Overnight camp for a 7 year old?

[Anonymous]

My oldest son is 7 and will turn 8 in September. We're considering camps this summer and I would like to send him to an overnight camp in the Adirondacks. He's fairly independent, a good swimmer, and enjoys the outdoors and sports. The camp offers sessions in two week increments. If it helps, he's only been away from home on one day overnights with friends and family. My gut feeling is he would be just fine but my husband is concerned about sending him on a two week overnight that far away because of how young he is. I'm curious if anyone has sent their younger child to an out of state camp for their first overnight camp experience and how it worked out.

[Anonymous]

My son went to camp in NC for nearly a week for his first summer when he was 8. Many camps have a junior camp just for first time campers. He loved it and has gone back for 2 summers for the last few summers. This summer, he will be going for a month. I would look for camps that have a shorter session just for first time campers.

[Anonymous]

Two weeks at 7 seems like it's pushing it. If he has a bad time, he won't want to go back.

[Anonymous]

My daughter has a summer birthday. She left home as a 6 yr old and returned as a 7 yr old.

Like your son, she is pretty independent, a great swimmer, tries new things, easy going personality--all the things that indicate a readiness for sleep away camp.

I signed her up for a 2 week session. She knew no one at the camp. About 4 days into camp, the first letters started arriving home--"I love it and I want to stay". Every day this letter came. 10 days into the 14 day session, the director called and wanted to know how I felt about my daughter staying another 2 weeks as she had asked her counselors if she could stay.

My daughter ended up staying at camp in PA for 7 weeks. She is signed up to go for 7 weeks this summer. She is counting down the days until camp.

My daughter will tell you that there were times when she cried and that she was homesick. But she never wanted to pack up and come home. She said that when she was sad, her counselors helped her through it, often found her a special activity to do, or she got to spend time with the head counselor who was a mom age adult. She said this happened about 2 or 3 times during the summer but she worked through it with the help of her counselors and bunk mates.

You know your kid best. If you think he can handle it, give it a try. If he's really having a hard time, the director will call you. And while the Adirondacks sounds like its far, it's only about an 8-10 hour drive. In a dire emergency, it's doable.

Many camps today post pictures daily. The first week I was a wreck. Pics were posted around 11pm. I wouldn't go to sleep until I could see pics of my DD. But after I knew from seeing and the letters home confirmed that she was having fun, I stopped worrying.

[Anonymous]

I went to camp for 2 months at age 7! Granted my older sibling had already gone a few summers and I begged my parents but I did perfectly fine there. I was the second youngest at camp...other camper was a few days younger.