Do many more kids go to overnight camps these days?
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Anonymous
We are sending our DD to Capital Camps in Waynesboro, PA. It is kosher. |
Anonymous
Yes. But most kids do either the 4 week or the 3 week session. There is not a large contingent of kids that stay for 7. Do you know if they have inter session? |
Anonymous
It is not a country club. It is a nice camp on a nice lake. Lots of Solomon Schecter kids from NYC. Look at Laurel if you want to see what a "country club camp" looks like. |
Anonymous
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-thompson-phd/sending-kids-to-summer-camp_b_1539726.html Good article on the benefits of summer camp. "By the way, when I interviewed college admissions officers about how they view campers, they say that they think former campers are more likely to succeed in college because they have had successful experiences away from home, and they are always impressed by seniors who have been counselors looking after younger children. Camp helps build confidence and identity; it also builds leadership skills." |
Anonymous
I think the expectations are a 4 week or a three week camp. I do not think they expect kids to stay for all seven. |
Anonymous
This is music to my ears. Thank you for this information. Do you have first hand knowledge of the camp? Did you go there? Do you send your kids there? Can you share more about it? |
Anonymous
We went as a family to see it. Director is very hands on. Lake is nice but that is what you expect for Maine. That is the big difference bet Maine and PA. Shabbat is fully celebrated so no activities on Sat. Our impression is that it was well maintained a good but not large contingent of DC and MD kids which is what we wanted. Ultimately my DC decided they wanted a stronger sports camp. Very important to see the camp. Our impressions may not fit your family or your child. Good luck! Camp is so great for kids. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:
I have never done it and I never will. That's not how I parent. I feel sorry for your kids! It is definitely their loss. Yes! You sound like a delightful person. Your kids are missing out!!! Sleep away camp rocks!!! I always went for 8 weeks to sleep away camp in New England. Some of my best childhood memories and best friendships to this day are from overnight camp. It is such a special, amazing gift to give your children!! |
Anonymous
Non-sequitur. |
Anonymous
Not the PP, and we have a few years until DD is old enough, but I'm torn about the idea of sleepaway camp. I went to a private school growing up and was on scholarship unlike many of my wealthy classmates. A number of them went to the same expensive camp in another state every summer for a month or more. I remember my mother telling me it was because their parents didn't want them at home during the summer. I know she probably told me that simply so I wouldn't feel badly that they couldn't afford to send me, but it stuck with me. I have a feeling that we'll probably allow a short overnight camp stint at some point during her summers in addition to a week at her grandparents' house, but I love her too much and she'll be off to college in just a few short years that I wouldn't want to have her gone all summer while still a kid. |
Anonymous
Thank you so much for providing this information. I really appreciate it. |
Anonymous
Basically agree with everything said here. I only ever really heard of it being a thing that people do regularly once I got to college (in NY) and the wealthier kids, generally from downstate, but not all, would talk about their "school friends" and their "camp friends". I do remember laughing at my old freshman roommate working feverishly hard to keep her 2 worlds apart when people she knew from both places were at college together now. It was a serious juggling act for her and I have no idea why! |
Anonymous
One of the benefits of going to camp is that you can come out of your pigeon hole. If you go to a camp where most of your friends do not, no one knows you. You have an opportunity to reinvent yourself. If you're the geeky kid at school, at camp you have an opportunity to become the sports kid. If you're the quiet shy type, you can try out being extroverted. It a safe place to discover who you are becoming which may or may not be how your day to day friends that you've know since K perceive you. |
Anonymous
That is weird. I always LOVED when my camp friends and home friends got together, and I loved meeting the home friends of my camp friends b/c I had heard stories about them all summer. Ultimately I felt closer with my camp friends than my home friends, though. I am one of those Jewish kids from NJ who went to sleepaway camp every summer for 8 weeks from the age of 8 on, and I would not trade that experience for ANYTHING. My fear is that my kids aren't going to want to go to sleepaway camp b/c living around here their friends aren't going. I certainly wouldn't force them to go but I think they would be missing out. Then again, the camp I went to is over $10K for the summer now (!!!) so maybe I shouldn't encourage it all that much 
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Anonymous
| For the PP: I've heard good things about Modin and know lovely families who go there (not a country club!) I loved camp when I was a kid and I went to a very cheap Girl Scout camp for the entire summer. One thing I regretted was starting out sending my kids to a 2-week sleepaway camp to start; just as another poster said, by the time you're comfortable it was time to go home. Eventually I found the right fit for the kids and they loved camp. It is definitely not cheap, but neither is stringing together a whole summer of not-very-good day camps. I'd love to be one of those people who spend weeks traveling or weeks at their second home but I'm not so occupying children for the summer is and was a must. |