7 year old hates camp.

[Anonymous]

My son hates them too. I don’t blame him. 100s of unknown kids running around is his version of hell. He has social anxiety and is a total introvert.

We hang at the pool with neighborhood friends, have play dates at home, and do family day trips. Summer is awesome (and cheaper!)

[Anonymous]

My son just told he that he hates camp and that he doesn’t feel safe. Turns out he’s nervous about meeting new people. He has some social anxiety, but meeting new people is a part of life, so we will work on some coping mechanisms and strategies. We try not to move him around to too many camps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son just told he that he hates camp and that he doesn’t feel safe. Turns out he’s nervous about meeting new people. He has some social anxiety, but meeting new people is a part of life, so we will work on some coping mechanisms and strategies. We try not to move him around to too many camps.

I think this is a good approach. My 7yo is shy about entering new social situations, being the center of attention, etc. Our response has been to enroll her in camp (and extracurriculars) since age 4, to help her realize that she can actually handle these situations. The result has been that she's now much less anxious in these situations (although it still pops up on occasion). She now generally likes camps, even when we've started adding new ones recently. I think if we avoided camps etc., she'd still be a lot more tentative and anxious about them.

I just saw this article this morning about parents "accommodating" kids' anxiety--basically, letting them avoid anxious situations--and how that's actually not the best approach. CBT and other evidence-based approaches say that kids should actually face their fears, and they learn over time that they don't have to avoid.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/04/15/711213752/for-kids-with-anxiety-parents-learn-to-let-them-face-their-fears

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old is not into camp. I am home so its not a child care issue. Just wondering what others do in this situation. Do kids fall apart in the fall if they have no structure in the summer?

How many camps have you tried? Camps are all different! Doing a week of speciality camp and a different one every week can be a very different experience than doing one camp all summer with swimming and more choices for examples. What is right for one kid is not right for all kids. I wouldn't dismiss the idea of camp because of one or two bad experiences- it just means you chose the wrong camps!

[Anonymous]

I strongly recommend Landon summer camps - I posted up thread about my son who didn't like going. He burst into tears at the start of a camp there a couple years ago and the specialist camp leader went out of his way to make him feel welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old is not into camp. I am home so its not a child care issue. Just wondering what others do in this situation. Do kids fall apart in the fall if they have no structure in the summer?

Depends on the kid. My older kid is very social and high energy. He needs camp, as long as a friend or two are there. My younger is shy and anxious. Camps where the kids and adults change every week are not a good fit for him. For him I schedule one or two activities a day during the summer. He is fine with down time at home.