Reply to Are sleepaway camps a good idea?

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Reply to "Are sleepaway camps a good idea?"

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[quote=Anonymous]In addition (or as offshoot of) independence and resilience, but it also teaches them to get along with others outside of the family unit.  Even when they are at school, parents still can have a lot of interactions.  Kids can come home and complain or worry about something at home, talk to their parents and their parents can intervene.

Sleepaway camps give one extra step of distance away from parents and family and teaches them to adapt and cope with others with less of a parental umbrella.  Parents are still available, but they are a distance away and harder to get in touch with for daily problem solving.  Kids still have the counselors and CITs to go to, but these adults are focused on the children as a group and have less bias for individuals over other individuals.  So, the kids have to learn to cope with others in group settings with less parental guidance.  As I said, an offshoot of independence, but still important.

When our kids were 8, we started with a one-night sleepaway.  Our county parks and recreation program had a day camp M-F.  Thursday night was a sleepover.  When they were 9, they joined some kids from our church (so a few friends that they knew) or a Bible camp that was 3 days, 2 nights.  Last year, when they were 10, they went to the same Bible camp for 6 days, 5 nights.  This year, they did the same camp again because they loved it.

For us, the gradual escalation helped our kids overcome the anxiety of being away and they adapted very well to the increasing duration.[/quote]

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