Unsupervised 12/13 year olds overnight camp

[Anonymous]

Op again. she’s been on several overnight camps for her lax team and a team mom is always with them. Including in their bunk at night. And I had no issue with that. I don’t disagree that they would sneak out even under supervision. It’s the not being told that was bothersome to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are overreacting. My 11 year old dad went to Girl Scout camp a couple weeks ago. There were 5 other 11 year olds in her cabin. The counselors had their own cabin a few cabins away.

You have a very interesting family structure (or maybe that’s a typo LOL)

[Anonymous]

OP, this does not sound like any Girl Scout summer camp I have ever heard of. Girl Scout camps are usually super over protective and err on the side of giving parents way too much information.

It is not troop camping, right? You say this is a Girl Scout camp, run by the Girl Scout council? But it isn't on Girl Scout property (private) -- it is at a campsite where the general public is also staying overnight, and using the bathhouses and so on?

And after two days at this camp... the camp sent the girls home to shower? And sleep in their own beds? But then they are supposed to go back to the camp?

Are you sure this is a licensed camp?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. The camp sent them home today so they could shower and sleep in own beds. I wish I had known from the outset. Not a helicopter parent but was surprised not to have known. My fault for not asking the question I agree. She’s not equipped to stay overnight at my own home on her own and I wouldn’t put her in that position She doesn’t like being on own here so would have made a different decision from the get go if I had known to begin with. Of course DD is upset because she’s having fun. But I don’t think having fun takes precedence over my own personal values. She’s our first. Not only, and I appreciate your replies. It helps settle my nerves.

Your home is different from a cabin, because your home has more than one room and does not have a bunch of other 13 year-olds in it, all watching out for one another.

Heck, I'll bet a lot of folks on this board sleep FURTHER from their kids than two small cabins away.

Finally, what are your personal values? How does this arrangment break them?

[Anonymous]

How is this different than you sleeping in another room of the house?

[Anonymous]

So basically, Girl Scouts of that age usually go to summer camp along with a lot of other Girl Scouts and not in a public park.

It is normal for adults NOT to bunk with the girls. Even when we take girls into a single cabin, the adults need to have a separate sleeping location from the girls. If we take the girls troop camping at a public campground such as a state park, girls sleep in their tents and leaders sleep in their own tents. But that's girls with their own leaders, in a troop where leaders know what the girls are ready for and how they will behave, and where parents are aware of what the camping situation is like.

I can't understand why a summer camp would be camping at a public campsite all week. In this case, girls aren't well known to their counselors. Having summer camp not at a private camp just with Girl Scouts seems really really odd to me.

[Anonymous]

The whole set up of this camp is odd. Sending kids home halfway through is just asking for increased homesickness.

[Anonymous]

Now I am worried that this is the camp my DD (11) attended last year and will attend later this summer. Is it Winona? I think I knew the counselors slept in another bunk but it never occurred to me to worry about it. Now, I feel a little uncomfortable--I hadn't thought of whether or not the bunk was locked. Does a camper lock it or does a counselor lock them in from the outside?

Winona doesn't have public camping to my knowledge...

[Anonymous]

Op again- Definitely weird. This is their first year in new public location. Which has been my largest issue along with lack of knowledge about supervision. The leader admitted to me that they have less than ideal volunteers. But also were following the stated guidelines. I just wish I had known and could have made a decision about her sleeping over with prior information. DD came home today after barely sleeping last few days a hot mess and completely belligerent. My family values are ones that condone healthy enough sleep for my child in an environment that doesn’t make anyone nervous. Not all 12 year olds are the same. That’s all. And I am happy to hear the replies I think everyone has to make choices that are right for their child in the situation. She’s a new 12 yr old and hasn’t had much reason to be on own much more than a few hours here and there, though she’s capable of it. Her own reaction was enough to make me question the lack of structure and the closeness of non GS public. Completely different than years past, not sure it is licensed.

[Anonymous]

Not Winona. They locked from the inside. I would be equally worried about being locked in from Outside in case of emergency!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you didn't do your homework OP. Doesn't sound like a good situation to me. How much did this camp cost?

[Anonymous]

The sleepaway camp my kids went to didn’t have adults or even older counselors in each bunk. It was a liability thing.

When my DD was in scouts, parents could only sleep with their kid in a tent/cabin. Not even the leader could sleep with the girls. Two moms and their daughters couldn’t even share a tent.

Very normal and I’d say you’re overreacting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op again- Definitely weird. This is their first year in new public location. Which has been my largest issue along with lack of knowledge about supervision. The leader admitted to me that they have less than ideal volunteers. But also were following the stated guidelines. I just wish I had known and could have made a decision about her sleeping over with prior information. DD came home today after barely sleeping last few days a hot mess and completely belligerent. My family values are ones that condone healthy enough sleep for my child in an environment that doesn’t make anyone nervous. Not all 12 year olds are the same. That’s all. And I am happy to hear the replies I think everyone has to make choices that are right for their child in the situation. She’s a new 12 yr old and hasn’t had much reason to be on own much more than a few hours here and there, though she’s capable of it. Her own reaction was enough to make me question the lack of structure and the closeness of non GS public. Completely different than years past, not sure it is licensed.

Well what did they tell you about the camp? Is it run by the Girl Scout council? What council?

[Anonymous]

It’s fine. When I was 13 I did a teen tour camp and we were four campers to a hotel room. Obviously strangers were also at the hotels. I can’t remember how we knew where the college age counselors were, but I got sick once and one came to my hotel room, so I guess we knew how to find them.

[Anonymous]

OMG you are a nut. When I went Girl Scout camping 50 years ago the setup was girls in their own tentss, leaders in another.

Leaders cannot sleep with the girls.