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@ChiCalGoBee: small world!

I went to a girls camp for 5 years and then dance camps for a few years following that.
My older daughter went for a 2 night trial at my old camp last summer and is going to their shortest real session (10 nights) this year. She is 7! I worked at a camp in ME when I was in university and found that most people sent their kids for most of the summer, while here in Ontario sessions of 2 or 4 works are common, full summers normally only once someone is in a full LIT program!
Sending one kid for 10 nights is pricey--sending both of ours for 4 weeks will be...near impossible!

I always loved the idea but never went, I spent know anyone who did other than maybe a 2-3 night sports camp or girl/boy scouts for a week. Here it's super common, it's like the two weeks after school gets out there are kids everywhere everywhere and then they all disappear! Then the week before school starts they are swarming everywhere again.

We will wait until she requests to go but I admit I may plant the idea when she's 5/6 because there's a horse camp that does mother daughter weekends for 5&6 year olds which I think could be fun to do together (plus she's obsessed with horses.)

I went to church camp when I was maybe eight or nine. All I remember was having to make a cross out of hundreds of burnt out matches, which I found terrifying because I didn't like lighting matches, and getting bit by a zillion mosquitos. I hated it and didn't go back. The only camps that people went to where I grew up were church camp and campfire girls/boys camp, which was mostly a daytime thing with occasional overnight opportunities. Neither were expensive, I think they were mostly used as affordable childcare.

@Anagram: Have you checked out YMCA camps? Our local one has a bus stop on my way to work and with our discount it's $165/week.

@travellingbee: I didn't even know this was a thing. I could see sending maybe a ten year old give or take a couple years but a five year old?? My 4.5 year old wouldn't want to be gone that long anyway. Later on I could see a couple of weeks maybe.. I can't imagine 4-8 weeks. That just sounds like parents on vacation to me! But not worth the prices I'm seeing here.. who has 10-20k just laying around for that anyway? I must be missing something...