I saw a bit of this on the today show and thought WOW. Apparently long sleep away camps are a little more regional.

So what ages do you think it is appropriate for sleep away camp and how long?

On the today show they were talking about month long camps, all summer camps etc.

By Cocoabutter on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 07:04 pm:

Well, I looked on their website and all I could find was a story on keeping kids up on education through the summer months and it mentioned that there are specialized camps for learning in specific areas of education. Was that the story you are referring to?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13388817/

Anyway, as far as summer camps in general, I could see maybe for a week for elementary age kids, but I don't think it is good for some kids who just aren't ready to stay away from mom and dad for extended periods of time.

By Kate on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 07:14 pm:

What exactly did you see on TV, Kaye? What made you think WOW? I'm not sure what you mean by 'long sleep away camps are a little more regional'. And what is long?

My DD is heading off for a week of sleepaway camp for the first time this summer and I am a nervous wreck so your post really interests me and I'd like to know what you saw and what you meant!! Go ahead, feed the neurotic, overprotectiveness in me!!

By Imamommyx4 on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 09:30 pm:

All 3 of the boys went to week long summer camps starting at age 8. The oldest had fun and was good with it. Always ready to come home though. The middle ds would have lived there all summer if he could have. He busted his chin at the pool, had to have stitches before we could get there and cried b/c he was afraid that we'd take him home when we came to check out the injury. DS went for 2 nights of the 6 nights he was supposed to be gone. He threw up and complained of a tummy ache until I got there to get him. Amazingly the tummy ache was gone by the time we got home. He didn't go to camp again for a couple of years and was great by then and enjoyed himself but like oldest brother, was ready to come home by the end of the week.

I don't think I could ever have sent my kids to month long and, for sure not, summer long camps. Could not have handled it.

DD is only 5. She'll probably go to camp with church groups and I may go along as a chaperone!!!

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 09:40 pm:

I started going to week-long music camps in junior high (piano). They were all at a university, and we stayed in dorms. They were great experiences, both socially and musically. I also attended a church camp once as a teen, but it was just a day/night visit...I was a guest of someone else. I never had the opportunity or knowledge of "sleepaway camps" (I've never heard this term!) before that. I spent the summers (alone) with my G'parents. I can't imagine sending Natalie to any camp alone until she's at LEAST a teen. And as far as church camp goes...we all know what goes on there in the teen years, so N-E-V-E-R (I'm sure that will offend someone, but that is just my personal experience!)

By Kaye on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 09:55 pm:

No, not that story. They were just talking about the right age to send them away. (in texas we have a lot of day camps, so sleep away camp is a term used here..lol). Their reccommended age was....6, for me I think closer to 11-12. The amount of time suggested....for me, a week is plenty long....them "no longer than 2-4 weeks". I just can't even imagine sending my child away for a month of the summer. But after doing a lot of online searching, there are quite a few offered, in Texas the place to do that is the "hill country", most camps are at least 2 weeks, but most of them a month. The cheapest one I found for a month was 6000 dollars! Anyway, I mentioned this to a friend and she said it was regional, that it is just much more common for "north easterners" to go to long summer camps. Just curious.

I have taken girl scouts as young as 7, with their troop, with 3 leaders we all knew each other very well, we were gone 3 nights and it was LONG. My own children, my dd age 12 is at mon-fri church camp this week (lol reds...you don't make me feel better!!!) Last year she went to a 5 day gs camp.

Anyway, i guess it makes me think of parent trap, just how long are those girls there??

So i was curious if we had campers here and how long their kids went!

I never went to camp, never really went to grandparents, my brother did go live with my gp during the summer, I always thought is was odd to be gone so long.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 10:40 pm:

Emily first went to sleepaway camp 2 years ago, at the age of 12. It was a church camp and she had several friends with her, plus adults from the church. It's the kickoff to the confirmation program. Last year, she went to horsecamp, all by herself and had a great time. She goes to horsecamp this year, on Sunday coming up and she CAN'T wait! I don't think she would have wanted to go, before the age of 12. She was kind of a momma's girl for a while.

I went to sleepaway camp, for the first time, for a week, when I was 10. I had no trouble and had a great time. It was Girl Scout camp.

My niece, who is 12, saved her money to go to the same horsecamp as Emily, for 2 weeks. She will be fine. She has already gone to the same horsecamp, for 2 summers already, for a week.

I don't think my kids would have ever wanted to be gone, for more than a week at a time. Emily said some kids at horsecamp stayed for a month. We don't have that kind of money! LOL!

By Mommmie on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 11:17 pm:

My son first went to sleep away camp the summer after 1st grade. He was 7. He went the next 3 summers, too. He went to one camp the first two years and another camp the second two years. So, ages 7-10. It was a wonderful experience for him. The sessions were only one week.

The 1st one was about $475, the 2nd one about $775. The 2nd one was much better as it has more bells and whistles. They are a couple of hours away.

I went to camp as a kid and one was 2 weeks long about 2 hours away. One was 3 weeks long and was about 1000 miles away. Another was a 2 week trip camp where the group traveled to Colorado (a couple of states away) and we slept in tents in the Rocky Mountains. They are all great camps.

I also went snow skiing twice with the YMCA and those were kid trips and not necessarily camps, but it was the same "kids and counselors" set up and we were gone 5 or 6 days each trip. No parents. I thought all these experiences were worth while. Oh I also traveled to NYC and Phili (by train!) with a dance company to take master classes and again it was this same set up. I think we were gone 2 or 3 weeks, I can't remember.

Some of my son's friends attend the 4-6 week long residential camps. Most of these are Jewish kids attending Jewish camps. A few non-Jews go away to camp that long. My son does not want to be away from home that long at this point. He's 11.

Actually, I sortof think backwards. I liked him going young because he didn't pick up anything bad and the kids were all still relatively innocent. Now that he's 11 a lot of the kids going to camp are troubled kids and parents think sending them to camp will straighten them out. I would have to select a camp very closely at this point and all the good residential camps require interviews and recommendations which I like. These are all the 4-6 week camps though. The one week long ones will take anyone with money in hand as long as they have space.

If you go to the same camp every summer you will see the same kids. I remember when I was going through Rush at college many of the other girls knew each other from summer camp. I thought that was cool. I never went to the same camp twice, so I just got friends to sign up with me or I attended with cousins. I think once I went with my brother which was pointless since they keep the genders separate. I was never able to find a friend to go with my son - the ones who wanted to go didn't have money and the ones with money didn't want to go.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 01:57 am:

My oldest two are going to be 17 and just turned 14 and they are at their first camp this week as a matter of fact, be back Friday.. I went to sleep away camp at 14 also. I think with the way things are, I have a hard time sending my kids any where until they are old enough to stand a chance.. To many horror stories about camps that should have been safe. I am probably a bit over protective but I only have one chance to get them through this life not being *damaged* by someone that I made the mistake of trusting.. But that is just me..

By Bobbie~moderatr on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 01:58 am:

Oh and the church camp they are at is one week long.. But the facility they are at offers all summer long sessions.. It is a huge place and they run several camps at the same time..

By Crystal915 on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 03:21 am:

I always went to a week-long Baptist camp during the summer of my middle school years (I believe 6-8th grades, I'm not sure I went in 5th grade). It was one of my favorite things to do, we always had a blast. My 7th and 8th grade years all of my girlfriends went (the church I went with was not our church, but my grandparents, even my Catholic friends went though!)
I also went camping with the Girl Scouts from 3rd grade on, so I'd say age 7 or 8 is usually appropriate for short trips (3 days or so), and preteens are good to go on slightly longer trips. A month is a pretty long time, I think the longest camp I went to was 2 weeks, and I was spending the summer in Florida with my grandmom anyway, so I was used to being away from home.

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 08:14 am:

My kids (8 and almost 10) will be going to their very first 2 week day camp this summer. They have never been to sleep away camp, and I'm not sure I'll ever be OK with that. They both have life threatening food allergies, and the thought of them being out in the boonies scares the heck out of me.

My siblings and I never went to sleep away camp as kids and we turned out fine. It won't be the end of the world if my kids don't either. LOL!

By Kim on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 09:00 am:

I think 11-12 is a good age for kids to experience this. They are old enough to know how to protect themselves better. Kyle just went to band camp for two weeks. I went to camp about his age also. I think a month is a long time! But that is just my opinion.

By Debbie on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 09:46 am:

My boys are 8 and 6. I haven't even thought about overnight camps. I don't think I would be willing to send them until they were around junior high age, and then I would have to be really comfortable with the camp. Heck, my oldest just had his first sleep over at someone else's house a few weeks ago. He has a really good friend from school, and I am friends with the mom. She kept him for two days, and overnight while they packed and loaded us up. I missed him when he was gone just those few days. . I can see sending your dks to camp for a week or two, but not longer then that. I guess if both parents work, it might be a good solution. I personally really enjoy spending summers with my dks. Now, that they are in school full time, it seems like I don't have much time with them during the school year.

By Tripletmom on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 09:48 am:

I'm still too nervous to send my 7 yr old to daycamp especially when there's water involved.She has a class trip this Monday to a water park so my DH will be going also.As for the sleep camps I have no clue if it would ever happen.I think setting up camp in the backyard with the tent and cooking breakfast on the coleman stove will keep her happy and me too.LOL I'm still not sure when I'll let her walk to school without an adult.I'll just take it one year at a time.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 09:57 am:

Article about sendng a 6yo to sleepaway camp

I never could have done that!!

By Juli4 on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 01:05 pm:

I went to church camp from 11 years old on. Even now I go in the evenings for the services. The age limit was 8 years old to be able to go though and there was always a few that wanted to go home early so they got taken home after a few nights. I loved camp and it was such a blast. I think anytime you get teens together in a sleep away situation you are asking for potential problems, not necessarily at church camps.

By Tink on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 07:39 pm:

I went to a week-long church camp from the time I was eight until I was sixteen. I loved it and it was a time that I looked forward to all year. I was very dependent on my parents and was very shy. Being so far out of my element really helped me make friends and become more self-reliant. At the time, I think it was a great thing for me to do and nothing of the type that Deanna alluded to went on.

On the other hand, with the way things have changed since I was a kid, there is no way in HECK I'd let my kids go away for a week when I had no idea what they'd be exposed to or how other people would treat them. Maybe I'll feel differently when they get older but I can't imagine sending my oldest (almost 9) away for that long.

By Jackie on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 09:58 am:

I am so afraid to send my kids to overnight camp. My sons boyscout troup goes every summer for one week, and so far I have not allowed him to go. The camp is a couple of hrs away. Im sorry, I just do not trust anybody..Ok, maybe that is too strong, I trust very few people when it comes to my kids. He will turn 12 this August. I told him "Maybe" next summer. I have said that for the last 3 yrs.
My daughter will go to her first daycamp in July, it is the girlscout daycamp.The hrs are 9-4. I am ok with daycamp, the overnight camp is just scarey to me. There are too many "what ifs" that run through my mind when the kids are gone. heck, I dont even like my kids having sleepovers. They do every once in awhile, and only with families I know well. But, I still get a little nervous.

By Yjja123 on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 04:33 pm:

I am definitely too protective (over protective) to send my kids to a "sleep away" camp. They have gone to day camps. My son just went to a baseball camp for a week, but it was just a half day. My daughter has gone to a dance camp. That was 4 hours a day. Thats enough. I guess if we didn't vacation with them, it might be something they would enjoy. We take them on 2-3 vacations a year and several long weekends. They are not lacking for adventure

By Beth on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 07:54 pm:

I went to a week long church camp every year from the time I was like in second grade. I loved it! It's funny my ds will be in second grade this year and I can't even think about letting him go for a week. If he wanted to I think I would though. It was a very good expierence for me. Luckily here they only do a one night camp until 4th grade. He is going to do it this year. But there are other kids and adults from the church. I went with him last year to all day boy scout camp. I think in the right atmosphere these things are good for kids. Not the whole summer though! LOL!

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 11:27 am:

I remember when I went to sleepaway camp for the first time - I was about 8-1/2, and it was a church camp in Wisconsin, about a 5 hour drive from our home. The first week I was miserable, and called my parents asking to come home. Then I discovered horse-back riding, and called my parents asking to stay the entire 6 weeks. I do not know to this day what sacrifices my parents made for me to stay the additional 4 weeks, but I know they made sacrifices. And I didn't know that more that horseback riding was extra - I used up all of my "personal fund" and my parents had to pay a lot extra when they came to pick me up. I didn't learn about the extra costs (of the extra 4 weeks or the horseback riding) for many, many years - in 1946 not many 8 year olds knew about things like that. One of the many, many, many reasons I feel blessed in my parents.

But, I didn't send my sons away to church sleepaway camp until they were about 10 or 11, and made sure each one knew it was for the whole week (I didn't drive then, so they went up and back on the church bus). Wouldn't you know, Scott got sick (asthma - which was the first manifestation of it since we changed him to soy formula at 3 weeks old), and I had to ask my ex, his dad, to go up and get him and bring him home.

I think you have to know your child (and especially, how good your child is at recognizing and staying away from potentially dangerous situations and people), know at least some of the people at the camp (older teens from my church, whom I knew well and trusted, were assistant counselors, and the associate pastor was a counselor the weeks my sons went - which is why I picked those weeks), and the camp has to have some history that you can check out. As it happens, I had been to a couple of weekend retreats at Camp Innabah, the United Methodist camp I sent my sons to.

I don't blame parents for being cautious - I don't know that the times are much different, really, but I think we have been made a lot more aware of the many risks and dangers.

And no, Deanna, I don't know what went on at your church camp for teens, but I agree that it was probably your personal experience.

By Kaye on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 11:41 am:

As far as being careful....things happen everywhere. We had two teachers at my school (small small school, 16 in my grad class), that were being inappropriate. One was my tennis coach that I spent LOTS of time with. At least 10 overnights, with him and my partner, we had different rooms. We adored him, he was so cool, not like the other teachers, he turned his head at things like curfew violations, etc. Of course I now know that he did that on purpose, because if you feel like you are getting away with things then you like him more, and then when it comes time to pointing a finger he has dirt on you. The short part of the story is he liked boys, touched boys and NO ONE would go to court. He is still teaching to this day, very sad. Another teacher, different coach fell in love with one of the track students, it was sick and sad and her family did press charges and he lost his teaching license and is a registered sex offender.

So my point is, church, school, camp, it happens every where, you have to teach your kids to be honest and pay attention to the adults. My experience is as an adult you have certain boundaries and if you are crossing those it is a red flag for me.

Anyway, I was just suprised that month long and summer long camps happened. A week or two I think would be my max. My dd just came home from her week at church camp, I was so glad to see her and her to see me!

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 02:29 pm:

"I think anytime you get teens together in a sleep away situation you are asking for potential problems, not necessarily at church camps." (Juli4)

"And as far as church camp goes...we all know what goes on there in the teen years, so N-E-V-E-R (I'm sure that will offend someone, but that is just my personal experience!) (Reds)

I went to plenty of retreats and canoe trips, with my church youth group, that had girls and boys both along and nothing ever happened. We were well supervised and at the camp, we had separate buildings and on the canoe trips, we had separate tents (out camping on sand bars in the Wisconsin River). I loved those trips and had lots of fun!

This wasn't camping, but I got to go to Mexico, with my girl scout troup, when I was 15. It was a blast and I had the time of my life and came home 2 weeks later, safe, sound and TAN! (We went over Christmas!)

I'm glad my parents let me go on all this stuff! They do have chaperones and/or counselors!

I guess sports teams, dance teams, bands, cheerleaders, etc, shouldn't go to state competitions or long trips, because then you can have co-ed teens together and that be trouble! I never had any trouble on a band trip and neither has my 16yo. Next year, my 14yo gets to go on a band trip. Those are sooo fun!

Oh, and I guess I should tell Sarah she can't go on her church-sponsored mission trip, since there will be boys and girls together. She went on one last year, and there was no trouble. In fact, the leader said they all behaved quite well, on their trip!

2005 Mission Trip
They installed a drain to drain water away from a woman's home and reinforced the foundation of her home. They all got quite close to her, in the few days they were at her house in Kentucky.

2006 Mission Trip

ROAD RULZ:
CROSSWAYS SERVANT TOUR
Crossways Adventure Series
Seen the MTV show? We go one step further and invite you along on a trip that provides daily opportunities for service and helping others. Live life together in an RV as we travel to undisclosed destinations, with a whole lot of fun and Bible study along the way. We have you covered on meals, transportation, and camp staff. Like wild! Starts Sunday. Ends Friday.

This year's mission trip is the third week in July.

Oh yeah, I was also in a drum and bugle corps and we did nothing but take trips ALL summer, EVERY weekend! Once a summer, we would take a trip that lasted about a week to 10 days, traveling out to Pennsylvania and Ohio, for other competitions! We usually had all the girls and boys in one gym, but girls on one side and boys on the other with PLENTY of chaperones! I was part of this group for 3 YEARS! I was in 6th to 8th grade, while I was in this group, so part of it, I wasn't even a teen yet. My next sister in line, was part of it, too. (I played a bugle.)

By Juli4 on Monday, June 26, 2006 - 08:57 am:

I worded my post wrong. I meant that when in those situations the likelyhood of kids doing things they shouldn't is very likely and it is not limited to just church camps. I wasn't trying to say that it doesn't happen at church camps because we all know it does. But the fact that it is a church camp does not make it more likely or less for that matter.

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, June 26, 2006 - 06:07 pm:

Thanks for clearing that up, Juli.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, June 26, 2006 - 06:51 pm:

That makes more sense! LOL!

I just know that I behaved myself, when I was on high school trips.

By Juli4 on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 - 11:07 am:

I behaved myself most of the time when away on camps. I did have a boyfriend my last year of camp(now my dh) that maybe we spent more time than needed massaging our lips.

By Tayjar on Friday, June 30, 2006 - 02:42 pm:

My DD is going to sleep over Girl Scout camp for the first time this year. She's 10. It's only a 2 night/3 day horse camp. I am not nervous at all. I know her counselors and the camp staff.

My DS still has no desire to attend an overnight camp so we stick with daycamps.

There is a girl in my Girl Scout troop who is going to camp for 4 weeks in Wisconsin this summer by herself. She's going into 4th grade. Her brothers started at this age and they are now up to attending a similar camp for 8 weeks. I would miss my kids too much.

Ahhh, church camp.....good memories

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, July 6, 2006 - 01:48 pm:

Emily knew plenty of kids at the horse camp that she went to, that were staying several weeks. She thought that one week was good enough for her, though!

One week of Girl Scout camp was probably enough for me, too.