I did not go to sleep-away camp. We grew up barely middle class and we didn't have the money to do that kind of thing. Plus I grew up in the country...
So many people in this (urban) area send their kid to sleep away camp. My husband went as well. Kids here go to camp as early as six or seven years old and stay for a few weeks! It's so foreign to me. But maybe it's normal in most places?
Did you go to sleep-away camp as a kid and would/will you send your kids to camp?
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I went to a weeklong one organized by the school board (art camp) but I was, like, 13. My brother used to work at one of the stereotypical arts/theatre all summer long ones (think Wet Hot American Summer) and he said it was exactly like you'd imagine.
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I first went after maybe 7th grade? It was 2 weeks of music camp. I definitely asked to go. The first year I was pretty homesick but I went 3-4 years and have great memories. So I would definitely let my kids do something like that if they wanted. Longer probably isn't in the cards for us.
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The other thing is that the ones I looked at were really expensive. My DH says it is expensive to run a camp so that is why but yikes! $3500 for 2 weeks?!
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I went for a month every summer. I absolutely loved it and it totally shaped me. I started at 8 or 9 until 16 then I was a councillor.
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I went to three different camps starting when I was maybe 11. The first two camps were for a week. The last time I went to camp it was two weeks. I loved it, and I still keep in touch with some of the people I met there. I would send our kids in a heartbeat if it was financially feasible!
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I only went away for camps for the weekend and that was for cheer camp in high school. Sleep away camps weren't the norm for my area.
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I usually went 4 weeks a summer elementary to high school and was on staff for full summers several years in HS and college. I love it! Can't wait to send my girl.
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I went to a Girl Scout sleep away camp for about a week each summer. I started the summer after 1st grade. That year was shorter probably 3 or 4 nights. I loved it but I remember another girl going home homesick.
Looks like that type of camp runs about $100/day in my area.
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I did Girl Scout camp starting at age 8 or 9,and switched to YMCA summer camp at 11. Both were a week long. I love love loved camp and can't wait to send my kids!
My husband grew up not going to camp like you and thinks it sounds interesting but kind of weird. Meanwhile I'm like s'mores! Campfire sing-a-longs! Arts and crafts! Send me!
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I went for 1 week a summer. My first year was after second grade and that was 3 days. 3rd grade - 9th I went for a week and had fun, made friends, experienced activities I otherwise wouldn't have done including canoeing, archery, star gazing (sky is so much clearer at this camp because of less light pollution), campfires, cooking over a fire, and new foods (I even remember my brother and I coming home to tell my mom about some of the new foods we tried and asking her to make them!).
After 10th grade I went for a leadership/counselor training program....then counseled the next 4 summers.
These experienced definitely shaped me and gave me a chance to be me....awau from the cliques and peer groups of middle school & high school.
Ultimately my husband & I became friends on staff my 2nd summer....remaoned friends and finally starting eating 7 years later. Our best friends also met at camp & got married.
I totally want to send my kids for a week when they are old enough!
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I went to two different sleepaway camps. The first was during the summers after 3rd and 4th grades. It was an ok camp and I had a good time but it was not a life changing experience. It was a standard camp with lots of outdoor activities, sports, arts and crafts and color war. I still have no idea why anyone might ever care about color war.
The second was an amazing Montessori-inspired arts camp for older kids. I went during middle school. That experience made a huge impact on me, and that camp will always be a special place for me because it helped me learn a lot about myself. If my son is interested in having that kind of experience when he's old enough, then I will do what I can to make it happen $-wise.
ETA: My parents are not outdoorsy at all, and summer experiences were one of the few opportunities I had to be exposed to activities like canoeing and random sports like archery. The former has come in handy on vacations as an adult.
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My parents couldn't have afforded it and I don't think I would have wanted to go (picky eater).
I went to day camp run by the town almost every week of summer, ages 5-12 (grades K-6) I became a counselor later.
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I never went nor did my husband. I would wait until my kid asked, and then consider it. I can't imagine doing it before 10 though.
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We were always in limbo during the summer. Typically visiting extended family or moving. None of my friends ever went to sleep away camp, except maybe church related? I went for 1 week one summer. I remember dreading it but I had the best time. Maybe I was in 3rd or 4th grade?
As an aside: is this a northeast thing? It is SO popular up here. Like sending kids away for 6-8 weeks at a time for a pretty young age. Day camps via bussing are really popular too. I spent a lot of time growing up in the south...I just don't remember kids going away for most of summer.
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I went for 1 week the summer before 8th grade - it was a Christian camp but there was nothing Christian about it - LOL
The boys played strip poker one night
It was a blast and I'll consider it for my kids down the road
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I did go, mostly for daycare/"enrichment"-type reasons. It was fine, but I wouldn't send my son now (he's nearly 7), or anytime in the next couple of years. I didn't start going until I was 9, and they were local camps. I don't think my summer camp experiences were particularly important to my childhood.
I do think actual camping/backpacking is a good thing to do, but that isn't as feasible in the early elementary years. And frankly, the middle of summer isn't always the nicest time of year to do that in many of the places we've lived, so we'll plan those types of trips for other points in the year. I'm sure that sometime later on I'll be okay letting him go as part of an organized group without us. I think middle school age would probably be a good time for that. We'll see.
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I loved sleepaway camp. I went for a few summers around the ages of 11-13. I'd send my own kids too. The one I went to was a church camp and just outside of our town. It wasn't too expensive either. Maybe a couple of hundred. There are more expensive camps in cottage country that my DH went to but they're far away. I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable with that.
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@Mamaof2:
I could only imagine. I never traveled to the overnight church conferences, but I went to the local ones. The convos that the kids had would surprise their parents if they knew about it. lol
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@Littlebit7: I was wondering the opposite. I am from the northeast and new almost no one who went away to camp but here in the south everyone I know has! Ha!
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I might send my daughter eventually but I really prefer camping as a family. We go several times a year. LO hates bugs so she probably wouldn't like going without us
Two years ago, I sent LO to a daytime enrichment summer camp in another state while I played (Seattle). That was the best and would like to do that again. I went overnight as a kid with my school in sixth grade and it was definitely memorable. -
I used to and loved it and can't wait till dd is old enough to go. The first was Girl Scout camp for a week at 10. Then 2 summers I did 3 weeks at a Jewish camp. In high school I'd spend a week at a local college (UCSB or Pepperdine) each summer for a soccer camp.
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I went camping with my Girls Scout troop 2-3 time, but those were weekend trips. As a teen I camped for a week with Young Life and I had a blast.
Sleep away camps were normal where I grew up, but I don't think my parents really knew about it. A friend of mine was a counselor during college summers and she said The kids have so much fun.
I could see agreeing to let LO do it when he's at least 8 and just for a week or two. Convincing DH it is safe would be a challenge.
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I went for 4 weeks the summer after I turned 9. It was a blast. I went for a couple weeks for the next few summers and then I started doing travel sports camps.
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@travellingbee: I'm in the NE and sleep away camps are super popular; when I was growing up and now that I'm raising kids. We have never gone ourselves and I'm not sure if we will ever have enough money to send them.
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I grew up in the Northeast and I went away to sleep away camp when I was about age 11-14... I loved it! I would go a month at a time...
I would love to send my boys when they're older, if we can afford it. I know it's pricey, so hopefully we will be able to swing it. HEY, its way less than the childcare I'm paying now, haha.
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@hellobeeboston: geez 3500 for three weeks is WAY more than I'm paying in childcare now! We pay 2000 a month for both kids!
I guess it just depends on where you grew up in the Northeast. The area I grew up in was a very middle-class area so I guess it just wasn't a thing because it was expensive. Plus we all lived in the country anyway so we weren't exactly escaping the city to go to the country.
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@travellingbee: Overnight camp was my "home away from home" each summer. I initially went for one session (2-4 weeks depending on the camp) when I was younger, but by middle school I'd go most of the summer. By that point I was a C.I.T/Junior Counselor/Counselor so I was on staff. The relationships I made with friends there last to today, and it really helped me learn how to live with people each day, even if we had vastly different personalities. Plus there was zero technology and, in this day and age, I think that's a huge pro for kids to be unplugged! I very much hope my kid will be able to go and have similar experiences. However, the costs now are astronomical so I'm sure that will impact if and when he goes.
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I used to go to 4-H camp (such a country kid) and it was like 4-5 nights away, and then in high school I did sports camps like cheer and volleyball that were overnight at a local college. Never longer than a week - I think that would have been tough!
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@travellingbee: I more meant like when we're not paying for full time care year round... it might be easier to save up!
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I grew up in the Midwest and went to a few different sleep away camps starting in middle school. 2 orchestra camps and one run by my city's YMCA. I liked each one the first summer but not the second lol, I never went more than 2 summers per camp. And always only 2-3 weeks. I spent more summers at day camp, starting in early elementary and for more weeks of each summer
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@hellobeeboston: oh gotcha!
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It is very common here in NY (Westchester). I grew up in northern NJ and went to an all-girls sleep away camp in VT for 4 weeks from age 11-15. I loved it!
My husband is from upstate NY and went to Boyscout camps.
I don't really plan on pushing the idea of sleep away camp unless my boys show an interest. It's crazy expensive. But then again I had an amazing experience (it was a character-building camp with lots of girl-power). We'll see.
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@Alba4: I'm in Westchester too and a ton of people I know with kids old enough send them to sleep away camp. Some kids left the day after school got out!
I never did it and would only consider sending my kids if it was something they really wanted to do. -
@Alba4: There's a chance we went to the same camp
. Newbury, VT?!
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My summer camp was a completely formative experience for me and influenced my career path. It was immeasurably important as a part of my childhood. It is expensive though. I went to one camp for one week per summer starting at age 10, then switched to a much better 2-week camp when I was 13. I was a counselor for one summer at age 15.
I couldn't justify the cost of 4-8 weeks for DD, but I hope to send her to sleepaway camp when I feel like she's old enough. Probably will wait until she's 10 like I was.
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@Alba4: oh my brother did go to Boy Scout camp! Philmont?
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yes, I went starting at age 9 for several years once a year. It was like sleep in cabins in the middle of the woods type of camp. Think Parent Trap.
I would send my children, maybe not at 9 but at an older age. I do feel the experience and things learned at a sleepaway camp is something you can't experience outside of camp and it's good for development.
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@ChiCalGoBee: nope. Post Mills, VT- Lake Fairlee
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@Alba4: Then I know the camp you went to, even though it's different! We were on Halls Lake.
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