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

[NTave]

Depends on camp for food allergy management. The one I sent my Dd to could manage her peanut allergy and her roommate had a dairy and gluten allergy. I felt comfortable sending DD with the plan in place. It's scary sending a child with food allergies away, especially if they are making their own choices in a cafeteria.

 

[TooPatient]

Just picked "A" up from camp today. Everything she packed is covered in grass! She stuck her damp towels with her dry "clean" clothes and everything else (including dirty shoes). And chocolate chips loose in her suitcase?!?

Oh well...

She had fun. Only missing a pair of sweatpants. Someone pushed her on stairs and she got a cut on her leg (doesn't look infected but had to have been quite the trip!).

She did come home sick though.
Just cough/sneeze/sinus stuff. Apparently it was going around camp and she managed to not get it until the night before coming home.


I have load # 7 of her camp laundry in to wash now. Spent the last 6 hours swapping laundry around and removing the tags with her name from everything. She's been in sleeping since she got back.



ETA: Forgot she's also missing her nail clippers and bug spray. But seems to have gained a pair of underwear

 

[Gypsy]

Just picked "A" up from camp today. Everything she packed is covered in grass! She stuck her damp towels with her dry "clean" clothes and everything else (including dirty shoes). And chocolate chips loose in her suitcase?!?

Oh well...

She had fun. Only missing a pair of sweatpants. Someone pushed her on stairs and she got a cut on her leg (doesn't look infected but had to have been quite the trip!).

She did come home sick though.
Just cough/sneeze/sinus stuff. Apparently it was going around camp and she managed to not get it until the night before coming home.


I have load # 7 of her camp laundry in to wash now. Spent the last 6 hours swapping laundry around and removing the tags with her name from everything. She's been in sleeping since she got back.



ETA: Forgot she's also missing her nail clippers and bug spray. But seems to have gained a pair of underwear

Sounds like she's coming back from spring break!

She's safe. She had fun.
Next time you can make her do her own laundry (or do it with you)-- so she learns from it.

And you can explain the importance of keeping wounds clean and show her how, when she wakes up.

She'll be better prepared than most college freshmen at this rate.

 

[TooPatient]

Just picked "A" up from camp today. Everything she packed is covered in grass! She stuck her damp towels with her dry "clean" clothes and everything else (including dirty shoes). And chocolate chips loose in her suitcase?!?

Oh well...

She had fun. Only missing a pair of sweatpants. Someone pushed her on stairs and she got a cut on her leg (doesn't look infected but had to have been quite the trip!).

She did come home sick though.
Just cough/sneeze/sinus stuff. Apparently it was going around camp and she managed to not get it until the night before coming home.


I have load # 7 of her camp laundry in to wash now. Spent the last 6 hours swapping laundry around and removing the tags with her name from everything. She's been in sleeping since she got back.



ETA: Forgot she's also missing her nail clippers and bug spray. But seems to have gained a pair of underwear

Sounds like she's coming back from spring break!

She's safe. She had fun.
Next time you can make her do her own laundry (or do it with you)-- so she learns from it.

And you can explain the importance of keeping wounds clean and show her how, when she wakes up.

She'll be better prepared than most college freshmen at this rate.

(You'd have to see my "must learn by the end of high school" list -- she's making great progress! Laundry, dishes (by hand and machine!) and simple meals are up to the top for this year's life skills to introduce.)

 

[Gypsy]

Perfect.

To be fair... there are the rare times that I still pack like a spastic 12 year old. Of course, I am the one that has to deal with the chocolate chips, the odd bits of "where did that come from", and the musty smell the damp towels give to everything. And I do know better. But... sometimes, even at 37, having fun takes precedence over being responsible.

 

[amc80]

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?

I was hoping they would go as young as 12 months. It doesn't even have to be long...I will take one night of uninterrupted sleep

 

[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?

I was hoping they would go as young as 12 months. It doesn't even have to be long...I will take one night of uninterrupted sleep

RIGHT?!?!

 

[TooPatient]

Getting more details as she talks about the fun they had at camp....
All I can do is smile and say I'm glad she had lots of fun...

She and another girl locked the others out of their cabin when the others went streaking.
She went streaking with them another time. (no boys allowed in the area so only girls)
Boys showed up to breakfast one day wearing nothing but underwear (boys and girls together)
Had an off-camp fieldtrip through an area full of questionable people (two people stabbed there a week earlier -- a place we would NOT have allowed her to go even with a group had we been told about such an activity)


Yeah...
Not sure if I'm thrilled with her going back to this particular camp. She wants to get short-shorts for next summer and bikinis too since that is what others had. (including the thong underwear needed to go under the shorts!?)
I've also seen pictures of boys laying with heads in girls laps, girls walking around wearing bras & mini-shorts, etc. Plus boys/girls play-wrestling together in whipped cream

I know it is all meant in good fun, but I don't know if it is the sort of "good fun" we'd like to promote.

 

[Gypsy]

Getting more details as she talks about the fun they had at camp....
All I can do is smile and say I'm glad she had lots of fun...

She and another girl locked the others out of their cabin when the others went streaking.
She went streaking with them another time. (no boys allowed in the area so only girls)
Boys showed up to breakfast one day wearing nothing but underwear (boys and girls together)
Had an off-camp fieldtrip through an area full of questionable people (two people stabbed there a week earlier -- a place we would NOT have allowed her to go even with a group had we been told about such an activity)


Yeah...
Not sure if I'm thrilled with her going back to this particular camp. She wants to get short-shorts for next summer and bikinis too since that is what others had. (including the thong underwear needed to go under the shorts!?)
I've also seen pictures of boys laying with heads in girls laps, girls walking around wearing bras & mini-shorts, etc. Plus boys/girls play-wrestling together in whipped cream

I know it is all meant in good fun, but I don't know if it is the sort of "good fun" we'd like to promote.

Sounding more and more like Spring Break.

I'd be concerned too, and try a different camp next time.

 

[TooPatient]

Getting more details as she talks about the fun they had at camp....
All I can do is smile and say I'm glad she had lots of fun...

She and another girl locked the others out of their cabin when the others went streaking.
She went streaking with them another time. (no boys allowed in the area so only girls)
Boys showed up to breakfast one day wearing nothing but underwear (boys and girls together)
Had an off-camp fieldtrip through an area full of questionable people (two people stabbed there a week earlier -- a place we would NOT have allowed her to go even with a group had we been told about such an activity)


Yeah...
Not sure if I'm thrilled with her going back to this particular camp. She wants to get short-shorts for next summer and bikinis too since that is what others had. (including the thong underwear needed to go under the shorts!?)
I've also seen pictures of boys laying with heads in girls laps, girls walking around wearing bras & mini-shorts, etc. Plus boys/girls play-wrestling together in whipped cream

I know it is all meant in good fun, but I don't know if it is the sort of "good fun" we'd like to promote.

Sounding more and more like Spring Break.

I'd be concerned too, and try a different camp next time.

Have a recommendation for a different camp. Of course I had LOTS of recommendations for this camp....
(which is supposedly a very well respected, been around forever, religious camp!)

I think the problem was that there were a handful of adults and then the cabin counselors were "college age" (apparently 17-20) supervising kids in grades 8-10. Didn't really cut it.
All seemed to be "in good fun" but not the sort of "fun" we'd like to encourage.

"B" said that he'd prefer a camp that didn't leave him feeling like we have to cover the details of birth control as preparation for camp.


Plenty of time to think about what we'll do for next summer. May be the other camp (with careful dress codes and expected behaviors) or possibly a computer animation class at the local college (which she'd really enjoy too) or maybe even just a boring time around home with friends (maybe toss in a trip by herself to Boston to visit family).

NOT likely to send her back to this place again... let alone jump up to the 6-week session with "more freedom"

 

[MrsBettyBoop]

As school is finally starting back up next week... I can't wait to send my kids off! Everything I know about camp I learned from Camp Anawanna (Salute Your Shorts). I really wanted to try camp but my parents couldn't afford it. My girls might not want to go and that's ok too... they are a bit more high maintenance than I was. But I sure am going to try and sell it!

My children have mastered advanced "tattle-telling" and "personal space respect" - I don't think anyone would dare try them. I definitely worry about them a little less in most situations than I would a singleton. There are three of them, they really stick together. Bullies need be very afraid.

 

[MrsBettyBoop]

Oh for heaven's sake! Do they have all girls camps? I think that's more my speed...