ate my post!

Ok well to sum up...you bet your boot straps my kids are going! My brothers and I went for 4 weeks each summer (they eventually did 8 weeks) starting at 10. We did day camp before that, but sleep away camp was really what we looked forward too. They kept us busy from sun up till sun down. I learned to sail among other things, which at the time was a pretty big accomplishment for me. Anyhow I think camp has so many important tools to assist children. It isn't just about going off and having fun. It's about learning to co-exist with others (living together 24/7), gaining cofidence in things you never thought you would do, having your first taste of independance and learning that your actions have outcomes. I remember learning much of this at camp. And now 20 years later I'm still friends with several of my bunkmates and we laugh over all the good times. I want my DS and DD to have this. I want them to learn skills that I can't necessarily teach them, but that they gave thorugh life experiences.

Anyhow we will start them around 6 or 7 for a day or half day camp. From there we will follow their lead if they show interest and see what might work best for them. But yes the long term goal is a sleep away camp. We have already started to put money away so they can go (as we have 2 very close in age and jewish day camps are not cheap )

 

[packrat]

There are only church camps around here, and we don't belong to a church.

 

[momhappy]

By the way, I think sleep-away camps are great even though my kids have yet to experience them.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

I don't have children yet but I went to several sleep away camps and I loved them! I didn't start going until I was 12 and I wish I had gone earlier. I plan on sending my own children when I have them

 

[TooPatient]

Ahhhh stupid internet ate my post!

Ok well to sum up...you bet your boot straps my kids are going! My brothers and I went for 4 weeks each summer (they eventually did 8 weeks) starting at 10. We did day camp before that, but sleep away camp was really what we looked forward too. They kept us busy from sun up till sun down. I learned to sail among other things, which at the time was a pretty big accomplishment for me. Anyhow I think camp has so many important tools to assist children. It isn't just about going off and having fun. It's about learning to co-exist with others (living together 24/7), gaining cofidence in things you never thought you would do, having your first taste of independance and learning that your actions have outcomes. I remember learning much of this at camp. And now 20 years later I'm still friends with several of my bunkmates and we laugh over all the good times. I want my DS and DD to have this. I want them to learn skills that I can't necessarily teach them, but that they gave thorugh life experiences.

Anyhow we will start them around 6 or 7 for a day or half day camp. From there we will follow their lead if they show interest and see what might work best for them. But yes the long term goal is a sleep away camp. We have already started to put money away so they can go (as we have 2 very close in age and jewish day camps are not cheap )

True!

"A" is off at summer camp for the first time. She's 13 years old. (We had been paying for her to go since she was much younger, but that is a whole different story )
She will be spending three full weeks about 2 hours from home. From the pictures the camp has posted, she does look happy.

Will we do it again?
I don't know. We'd love to but the money is the big question. I'll be transferring to the university where my classes will be much more expensive so it may not work out.

$3,000 each for the next two summers and then it jumps to $7,000

FWIW, even if we can't do summer camp for her next year we will be doing other trips away for her with a youth group. They do a 3 day weekend in Seattle, another 3 day weekend in Portland, 4 days in Vancouver BC, and 5 days in NYC. That should give her plenty of away time with kids her age! (This group also does summer stuff but the cost is $12,000+ )

 

[NTave]

I never had that opportunity when I was a kid..my parents just didn't think about it, because Im sure they would have made it happen. My ten year old went away for the first time this week for a sports camp on Cape Cod, and called crying and terribly homesick a little while ago and just a day into it.. I am now second guessing myself on sending her when she is so far away. I try to give them every opportunity that I can to give them the life that I think they would have had if they had two married parents and sometimes I think I try too hard.
Many sleep away camps are very pricey in this area unless its YMCA camp or girl scouts.

 

[kenny]

I never got to go to a camp when I was a kid.
If I had kids I would let them go if they wanted.

I was curious about prices so I google up camps near NYC.
Of course there are much cheaper ones but the most expensive one was $11,350 for 8 weeks.
Yikes, that's a nice diamond.

http://www.timeout.com/new-york-kids/camps/sleepaway-camps-the-best-summer-camps-for-kids-near-New-York-City

 

[justginger]

I went to 'sleepaway camp,' but not in the traditional sense - it was only between 7-10 days and it was at a university, staying in their dorms. A gifted program, I think they called it. Instead of archery we learned the principles of animal psychology, lol. How to build computers, astronomy, robotics, those sorts of things. It was good fun though, we still got up to mischief and did the normal singalong, campfire, talent show sorta stuff too.

I remember it being reasonably priced, and judging from the current website (https://collegeforkids.net/), it has remained that way. It looks like their session times are shorter for the older kids than they used to be though.

Maybe if you have a bright little spark in your midwestern family, CK would be an affordable adventure for them.

 

[yennyfire]

Our almost 9 year old went for the first time this summer. They call it 2 week camp, but technically, it was 11 days away from home. He loved it and has already asked if he can go for 4 weeks next summer. I can just see my bling budget spiraling down the drain. 4 weeks of camp is about $6K and once DD is old enough to go in a couple of years, we'll be spending about $12K on summer camp each year (they give you a small break for the second kid). It kills me that Jewish summer camp is more than twice most of the YMCA camps, Boy Scout camps, etc.

Living in the South where my children are usually only one of two Jewish kids in their public school class, we feel that it's important for them to be around Jewish kids and to see that they aren't the only ones...however, the fact that it's almost prohibitively expensive is a shame. We've always sponsored a scholarship to our local JCC for a kid to be able to do day camp for a week, but I have to be honest...once both of our kids are at sleep away camp, we're going to be the ones needing a scholarship!!

 

[chrono]

Day camps, not sleep-away camps.

 

[momhappy]

Wow - I can't imagine an 8-week camp. Good grief that's a long time away from your kids...
I think camps in general are just plain good for keeping kids busy, making friends, learning, etc. I'm nervous to send them off to sleep-away camps, but I might look into the possibility of a week next summer. We had a young child die around here recently while in a day camp (a drowning) and although I know it's rare, it still makes me nervous.

 

[Ximena]

Day time camps are great. Sleep-away can be tricky and they are quite expensive. I would rather spend that time and money with my kids somewhere.

 

[pandabee]

No kids yet...but I attended sleepaway camp as a kid. It was only 1 week sessions. I later returned to be a camp counselor at the same camp (total of 6 one-week sessions plus 10 days of training) and it was the best experience ever. My brother is finishing up his last summer there as a counselor too! It was awesome to have pool time, access to archery or horseback riding, arts & crafts, and all sorts of fun bonding experiences all in one place!

 

[charleston1]

YES, how I miss those days! Both kids went to sleep away camp from ages 6 - 13 if I remember correctly. They loved it so much as since their mother is not the camping type (ahhemmm).

They went for 2 weeks every summer. I went to camp every summer for 2 to 3 weeks and still remember it really fondly and my camp was more rustic than their camp. I think growing up in a city, it is so much fun to go to camp (actually we live in the suburbs but still...). The camp my kids went to was not expensive and was a church camp and we are not religious in that we do not go to church so it also gave them a window into religion. More than that it gave them so many experiences they would not otherwise have in life.

One year after my son (probably 8 year old) came home from camp I opened his suitcase to do laundry and was shocked at how his clothes were still clean and folded? What??? Until....I came across the most dirty, disgusting, foul clothes - one tshirt, one pair of shorts, one pair of socks and one pair of UNDERWEAR and one pair running shoes that were so dirty they were literally BLACK with filth! When I asked him about it, he said on Day ONE everyone in his cabin agreed to wear the same clothes for 2 weeks straight. Within this two week period they also did a portage to the island and slept in the tent wherein it rained for 3 days! I laughed so much and ran like H=ll and dropped them straight into the garbage can. Where else could you do this?

 

[momhappy]

^Funny you say that about his clothes because I have mom friends who joke about getting strange clothes back from camp (as in clothes that don't belong to them, but ended up in their child's suitcase). One mom even had underwear that didn't belong to her child!

 

[iheartscience]

I used to go to 4-H camp as a kid for a week at a time, and I loved it. I went from about age 7 to age 12? I had my twin sister there and I think when I was 7 my older brother was there, too, so I didn't get too homesick. If I have any kids I'll definitely let them go to sleep-away camp, at least for a week, if not more. I think 2 weeks would have been even more fun, especially when I was older.

 

[monarch64]

Having not read any of the responses, when can they start? Is 14 months too young? And where does one find these camps? Also, exactly how long can they stay?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Another thread got me curious. Do your kids attend sleep-away summer camps? If so, what age did they start? How long are they away?

No, my kids do not attend sleep-away camps and they won't ever.

 

[ericad]

I went to a week long sleep away camp when I was a kid (6th grade, I think?) and I truly hated it, lol. And I'm the way overprotective type, so no sleep away camp for DD mainly because of my own paranoia, plus she doesn't seem like the type of kid who would enjoy it. Besides that, she's very active in a sport that requires her to practice 4+ days per week, and taking a week or two off from that would bring the wrath of her coach down upon my head. We went to Paris for 2 weeks in the spring and purposely chose our apartment in a location that was close to a place where she could practice during our trip, lol. Yup, serious business.

 

[Laila619]

Another thread got me curious. Do your kids attend sleep-away summer camps? If so, what age did they start? How long are they away?

No, my kids do not attend sleep-away camps and they won't ever.

We're in the minority here, but mine won't go either. I'm too nervous!

They can sleepover at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

 

[missy]

I went to a week long sleep away camp when I was a kid (6th grade, I think?) and I truly hated it, lol. And I'm the way overprotective type, so no sleep away camp for DD mainly because of my own paranoia, plus she doesn't seem like the type of kid who would enjoy it. Besides that, she's very active in a sport that requires her to practice 4+ days per week, and taking a week or two off from that would bring the wrath of her coach down upon my head. We went to Paris for 2 weeks in the spring and purposely chose our apartment in a location that was close to a place where she could practice during our trip, lol. Yup, serious business.

My younger sister and I went to day camp once. I mean literally for one day. We both hated it so much we vowed we were never going to camp, any type of camp, ever again. We always traveled with our parents during part of the summer in any case and when we were home had very fun filled days. Our mom was a full time stay at home mom and she made sure we had plenty of fun activities to do. Swimming, boating, playing with all the children in the neighborhood who also didn't go to sleep away camp. It just wasn't in vogue in our era/neighborhood.

I don't have kids but I guess I would see what they wanted to do once they were old enough and what their peers were doing re camp. It's just not something my sister nor I would have enjoyed. I'm just not a joiner-I dropped out of the girl scouts when I was a kid. Felt like a cult to me lol.

 

[zoebartlett]

We don't have kids so there's no summer camp for us. I went for 2 weeks when I was maybe 11 or 12. I hated it and couldn't wait to go home. My sister went and loved it, and later, as an adult, she worked at a theater camp for a few summers. We are total opposites, so I'm not surprised we felt differently about camp. I'm not really an outdoorsy type but she is.

Missy, I laughed when I read your comment about quitting girl scouts. I did the flying up ceremony (that's what it's called, right?), where you walk over a bridge and go from being a brownie to a girl scout. I had no desire to do girl scouts. I wasn't into selling cookies, I hated wearing the uniform and/or sash, and I wasn't into crafts or forced group fun. My sister and her girl scout troop, on the other hand, sold so many GS cookies that they were able to fund a trip to Europe. Figures.

 

[pandabee]

YES, how I miss those days! Both kids went to sleep away camp from ages 6 - 13 if I remember correctly. They loved it so much as since their mother is not the camping type (ahhemmm).

They went for 2 weeks every summer. I went to camp every summer for 2 to 3 weeks and still remember it really fondly and my camp was more rustic than their camp. I think growing up in a city, it is so much fun to go to camp (actually we live in the suburbs but still...). The camp my kids went to was not expensive and was a church camp and we are not religious in that we do not go to church so it also gave them a window into religion. More than that it gave them so many experiences they would not otherwise have in life.

One year after my son (probably 8 year old) came home from camp I opened his suitcase to do laundry and was shocked at how his clothes were still clean and folded? What??? Until....I came across the most dirty, disgusting, foul clothes - one tshirt, one pair of shorts, one pair of socks and one pair of UNDERWEAR and one pair running shoes that were so dirty they were literally BLACK with filth! When I asked him about it, he said on Day ONE everyone in his cabin agreed to wear the same clothes for 2 weeks straight. Within this two week period they also did a portage to the island and slept in the tent wherein it rained for 3 days! I laughed so much and ran like H=ll and dropped them straight into the garbage can. Where else could you do this?

hahhahaa that is awesome!!!! I cant imagine what the cabin smelled like by the end of the 2 weeks though...oh my gosh hahaha

 

[JaneSmith]

Having not read any of the responses, when can they start? Is 14 months too young? And where does one find these camps? Also, exactly how long can they stay?

Or should I say, commiserations? Young ones take a lot of work. Not much time to

Another thread got me curious. Do your kids attend sleep-away summer camps? If so, what age did they start? How long are they away?

No, my kids do not attend sleep-away camps and they won't ever.

We're in the minority here, but mine won't go either. I'm too nervous!

They can sleepover at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

Ladies, care to elaborate? I think I might be in this minority too, but haven't really thought much about it as mine is so young.



I never went, no money for such things when I was a child. And let me just say that the prices being quoted here made me say faaaaaaaark!

 

[Sky56]

Please don't send your kids away to camp for 8 weeks. If they want to go, send them for 1 to 2 weeks, maximum 4 weeks if they really love it. I don't have kids, but I speak from experience. I was sent away for 8 weeks every summer for much of my childhood. I didn't fit in and was bullied constantly & honestly, it was a nightmare. I still to this day resent never having had carefree childhood summers. Everyone minimized it, just saying, "You need to learn how to get along with other kids" when I reported the bullying to adults. My parents jetted off to Europe and other nice locales while I was sequestered away. Growing up as a rich kid had its perks, but this was not one of them.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Having not read any of the responses, when can they start? Is 14 months too young? And where does one find these camps? Also, exactly how long can they stay?

Or should I say, commiserations? Young ones take a lot of work. Not much time to

Another thread got me curious. Do your kids attend sleep-away summer camps? If so, what age did they start? How long are they away?

No, my kids do not attend sleep-away camps and they won't ever.

We're in the minority here, but mine won't go either. I'm too nervous!

They can sleepover at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

Ladies, care to elaborate? I think I might be in this minority too, but haven't really thought much about it as mine is so young.



I never went, no money for such things when I was a child. And let me just say that the prices being quoted here made me say faaaaaaaark!

No overnight camps b/c I would be worried about child molesters. And, not all molesters are grown ups. If a child has been molested, there is more chance they might do something inappropriate and I don't want my kids to rely on strangers to protect them from this.

Second reason is I don't always think the camp counselors pay enough attention. My kids & I were at a park and there was a YMCA group there and the counselors were all texting on their phones while the kids threw rocks and did whatever they wanted.

My kids are allowed to spend the night at friend's houses. We've never had a serious problem, but there are a couple houses they cannot sleep over at again due to events that have transpired over the years.

We had hoped to do some fun day camps that include kayaking, hiking, etc., but the prices are really high for two boys so we're going to do those next year. This year, I've taken them to do those things on our own and we go swimming, camping, etc., but we're spreading the events out through the summer...a hike one day, home the next, then a museum another day, home... my kids like down time.

 

[SB621]

Having not read any of the responses, when can they start? Is 14 months too young? And where does one find these camps? Also, exactly how long can they stay?

Or should I say, commiserations? Young ones take a lot of work. Not much time to

Another thread got me curious. Do your kids attend sleep-away summer camps? If so, what age did they start? How long are they away?

No, my kids do not attend sleep-away camps and they won't ever.

We're in the minority here, but mine won't go either. I'm too nervous!

They can sleepover at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

Ladies, care to elaborate? I think I might be in this minority too, but haven't really thought much about it as mine is so young.



I never went, no money for such things when I was a child. And let me just say that the prices being quoted here made me say faaaaaaaark!

No overnight camps b/c I would be worried about child molesters. And, not all molesters are grown ups. If a child has been molested, there is more chance they might do something inappropriate and I don't want my kids to rely on strangers to protect them from this.

Second reason is I don't always think the camp counselors pay enough attention. My kids & I were at a park and there was a YMCA group there and the counselors were all texting on their phones while the kids threw rocks and did whatever they wanted.

My kids are allowed to spend the night at friend's houses. We've never had a serious problem, but there are a couple houses they cannot sleep over at again due to events that have transpired over the years.

We had hoped to do some fun day camps that include kayaking, hiking, etc., but the prices are really high for two boys so we're going to do those next year. This year, I've taken them to do those things on our own and we go swimming, camping, etc., but we're spreading the events out through the summer...a hike one day, home the next, then a museum another day, home... my kids like down time.

So do your children go to school? Or do you homeschool? What about going to church (or insert whatever religious institution here) or clubs like boys scouts etc? All of these places have been it the news for molesters. I totally understand your concern as this is my #1 fear for my children, but I wouldn't rule out everything becasue it has happened in the past.