Unsupervised 12/13 year olds overnight camp
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Anonymous
| Would you be upset about this? My 12 DD came home from a girlscout camp today - she’s been there overnight for two nights- to tell me there were no adults in her cabin. And the nearest adult is two cabins away and the only other supervision in her cabin from 10pm to 7:30 am is 12 and 13 year old girls. This camp is not on a private camp ground. It is set up with nearby ( think 25 ft away) RV and public camping. They share all common areas with general population. Their ‘safety net’ was to lock the cabin door at midnight. I spent all evening being very upset and she’s not spending the night for the next two days and will be driven back and forth. The head of this camp told me this was SOP and I was wrong in being upset. I wouldn’t allow my 12 year old to be alone in my own home overnight much less an area where she’s interfacing with who knows who else at all times of day. She told me they use the ‘buddy system’!! I am so horrified and upset that I didn’t ask the question about this prior and she’s so mad that she cannot stay over with her friends. Am I wrong to be so upset? Just taking the temperature of the village here. Maybe I am being overprotective but I don’t think so. |
Anonymous
| I think that adults not sleeping with kids is pretty standard in scouting, and good child protective policy. Children are much more at risk from the people who choose to work with them than from random people in an RV. |
Anonymous
| Yes, you are wrong. |
Anonymous
| Why did you see her 2 days into a week long overnight camp? |
Anonymous
| Why did she come home in the middle of a week long sleep away camp? I think there's more going on than you've written. |
Anonymous
| I am curious how someone who is this much of a helicopter sends a kid to summer camp without asking about sleeping arrangements. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| Talk to the other parents about this. |
Anonymous
The other parents probably don't know, since kids shouldn't be coming home or talking to their parents mid-way through a week long sleep away camp. |
Anonymous
| Good god, yes, you are wrong and overreacting. You are outraged because the nearest scout leader is 2 cabins away from your DD's? You are nuts. The PP is correct that it's likely GS rules prohibit adults from staying in cabins with girls they are not related to. Boy Scouts have those rules. Th |
Anonymous
|
I think it would be useful for OP to actually name her fear.
Is she worried that someone from the public camping will come kidnap a 95 lb 13 year-old from a cabin full of other 13 year-olds? That seems unlikely. Is she worried a 13 year-old will sneak out? Well, that could happen if an adult WERE in the cabin. What is the actual thing that OP fears? |
Anonymous
| So you just assumed there would be an adult in their cabin? Why did you assume that? |
Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
| I would be nervous without adult supervision for a 12 yr old overnight |
Anonymous
| 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. |