Do parents really start their kids in sleep away camp at 8 years old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a July bday and turned 6 at camp her first summer. She went for 7 weeks. She's at camp now as a counselor. Some kids are just camp kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids started at 9 (the youngest was going to start at 8, but it was 2020, so there was no camp). They're teens now and still love camp. We're Jewish, so that's not an uncommon experience.

Same experience here with our youngest and Covid. She was supposed to go to the junior, 10 day version that year, but went all in the following year for the full session. Kids are teens now and are there for 4 weeks. We’re not Jewish, but from the Boston area and lots of kids do overnight camps.

[Anonymous]

Some kids just thrive on summer camp. 2 of my kids have never had an interest ever. Another started at 6 and another at 7. Most camps offer junior sessions of a week for 6/7/8 year olds, but a lot of 8 year olds already go to 2 and 3 week sessions. The top camps have people get on the waitlists when they’re toddlers, and if you don’t start young, you won’t get in.
For all boys, I’d recommend Falling Creek in NC

[Anonymous]

Mine started at 10, but plenty of people start their kids start younger.

[Anonymous]

Both of my kids started out with one week when they were 8 and asked to stay longer the following year.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I were both camp kids, which makes it less strange to send an 8 year old away. Both kids absolutely loved it and continued until they were about 12-13 and sports and other interests took over their summers. The right camp can be a wonderful life changing experience - but as others have said you must know your child and whether they are ready for that level of independence.

[Anonymous]

I went at 9. I flew on a plane alone and knew no one there and stayed for three weeks. It was okay but I was too young. I don't remember being homesick but there were fewer younger kids and it just was sort of too old for us. Later I went in middle school which was a much better age and enjoyed it 100% more. I loved it.

[Anonymous]

My rising 4th grader is 8 and currently away for two weeks and loving it. A few friends did 2-3 weeks of sleepaway last summer, but this year there seem to be more but still not tons. That said, after completing second grade I thought it sounded CRAZY. Kids really mature and change a lot over a year though.

[Anonymous]

My kid started at 7 but it was less than a week. The next year he started going for a full session (almost 4 weeks). He loves it and it’s truly his happy place. He has had the same friends since that first year (he’s 14 now). I started at 9 and also loved it.

It’s not “shipping them off” if the kid asks for it and loves it. I still get him 48 weeks out of the year! Different families make different choices. Do what works for you and is in your child’s best interest.

[Anonymous]

That’s the age we noticed a lot of our kids’ peers started sleepaway camp. I recall one friend from my son’s class who went for the entire summer before 2nd. The parents did the same with the older sibling and insisted they loved it. It seemed over the top but that little boy came back happy as could be. He still attends the same camp but is now a counselor as a rising senior. Personally, I would have really missed my young kids if they went away that long but it seems to work for some families so I try not to judge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s the age we noticed a lot of our kids’ peers started sleepaway camp. I recall one friend from my son’s class who went for the entire summer before 2nd. The parents did the same with the older sibling and insisted they loved it. It seemed over the top but that little boy came back happy as could be. He still attends the same camp but is now a counselor as a rising senior. Personally, I would have really missed my young kids if they went away that long but it seems to work for some families so I try not to judge.

Don’t tell me, let me guess. The parents travelled in Europe while the kids were at camp.

[Anonymous]

My kids started at 9 (2 weeks) and 8 (1 week). Both loved it. My 6 year old is lobbying to start next year at 7.

[Anonymous]

The immense majority of people I know do not, OP. The one exception are the children of my Jewish neighbor, who sends his kids to the same camp he attended when he was a child. Apparently it's a tradition. Maybe like the Texas Mystic camp for Christians.

[Anonymous]

Yes, at age 8. If you wait until later, groups have already formed, and it can be difficult to break in. We waited until 10 for both kids, and in hindsight, I wish we had started at 8.

2 different kids, 2 different sleep away camps, both went though the entire thing: camper starting at 10, then CIT, then Counselor. They both live their camps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rising 2nd grader goes to a day camp and a lot of his friends are telling him that they are going to sleep away camp next summer. It sounds like some will only go for a few weeks, but one says he’s going to sleep away camp the entire summer and so he won’t be back at the day camp at all. My kid has repeatedly told us that he really wants to go to sleep away camp. I thought for sure that 8 years old was way to young for sleep away camp, but a quick internet search and a few conversations with friends suggests this is actually an age when many campers start?

Based on what we know, we’re inclined to see if there’s a good camp that we can trust for maybe 2-3 weeks. Just wondering if this is crazy. We were not camp kids.

You need to visit these places first. Tell your child every family has different traditions.

Not all children should be going to sleep away camps, and certainly not that young.