I dropped off Elizabeth today for a week of sleepaway camp. And I am SURE things will look better in the morning, but right now they DON’T. She was completely fine at drop-off (I looked back and she wasn’t even looking at me), and on the way there she commented that she couldn’t wait until we got to the part where I’d leave and it would REALLY be camp time—but pretty much EVERY SINGLE PART of drop-off contained an error (“Now, did you bring her medical forms? But we never received them. Okay, we’ll double check. …Oh, here they are.” “No, I don’t have her down for the t-shirt that could only be ordered at the time of registration. No, sorry, lots of people have been saying they did, so maybe there’s something wrong with the online system, but in any case the order didn’t go through. …Oh, wait, now I have the right list and here she is”), and at this time of night, that is the kind of situation that makes me think I can’t trust them not to let her drown in the lake. In the morning, I’m sure I’ll instead be telling you all that as a pro/veteran camp mom, my advice is to not sign your child up for the first camp week of the summer, since that’s the week the camp discovers and fixes all the problems with the system.
Also, when I was about 15 minutes into the drive home, there was the kind of amazing downpour where you have to drive 20 miles under the speed limit and look at the lines on the road right in front of the car because you can’t see any farther than that—but when I left camp, everyone’s camping gear was still outdoors, farrrrrr away (wayyyyyyy farther than “Everyone grab your stuff and run for shelter!” distance—more like a 10-minute walk) from the cabins. And maybe it only rained 15 minutes away from camp and not at the camp itself, but I’m still picturing her trying to sleep in a cold wet sleeping bag. And I have her zip code entered into Weather Underground so I can keep seeing what the weather is doing now…and now…and now…
Tonight when I was flossing and brushing the littler kids’ teeth, I realized I’d gotten out three pieces of floss when I only needed two, because there are only two littler kids home right now and not three. Later I thought, “Wow, Elizabeth sure went to sleep early!”—and then realized her light was out because she’s not in there. I know kids go to camp all the time, but she’s 8 and I’m not used to not being in charge of the temperature and dryness of her surroundings, and she freaks out sometimes about bugs, and FAR too many counselors said to her cheerfully that it was THEIR first year TOO!
I would love to hear some Everything Was Fine camp stories. I realize that’s a vague category, so I will give some clarifying examples:
1. “I cried for the first couple of nights, but then had a GREAT time!” = Everything Was Fine
2. “My daughter broke her arm, but still had a great time! Everyone signed her cast!” = Everything Was Fine
3. “My daughter got sick and had to come home early, but she had a great time until then and went back the next year!” = Everything Was Fine
4. “________ died at camp, but that hardly ever happens!” = NO DON’T TELL ME
5. “________ was permanently physically/mentally damaged by a camp experience, but that’s so rare I’m sure you don’t need to worry about it!” = NO DON’T TELL ME
6. “I once almost drowned at camp as a child: the counselors were talking and didn’t even notice. Luckily, I managed to inch my way to the raft. I DIDN’T drown, so everything was fine!” = NO THAT IS NOT FINE
7. “I cried and was miserable the whole week, but now I realize it really strengthened me as a person” = NO THAT IS NOT FINE
8. “I’m not surprised everything was messed up—they pretty much hire ANYONE to work at summer camps. I worked at one, and I can’t believe anyone put me in charge of children! But everything worked out fine—nothing bad happened!” = NO THAT IS NOT FINE
9. “One year there was a leak in our cabin and everything got DRENCHED! We had clothes and sleeping bags draped to dry over all the picnic tables, all over the fences, all over the grass! Some of our stuff got ruined, but that’s still the first and best story we all tell about our camp years!” = Everything Was Fine
10. “I didn’t like camp, but it wasn’t a big deal—I just waited out the week, and then I didn’t go back again” = Everything Was Fine
11. “I wet the bed and told the counselor, and she acted completely grossed out” = NO DON’T TELL ME
12. “I was supposed to take medicine every day, but half the days no one remembered! It was fine, though—nothing bad happened!” = NO NOT FINE
This is getting long, and distressing. Here is a quicker set of rules of thumb:
1. Does the story give an example of a time that would make the parents later think, “If only we hadn’t sent her to camp”? Then no.
2. Does the story give support to the idea that teenagers should not be put in charge of children for such long periods of time, and that it is basically up to the individual child to survive the experience? Then no.
3. Does the story demonstrate that camp is an adventure, where things might go wrong but the camp is used to dealing with all of it, and children can roll with it, and no one has lasting regrets? Then yes.
4. Does the story show that camps are so extremely afraid of lawsuits that they are VIGOROUSLY careful as well as PAINFULLY regulated? Then yes.
I started a month long summer camp at age 8, and went for the next ten summers. Before that I went to a Girl Scout camp and loved it too. Everyone was welcoming and friendly, and there was a kind of bond that developed very fast. And I learned so many neat things! Swimming in the lake inspired one camp friend to become a marine biologist! And in my experience, the counselors who are so good with people and with teaching and with fun also tend to be the ones who are not so good with paperwork or lists. They aren’t generally scatterbrained, they just spend the majority of their energy on keeping kids safe and having fun, and less time on getting the computer registration forms correct.
I went to a GS camp at about Elisabeth’s age and the campfire songs and swimming pool (I think we always had TWO certified lifeguards watching the pool, btw) were definitely experiences to remember, so fun. I was incredibly homesick one night and SO glad when I saw my parents, when I realized how much I had missed them. Oh and I got letters from BOTH of my parents, which was a treat.
I was a counselor there some years later and it’s definitely rare that kids are terribly homesick, but I do remember one girl crying for almost two days straight (except at the pool) so she ended up going home early. I was there for two or three years as a counselor and that’s the worst thing I can remember happening! If a girl had a tummy ache or something, we got to walk to the nurse’s office with them, enjoy some AC, and they’d often get a Popsicle, so it was more of a treat than a trauma.
She is going to have so much fun and you will survive!!
What I remember about Girl Scout camp in the 80s (I went for six years, full week, starting the summer after first grade) is that when it rained, the counselors came and tied the tents closed from the outside (we had concrete slabs + four rickety cots + super industrial canvas tents). I remember thinking that I didn’t want to walk to the outhouse anyway and since the well water had tasted weird at dinner I hadn’t had much to drink. When things were left outside, one of the counselors would go to the staff laundry room and use the dryers. I have no idea if things ever got damaged. I didn’t particularly *like* camp, but it was definitely my idea to keep going back. Oh I did like making bracelets and singing. I think I wanted to win the “camper most likely to camp forever” award (that was the name. for real. and the only award given out at final campfire)
FWIW, my kids haven’t started sleep away camps yet, but every single day camp experience has involved FABULOUS counselors, teachers, and coaches but some sort of paperwork snafu (Oh did we forget to tell you that you need to provide your own shirt for tyedye day…tomorrow type of things) Oh also, my public schools are the worst at Kindergarten registration (Welcome letter = bring four things. Actual registration = without these FIVE things, you are unable to register)
Oh, I agree that paperwork snafus are common.
But my experience at sleep away camp great! It was it was one of the best experiences I had growing up. I loved making friends and meeting new people. The experiences were fun. The stories were great. I still think back on that time fondly. I remember I had a hard time going back home.
I hope this time goes quickly for you.
Oh! I feel like I was made for this post. I started going to a church camp that sounds very similar to this GS camp you’ve been talking about—i.e. the dish kit, the sleeping bags, the walk, etc when I was 8 too. And I loved it! I loved it so much that I went for the next 8 years. My parents loved it enough (i.e. they wanted us to get used to being out of our comfort zone) that they sent kids to camp for probably 50 weeks (5 kids, averaging 9ish years of camp per kid). For you math people, we figure that they probably shelled out at least $10,000 to this camp over those years!
So all of this to say I am an expert!
She will have a great time! She might be a little bit homesick at first, but I can pretty much assure you that the camp trains for this. If she is homesick she won’t be the first one and they’ll be plenty of people to try and get her to focus on the fun she will have. And if anything major goes wrong, they will let you know. Promise! Despite the fact that the counselors seem like they are 12, they really are well trained and are doing it because they like kids and they like camp. They probably aren’t doing it for the pay.
Here is a funny story, when I was probably entering 10th grade, I signed up a week on an island in Lake Michigan through this camp. We get to the drop off day and they tell us that they have little room in the van, so you can only take what you can throw in your sleeping bag and roll it up. So I am left to stuff some clothes in the sleeping bag quickly. I am pretty worried about what this week will entail with my lack of supplies. But it has been drilled into me that I go to camp, so I go. I have a pretty great week and when we get back to base camp, I am mortified to find out that my parents have come to pick me up a day early. Because they were worried. And my mom tells me that if I had said I hadn’t wanted to go the day they dropped me off, she wouldn’t have made me go. But the lesson is that I went, I had a great time, and there was no reason for my parents to be worried :) And that’s really the worst story that I can think of from all 5 of us. One year I had an epic fight with the friend that I went with (mostly I went on my own, but for a few years, a friend signed up with me). I wrote home letters with quotes like “I hate Sarah.” “Sarah is so mean” , “I can’t believe Sarah did that.”. These letters were apparently a source of amusement to my parents and when they brought it up lots of years later, I was surprised that apparently I had been so mad at her.
I loved camp so much that I drive my sons seven hours each way so they can go to the same camp. And yes, once I got sick and had to come home, but after a solid day of sleeping and eating real food, I begged to go back and finish my week. And I did! And I was fine!
I’m sending a care package in the morning to my son who is currently at camp, because he FINALLY sent me a letter, mentioning he has no body wash or shampoo. I shudder to think what he smells like. But you know what? I’ll just betcha he’s fine.
There is nothing at all like sleep away camp. I hope you feel better soon.
I don’t have any specific stories, but I can tell you the counselors at my camp always seemed like uber-responsible parental figures. I literally just now realized they are TEENAGERS and that might not be such a good idea. Because it always WAS a good idea! They did a great job!
I worked at a summer camp throughout college. I agree that camp counselors love the kids and are great problem solvers. The paperwork side if things often came second to the interpersonal skills (thus, the medical form & tshirt confusion) but it’s the interpersonal stuff that will make a great experience for Elizabeth. Parents were always amazed at the end of the week at how happy (and filthy) their kids were, and how the uncomfortable stuff (bad weather etc) didn’t phase them.
I went to a YWCA sleep-away camp for YEARS, and my brother started going when he was six. (I have a six-year-old now, and I can’t quite imagine what my mother was thinking, except perhaps that a week-long break sounded nice.) It was right on the beach, and it was HEAVEN. Hand to heart, the worst thing that happened at camp was that we only got one shower for the week. It was scheduled for the day your cabin went muddin’.
The thing that’s stuck with me to this day are all the campfire songs. I’ll bet Elizabeth brings home some good ones!
I went to church camp for the first time at seven years old. It was a little early (FOR ME, not for other kids) so I didn’t go the next year. But I went the year after that and LOVED it. I went every year from the time I was nine until I was seventeen. I later became a camp counselor for an annual weekend-long winter camp. So, even if she doesn’t have the best! time! ever! this time around, it doesn’t mean camp is ruined forever.
Camp is some of the best memories I have of my childhood. Even now, every time it pours down rain in the summer, it feels like camp to me. (Why did it ALWAYS RAIN? I have no idea, but it still doesn’t dampen my memories.)
Swistle I never went away to camp. I do however have two cousins that always work at these summer camp things. My cousins are very mature and responsible young ladies. they would be very helpful and comforting in a time of distress to a little one. They would know when to call someone’s mom and when everything would be fine. I’m sure if I was at camp they would make me feel safe.
I went to camp a few times as a kid and I loved it so much. My best memories from childhood were definitely of camp. In fact the only BAD one I went to was the one run by the school where teachers were in charge instead of teenagers! My shoes and clothes got wet on the first night and they wouldn’t help me so I was freezing for the entire camp. However, at the camps where the workers were teenagers nothing like that ever happened. I definitely remember that they were such problem solvers – whenever someone had a problem they really would bend over backwards to help sort it out.
I agree with the commenter above about the teenagers’ motivations – my understanding is that the pay is pretty dire in these places and so you wouldn’t really work there unless you had a genuine interest in working with kids. I bet a lot of the counselors have prior experience too, which helped them get the job (because I’m sure it must be pretty competitive to get a job that pays you all summer, even if the pay is rubbish). You know, like being a guide leader, working a low level job in a school, or running mentoring programmes and things like that at school.
Going to Girl Scout camp was one of the most important experiences of my life. It shaped me in ways nothing else has. I also worked as a camp counselor when I was in college (my camp name was Pooh Bear), and it was such an amazing experience to be able to be for young girls what my counselors were for me during my time at camp. In all the years I worked there, we never sent one child home for homesickness, and I never had one camper who was not sad to leave at the end of the week. I hope she has an amazing week! Everything will be fine!
My camp story is pretty boring, but I think boring might not be unwelcome, so here goes. I was pretty homesick the first time I went but not so much I couldn’t enjoy parts of it. I went back 2 years later and was less homesick. The only amusing story I have is that the first year I stopped combing my hair at some point in the 2-week stay and when I got home it took my mom an hour to get all the tangles out. That falls within the parameters of Everything Was Fine, I think.
So is Elizabeth the first of your kids to do sleep-away camp? I think our youngest will be first. Oldest has no interest.
I was a camper for 6 years and then and then a counselor at my camp; here’s what I remember as a teenager in charge of kids: what we lack in office administrator skills, we made up for in “the goal here is for every kid to be having the best week possible”. It was the hardest job I ever had but I LOVED it; as a staff we spent almost every waking minute thinking about and monitoring the mood and relative “good summer-ness” of our charges and doing whatever we could to make sure each girl was cared for and (for lack of a better word) ok. It’s the main job of being a counselor: “these are your kids; know at all times how they are and fix it if something isn’t working”
From a camper perspective: I was homesick my first year- but not debilitatingly so, was kept busy enough to move past those moments. And both my husband I still talk about summer camps as our Favorite Things Ever.
I just sent my 9 year old son to sleep away camp for the first time this year and this is what I found:
-He was FINE. He, too, never looked back at us leaving. I don’t think he even thought about us that much. They kept him VERY busy–up until WAY past his normal bedtime, up early in the morning.
-I swear to God he must have worn a grand total of 5 items of clothing the entire time he was there. The top layer of his carefully packed back was a mess–everything below? Not touched. He brushed his teeth a couple of times? Maybe? He definitely used his mouth wash.
-His counselor could not have been more than 18 (IF!) but Drew said he was awesome. Just the right blend of authority figure/fun handler. At 9, 18 year olds are adults from whom they take orders unquestioningly. They don’t see them as the basically-just-kids that we do.
-The staff got to know all of the kids (it is a smallish camp with about 70-80 kids). They knew Drew left a trail of his stuff wherever he went so they’d just do a “Drew round up”, collect all of his stuff in a bag, and deliver it to him every evening.
And Drew is basically along the lines of asperger’s (which is no longer a diagnosis, from what I understand) with some difficulty in managing his stuff, some social unawareness (most likely to run through camp completely naked without even thinking about it), and other quirky things.
I started GS sleepaway camp when I was around 8, and it is STILL one of those stories my mom trots out at family gatherings that I told her, “Mom, I might miss you a little. But I will not NEED you for anything!” I was very convinced I was grownup. And I had a great time every year! I never did get to be a strong enough swimmer that they would let me out in the two-man kayak with a friend and not a counselor, and that pissed me off something fierce, but hey, they were really responsible about it. I even went one year to a session called Primitive where we slept in an open-top tepee and had to dig our own latrine. For real. We finished it the day before we came home, so we pretty much just walked to the next unit to use theirs. I had a blast every time, and it wasn’t until this minute that I thought maybe some of my counselors might have been teenagers. They were all very adult-feeling and responsible authority figures.
I absolutely LOVED camp. I went the first year with a friend from my school, so I had a built-in friend already there, and we had a blast. The next year, I wanted to go back by my friend wasn’t going, so I had to go by myself. I was a shy and sort of nervous kid, so I wasn’t really jazzed about going to camp without my buddy, but that year it turned out even BETTER, and I made friends with the girls in my cabin and we stayed up late talking every night and the whole thing was wonderful. Every year when I came back from camp I would force my family to learn all the camp games and songs so I could try to make the experience last a little longer.
My son Anthony went to camp last week and is going this week for three days and it’s gone great, but it’s his third year. It’s not sleepaway camp, so you might be wondering why are you telling me this, Joanne?, but he has autism and is pretty non verbal and three years ago when he started (he was five), he wasn’t toilet trained and LORD I was super concerned. There were teenagers in charge there, too, ugh it was awful to drop him off the first few days. BUT he did just fine, and now this year, his third year in, he just loves it so much and I feel so much better about it. Also, I wanted to say that my friend Julie and her husband met when they were counselors at some sleepaway camp and this year, she sent her eight year old and her five year old, which I think must mean that even when she knows all that she knows, she still has faith in the camp system.
My son has been going to camp since he was 6 – first a shorter stay with a parent and then a full week by himself. He’s 16 and he still loves it. A few years ago, there was a microburst & it flooded the tents. All electronics were lost (including his cell phone), and they spent days in never fully dry clothes. It was the most fun he had at camp.
I started going to a week-long sleepaway camp when I was 7. I absolutely loved it. I had times of homesickness while I was away, and some years were way worse than others homesickness-wise, but I always couldn’t wait to go back the next year. When I was old enough (15), I became a counselor at the same camp, and did that for five or six years, I think? Just so you know, I took my duties VERY seriously, as did the other counselors. Over the years, there were plenty of bed wettings, and kids who became ill or injured, and kids who got sad or homesick, and we just dealt with it (respectively: strip bed, hang sleeping bag. Lysol; NURSE!; extra TLC and hugs). Generally, in my experience, most of the the kids were great, too, about helping the ones who were having difficulty in some way. Since the kids were not at home, they didn’t act like they were at home, and it seemed like they were often ready to pitch in and make it work for each other in a way maybe they wouldn’t do normally?
I guess you’ll see how she feels when she comes home, but my experience at camp was very good,and a formative one I’m grateful to have had.
I went to a sleep-away camp for about 6 years running. I remember not really being that excited about it at the beginning of every episode, but I loved it and would INSIST on going back. It was July in Louisiana, and there was no air conditioning, and everything was still fine! There were ants sometimes that would get into our snacks, and everything was still fine! I remember really loving swimming (we had to take a swim test on the first day to see if we could go in the deep end of the pool) and arts and crafts (and 20 years later I still prefer those things to most activities). I didn’t enjoy hiking or boating or “games,” and I still enjoyed the overall experience. I’m pretty sure I shed some tears in the first couple of years I went–homesickness, probably–and still wanted to return the next year.
I am quite sure this is one of my favorite Swistle posts ever. I was roaring with laughter at your examples.
I have only good things to say about my kids going to sleep away camp. They come back dirty and happy and tired. She’ll be fine, it will be fine.
But I know how you feel- I felt that way each time one of my kids went for the first time. It’s kind of terrifying.
The first time I went to Girl Scout camp (age 9, I think?), my dad forgot to bring my sleeping bag and pillow (my mom was away when I left for camp), so the first night I had to sleep on a bare mattress with a rolled-up towel as a pillow. It was cold at night, but surface-of-the-sun hot during the day, and I was so afraid of getting scorpions in my shoes that I never took them off. We took freezing cold communal showers and had to hike miles to the dining hall for horrible food, and I lost nine pounds. The counselors were gruff and the whole thing was very bare-bones, almost militaristic.
But Swistle, I LOVED that camp. I bawled my EYES out on the last night, when we put candles on barges made of bark and floated them onto the lake. I didn’t want to go home! I wrote letters back and forth with my tent-mates and I missed being woken up by a counselor screaming from her bed for the whole unit to get up. It’s the darnedest thing, how something that seems like it would incredibly unpleasant is, to a kid who’s away from home for the first time, an awesome adventure.
Everything is going to be FINE!
Best comment ever.
My experiences at camp were fantastic. I was homesick for a couple of days, the first couple years, but I had a great time once I settled in. (By the way, I’ve always been a shy, quiet child, so camp was NOT my comfort zone!)
My daughter and her friend wrote letters to us the first couple of days when they were at camp. They wanted to come home because the cabin was hot, there were bugs and other campers were sad. We picked them up on the final day and they were happy as could be! They could barely remember how “dire” conditions were on the first day!
My daughter’s good friend (she’s 21) has worked at the local YMCA summer camp since high school. She’s a fantastic girl, loves her job (even the hard parts), loves her co-workers and loves the campers. She feels VERY responsible for her charges when she’s there.
Everything was, is and will be fine!
I went to camp for the first time at age 9. That year, (a) a friend and I took a canoe without asking, and got lost for two hours on a series of canals; and (b) I won an award for most mosquito bites (88!) I mention (a), because not only were we just fine, when we returned, the camp adults were APOPLECTIC about us missing, and in retrospect I’m pretty sure the counselor in charge of lakefront (who was an actual grown up, not a teenager) got fired over it- I never would have known it if we hadn’t blatantly broken the rules and gotten lost, but that situation made it CRYSTAL CLEAR that they were VERY CONCERNED about camper safety. And despite (b), I viewed it as just about the best experience ever, and begged every year to go back for longer than my mom wanted to send me.
Cracking up at Lawyerish’s comment. I remember, similarly, metal shower-doors and gross bathroom floors, and stinging nettles all over the grounds, and that my horse tried to TROT and scared me to death, since all the others were just walking calmly…. but everything was fine. :) The best parts were trying to win the award for cleanest cabin (?!), and skit-night, and trying archery.
My son’s been twice now, and he ADORES camp. It’s truly harder on the parent than on the kid. Just to second one comment: they will keep her so busy, she won’t have time to get homesick. And the counselors LIVE to be helpful, at least in my experience. She’s in good hands. Everything will be fine.
Also? I forgot to add that I got my period, for the first time, at camp. It was 1975, despite the fact that all they had were pads with belts and the bathroom stalls didn’t have doors (?), I was fine. The women there were GREAT!
I haven’t commented in ages here but, in case it helps you sleep at all for the next week, i wanted to be sure to throw this out there. I went to tons of camps as a kid and loved them all.
I was also a counselor for two years at a camp in the mountains – middle of nowhere – and it was amazing. In the time I was there, I’m sure I saw over 2,000 kids and I honestly don’t remember anything worse than someone getting pink eye ever happening. We may have been teenagers but we were super careful with all of the kids – in my experience, you don’t sign up to work at a camp unless you love doing that stuff and being surrounded by children all day. I think I only had one or two kids get even a little homesick too. Quite frankly they were too busy during the day and too tired at night to be worried about home. Mostly they just had a blast and then passed out at the end of the night. I would guess that she’s going to have an absolutely amazing time!!!
I went to Girl Scout weeklong sleepaway camp starting at age 7 (probably through age 14 or so) and it still remains one of my best childhood memories. And as most of the others have pointed out, it’s often the unpleasant parts – bugs, bad weather, bad food, etc. – that lend itself to the sense of adventure and great stories to tell. I never had issues with homesickness (which I realize now may have been slightly disheartening to my mother), but there were often girls in the unit who did. Even so, we usually kept so busy that they didn’t really have time to think about it.
My experiences at camp are one of the major reasons I am a Girl Scout leader today, even though I don’t have kids yet. We take them camping at least twice a year and have never had a case where things were “not fine.” In fact, the only person to ever have been injured on one of our camping trips is me, the leader, who ended up breaking my nose after an unfortunate cot incident. Which of course, the girls found hilarious. Long story short, camp is awesome, and even if she decides it’s not for her in the future, she’ll likely come home with some good stories to tell.
My son has anxiety disorder and some other emotional stuff going on. He’s 9.5 years old. This spring, he told me he wanted to go to 4-H camp. It was for 3 nights and 4 days. I had no idea why he wanted to do it, he gets so nervous just going to a birthday party. But he went, and he LOVED it! In spite of my fretting, he ended up making a lot of friends, and had the time of his life. He matured a lot, and learned a lot, and came back a stronger, happier person. It was perfect.
I signed my son up for a new day camp and had similar experience (them: you haven’t sent in your forms. me: I have, twice now. Me: I’ve sent you many emails please let me know you received them. Them: SILENCE.) as you have but the first week is over and I was pleasantly surprised that everything has gone well and he has been happy. I keep telling myself that once camp actually starts somehow everything falls into place. Elizabeth will have a great time!
I went to sleep away camp for the first time when I was 8 as well. The first girl I met has remained one of my closest friends to this day. We will both be 35 this summer if that gives you an idea of the length of friendship. We have never lived in the same city but communicate weekly and see each other every few months. She is just one of the many close friends I made at summer camp. We all talk regularly about how excited we are to send our kids to camp with one another! I know summer camp isn’t for everyone but I wouldn’t trade my experiences there for anything! I hope Elizabeth has a great week.
I hated my first camp because it wasn’t a good fit, but I LOVED my second camp. I went back year after year after year (even though I chipped a tooth one year and broke my nose the next! But they took terrific care of me both times!)
LOVED Camp Onas. LOVED. IT. Even in the rain. Even in 40 degree weather (and we slept in tents, not bunks). Even in extreme heat and humidity.
I stayed 8 weeks two summers. It was the best.
I started sleepaway camp when I was 9 or 10 and loved it. The lake was FREEZING cold and I always ran out of dry clothes and I hated making friendship bracelets and the food wasn’t great (Why doesn’t this spaghetti taste EXACTLY LIKE my mothers?! I can’t eat it!) and I was a little afraid of the woods in the dark, but it was truly one of the best parts of my childhood.
In fact, I was just Googling this week to see if the camp is still in business (IT IS!) so I can send my own kids off in a couple years. And that’s saying a lot, since it was church camp and I am less-churchy these days.
When I first went to camp I was still taking baths (not showers) and didn’t even know how to put my long! long! hair in a ponytail by myself. I figured out the showers (uhh, after a few days. It was fine! We swam everyday!), but I think I went about four days trying to hold onto the original pony my mom had put my hair in. Finally someone helped me out :) And I remember eating all kinds of foods I hadn’t eaten before. I loved going to camp and when we got home, one of the counselors lived down the street from me. I must have walked by her house and sat forlornly outside for days before she came outside and relived the good times with me, before gently breaking it to me that all good times must end. I survived!
I sent Sam to sleepaway camp last year. He didn’t know anyone there and our drop off time was awkward and kind of horrible because it seemed like everyone else knew someone. When he came back, he said he had had a great time. He told me about the stuff they did and how fun it was. This year, a friend of his is thinking of doing the same camp (Sam is too old to go again) and Sam spent 15 minutes on the phone with her telling her all of the awesome things they did and how it was so fun and he wanted to be a counselor there when he is old enough. = Everything was fine.
She’ll do great, Swistle. She will.
Just dropping by to say good for you, not letting your nervousness about camp prevent you from letting her go. I’m still mad that I never got to go to camp, and after reading these comments, I’m more convinced than ever that I missed out on something really great.
Me too!
I was a counselor for many years, and I loved it. even as a sixteen year old jr counselor, we were always with the kids, experiencing what they were. the other counselors I knew weren’t just looking for a summer job, but an adventure, an experience. and as someone who works with kids, had been a counselor, and has had many. many. many courses in child endangerment, I CAN tell you that camps are very concerned about insurance and safety… it is probably much safer to send a kid to camp than to a relative for a week.
I started going to a two (2!) week sleepaway camp when I was 8. I ended up going for four years in a row…and one year I did two sessions which meant I was gone a month. It was a western style camp- half the day was spent riding horses (and we aren’t talking trail rides, more like barrel racing); the other half we were at a lake. We also did archery, shot rifles, and did a bunch of other really fun, really unsafe stuff. It was a blast. One kid did break his arm on the bucking barrel (this was a barrel that was tied up by four bungees to simulate riding a bull)…but he came back the next day with a cast and it was business as usual. Oh, the reason for the bucking barrel? That was our tryout for the RODEO we put on. I did have an incident myself- I fell off the top bunk and landed nose first on the plywood floor. Broke my nose and got to sleep in the nurse’s quarters for the night. Still have the bent nose to prove it.
I went to sleep-away camp when I was 9 and had to pee in the middle of the night. I got up and went to the latrine (I was supposed to wait until morning but I couldn’t hold it). It down-poured on my way back to the cabin and I got lost (literally 15 feet away from my cabin). A camp counselor from a close cabin heard me outside and brought me into her cabin, let me sleep in her bed, and she slept on the ground until early morning when she helped me find my way back = everything was fine!!!!
Oldest went to overnight camp for a week last Summer when he was 9. It was a four hour drive away, there was almost no way to contact them at the camp, he knew only one kid, and I let him bring a stuffed animal, which my husband so helpfully told me AFTER the bus had left that he really shouldn’t have let me do that because no one was was going to bring stuffed animals and he would be teased all week. After he said that my stress level was through the roof at the idea of an entire week of teasing.
Well, Oldest had the BEST TIME. No teasing, he loved every activity, the counselors, although young, were great. Seriously, if it was up to him, he would do a month or more of overnight camp every Summer. He is severely disappointed that I would miss him if he was gone all Summer and also that we are not made of money, so this year he gets only two weeks away.
I went to what you’d probably call camp at age six, again at seven, with brownies at eight and then again at ten, for periods of time lasting between three days and a week. The worst things that ever happened to me at camp were mild (VERY MILD) sunburn, and falling off a low climbing frame and bruising my butt, which could have happened anywhere and was not remotely serious. That is literally the extent of it. The counsellors were always very careful, checked in with us frequently, mopped up tears when kids were homesick, found alternative activities for kids who really, really didn’t want to do particular ones, joked with us constantly, they were great. I had one counsellor just called J who was about seven feet tall and dyed her hair every colour of the rainbow. I thought she was the coolest ever. Every single activity was prefaced with a talk about safety, from the obvious ones (like rifles or archery) to the ones which you might think needed less emphasis on safety (orienteering in large groups comes to mind). There were activities which I did not like (quad biking) and activities which I surprised myself by having a lot of fun and being pretty good at (abseiling).
I was on holiday last week and tried some things for the first time ever, and if I hadn’t had the experience of surprising myself by being really good at unexpected things then I don’t think I’d be as open now to trying new things like the scuba I did last week. Like every other commenter, I am sure that Elizabeth will be absolutely fine.
One other note … I can’t speak for all camps or organizations, but Girl Scouts definitely wants to make sure kids stay safe (and avoid lawsuits). For example, to go canoeing at our camp, on a completely still lake, requires a certified lifeguard, a certified first-aider, someone certified in small watercraft skills and a certain number of watchers per girls. I swear, most of the time is taken up with putting lifejackets on the girls and teaching them all the safety rules, even though I’ve never seen or heard of one tipping over or a girl falling out.
I went to sleepaway camp for the first time at 10. It ended up raining so much they sent us home a day early, but I loved it. I loved it so much that I went back as a counselor for three years as a teenager. We were VIGOROUSLY trained on a wide variety of topics. We had procedures for what to do with homesick girls, shy girls, bullies, bed-wetters, and injuries (and many other things, but it has been a long time…)
I ended up helping girls who dealt with each and every one of those categories, and at the end of the week, they almost always came up to me with a huge hug to let me know how much they loved camp, even if they had a hard time at one point. Long story short=everything was fine.
I went to a couple of weekend camps and a two week Girl Scout camp as a teenager. Weekend camps were a lot of fun. Didn’t really like the GS camp, but that was just me. It was rather cliqueish (I was shy) and I was homesick, but I do have some great memories of it. I chose not to go again, but it was well run and very safe! Even though the counselors were young they were well trained and it may have seemed a little disorganized at first but everything went well. I don’t think you have to worry about Elizabeth…she will be fine (if she has any problems they would call you). If she loves it then yeah, if she doesn’t than you’ll know.
My parents liked to tell the story of when my oldest sister went to sleep-away camp for the first time. They received 2 letters from her on the same day, one saying, “I HATE it here. Please come get me right away!” and the other one saying, “I’m having a great time at camp. It’s so much fun!” Well, they didn’t know what to do and agonized over it for a while, but in the end they didn’t go to get her until the last day of camp, at which point she couldn’t stop talking about what a WONDERFUL time she had. When they asked her about the “please come get me” letter, she had no memory of having written or sent it.
(I hope that wasn’t a NO DON’T TELL ME anecdote…)
I was a shy kid, but had a good time at sleep-away camp in spite of it.
I went to a week long sleep away camp one time (probably 10 yrs old) and had the best time. I was a very homesick prone kid, so I’m still kind of surprised my parents sent me, but I remember feeling weird/homesick the first night and then basically having the time of my life the remainder of the camp.
My mom DID have a hard time I now realize. She kept a handwritten journal of the things she did every day (in form of light hearted, funny letters to me) and talked about how she hoped I was having fun, she missed me, etc. I read it when I got home. I still have it, and I can see now (as a mom now myself) that it helped her get through the week!!
I went to sleep-away camp for the first time when I was 9, at a girl scout camp for five nights. I liked it, despite the fact that I got kicked in the stomach by a horse and had to spend the night in the infirmary bc I got the wind knocked out of me so badly! All of the counselors were very attentive and caring, and I ended up having a lot of fun. After that, I went to a church camp (sleep-away, 2 weeks) for the next 7 summers. It was and still is one of my favorite places ever, and my positive experience makes me want to recommend sleep-away camp to every parent who thinks their child is ready!
I went to camp starting around age 9/10 and I LOVED it. Of course, I didn’t love it until I got there. I was a shy kid so the first day was intimidating but I quickly got over it because COOL TEENAGE COUNSELORS! SWIMMING!, ARCHERY! BOYS! (ok that was in the later years – around age 13).
Here’s my best “Everything Was Fine” story: so, second year of camp (Sunday – Saturday), it was Tuesday or Wednesday and I hadn’t eaten much dinner the night before because they served something I didn’t like. In the cafeteria the tables were called to get food at random and at breakfast our table was the last to be called. So, by the time we were called it had been like 20 hours since I had anything but water and “bug juice” and popsicles. As we were (finally) walking to the kitchen I turned to tell my counselor that I didn’t feel good and before I could finish I passed out, landing on a cafeteria table. Rushed to the nurse I was tested and hovered over but I felt fine. My parents were called and I was asked if I wanted to stay…I begged to stay. I couldn’t imagine leaving. After about an hour with the nurse (and some food) I was released back to my cabin group. I was a ROCKSTAR. Everyone knew who I was and thought it was SO COOL that I passed out. And, because no one wanted it to happen again, the camp director sent extra snacks to our cabin every night for the rest of the week. It was awesome.
I went for I think 4 years. Next summer my oldest will be 7.5 and I’m already researching were we’ll send her.
I went to a week of sleep away camp when I was 11. I was pretty miserably homesick the first day. But, by the second day I found someone else who was equally shy, unoutdoorsy, and unathletic as I was. We stuck together and had some fun in spite of being away at boisterous, outdoorsy, athletic sleep away camp.
Even after finding a friend I can’t say I liked it. I was pretty happy to get out if there when my parents came to get me. But, even when I was 11 I thought it was a valuable experience, even if it wasn’t one I’d ever planned on repeating. Now, in my memory, nothing bad actually happened. It just wasn’t for me and I felt homesick.
The worst that happened was I found the communal shower to be totally unacceptable, so I only got “clean” by swimming in the pool (which I didn’t do that often because I didn’t actually know how to swim). I came home with a knot in my hair so large that it took my mom literally HOURS to comb it out. So, I was dirty, but everything was ok.
My mom said at the time she remembered that my brother was similarly dirty when he got home from sleep away camp. I guess personal hygiene is not a priority for youngsters at sleep away camp.
I went to sleep away camp a few times as a kid and loved it. I did not like baseball/softball AT ALL and balked loudly at being forced to play, but I enjoyed every other minute. Our leaders were older teens and young adults from our church and they took great care of us. I did cry quietly for a few minutes in my bunk one night because I caught a mild head cold, and just didn’t feel well, but didn’t feel bad enough to wake Fran (our leader), and was fine the next day. My kids have gone several times to sleep away camp and enjoyed all of it. They get to choose what activities they do, so they aren’t ever forced to do something they hate.
Hi, Kristen. I went to sleep-away camp for the first time when I was 8, too.
It was a day’s drive away from home. I didn’t know anybody. It was two whole weeks. I’d hardly ever been away from my mother before. The food was weird. I didn’t like the other girls. It was ALL in French. They gave us French names and Brigitte was taken. They made us use francs.
And you know, it was glorious.
I figured it out–befriending the other girls, dealing with my homesickness, navigating almost a full day speaking only in French (even though when I arrived I only knew how to say “my name is _____,” “how are you,” and “hot chocolate, please”), answering to Katel, eating crepes and nutella (hey, that part turned out to be easy), even the money system. I still remember some of the things we got to do and people I met. I still find francs in my sock drawer when I move house. And I remember that feeling I got when my language-learning efforts earned me a shiny blue disco ball as recognition, even though I didn’t make it the full day speaking only French.
I went back to that camp and to others many times, and ended up being a camp counselor when I was 16-20. And I promise–in addition to the overly peppy 18-year-olds who “totally have it under control, no worries,” there is an office full of anal-retentive-in-a-good-way middle-aged women and men who know exactly what they’re doing and have been doing it for a decade now.
She’s in good hands, and the best part is she’s going to miss you SO much you’ll get the hugest hug of your life when your girl gets back.
P.S. Mail her some postcards, or a taste of home if the rules allow. It makes the biggest difference.
I have worked for 12 years for an organization that runs a summer camp, and let me assure you that SAFETY IS NUMBER ONE with any reputable camp. If it were any different, the camp simply would not succeed in today’s litigious world of helicopter parenting. There are constant head counts, safety reminders, one counselor at the head of the group and one at the back, and so on. So, if they’ve been around for a while, the safety issue is probably not one you have to worry about.
The disorganization of paperwork and t-shirts is VERY common, particularly early in the season, because there are literally HUNDREDS of forms, lists, etc. to coordinate. And keep in mind that often the people handling that part of the process are different from the ones who are with your child every day and physically responsible for her.
As far as potential discomfort/apprehension goes, it’s often the most difficult circumstances that are the ones the kids really bond over and talk about year after year. Like the time they camped outside in a torrential rainstorm and everyone was soaked to the bone. Yes, they shivered all night and didn’t sleep well, but the next morning they all made hot chocolate and wrung out their socks to see who had the most water and they were SO giddily grateful for warm clothes when they returned to camp. Or when one of their fellow campers tripped and sprained a wrist during a mountain hike; they totally banded together as a team and everyone helped her get down (one camper took the injured girl’s pack for her, another made sure she had plenty of water and snacks, and the rest kept her spirits up with jokes and camp songs and words of encouragement). Hardship really does build character, often very dramatically so in kids who are not used to much hardship. And it often leads to the best stories that become a treasured part of their personal history. Seriously, camp bonds kids like nothing else I’ve ever seen.
I have sent my very sensitive kid (now 11) to camp (the one I work for, and others) for several years now and he had a tough time with homesickness at first. But there are a number of things that helped him with that (that would apply to other issues as well, such as wet gear or scary new activities): 1) there were other kids in the same situation, so he didn’t feel like he was in it totally alone, 2) counselors and administrators are trained in specific responses to such issues (new, young ones are often the most eager and creative in terms of empathy and problem-solving), and 3) it made him feel really proud and strong to recognize that ultimately, when he didn’t have his go-to “mom will fix it” safety net, he really could count on himself to deal with this stuff without us, and be successful.
Also, at the risk of sounding totally mercenary, a camp is a business (even if it’s a nonprofit). Sure, they’re (hopefully) in it to help nurture a well-rounded next generation, but they also need to cover costs and be financially successful. Therefore, it is in the camp’s best interest to not only keep kids safe, but to make sure they have the TIME OF THEIR LIVES so they will want to come back every year and bring all their fee-paying friends.
I went to a Camp Fire Camp for a week the summer I was 8, and went back every summer for 10 years. I LOVED it. Sometimes we were a little cold/hot, sometimes the food was good/bad, sometimes the counselors were awesome/meh. It didn’t really matter. I was ON MY OWN and living with a bunch of other kids & trying new things and it was a childhood highlight. It will all be fine!
I went away to horse camp in Nevada when I was in 4th grade. I flew by myself, had to change planes in Las Vegas and take a Greyhound bus from Reno to a small town ALL BY MYSELF, and then I got off on the wrong bus stop in the small town and the Greyhound driver came back and picked me up when they saw the counselor waiting for me at the other stop. Then I cried for the first day because I had no friends and called my mom and told her I wanted to go home and she cried but made me stay, but by the end of the week I was begging my mom to let me stay another week! And I went back every year after until I went to high school and made a penpal friend that I stayed in contact with through college by writing letters and we are still friends on Facebook. So! Camp was an adventure I can call back on and remember how brave I can be AND I really loved it.
I loved camp so much that my husband (whom I met at camp) and I still go back every summer to volunteer (we are in our 30s). Most of my best and most lasting friendships have come directly or indirectly from camp. I really hope Elizabeth loves it as much as I do!
You ever see the movie Indian Summer? This comment totally made me think of that movie, one of my favorites.
I love that movie so, so much! I also think that the friendships I made at camp are some of the most constant and lasting that I have known. I wish that I could spend my summers there still!
I went to camp many summers, often with siblings and cousins, and was a camp counselor, and also worked a full summer as a sort of janitor at the same camp, and it was hot — the summer I was swabbing bathrooms and doing dishes and moving hay bales, there was a drought and we weren’t allowed to shower every day — and there were scorpions, and one time there was a bat (A BAT!!!) in the kids’ cabin. But oh Swistle I loved it so very much; I still have friends from camp. And Elizabeth will too.
I did girl guide camps as a kid! Some years we did get totally soaked and sometimes it was so chilly at night that we slept layered in sweaters/sweat pants, one year I got a million mosquito bites and was SO ITCHY for days and one year a skunk chased our entire pack away from our campfire all the way to the lodge. No one got sprayed and now it’s a funny story. Every year the counselors were kind, compassionate and inclusive. I was shy and never had any “school” friends in my groups but I always had a good time and made fast friends with at least one or two other girls.
She might have a night at the beginning or end where she misses you all terribly but mostly I’m sure she’s having fun making s’mores and singing songs. She will do great!
I went to Lutheran Bible camp when I was a kid, and despite how boring that sounds, I loved it. The counsellors were, looking back on it, maybe 16, but they were awesome. I exchanged letters with my cabin mates for years, we had fantastic campfire songs, and the worst thing that happened to me is I got a billion mosquito bites. But, I get that many mosquito bites in the city, so….
I’m sure she’ll have a great time!
I went to sleep away camp every summer until starting high school. I went to all sorts of camps, church camp, nature camp, horse camp. I had fun at all of them, even though I was very shy and prone to being homesick.
I went a couple years to a camp run by a Methodist church, even though my family is not religious at all. One year at the start of camp they said that at the end of the week we would all share our favorite bible passages. Oh man, the panic set it! I had barely cracked a bible before…let alone having a favorite passage. I panic snail mailed my mom and she wrote me back and gave me a couple suggestions. Mom saved the day!
Also, my wonderful mom always would start sending postcards to the camp a couple days before I had even left home…that way I always got mail on the first or second day or camp. I didn’t have to wait until the end of the week for a letter from home. This post is making me think of all my fond memories of camp!
I dropped my 6-year-old niece off at Girl Scout Camp last summer (her mom was recovering from major surgery and her dad was at work). I was nervous on her behalf, even though she was very excited. I was a little worried when I saw she had a thin, sleepover-type sleeping bag when the other kids had REI-type, camping grade sleeping bags. They were sleeping on cots in canvas tents.
The other little girls who had been there before befriended her right away. The counselors were a mixture of seasoned adults and teenagers and their attitudes of confidence soothed me.
She ended up loving it, even though she got hot and tired sometimes and a couple of nights was cold and cried. The nights she was cold and/or sad, they had her sleep in the lodge with some counselors. It wasn’t a big deal for them or for her. It was a horseback riding camp (she didn’t know how to ride a horse before she went) and had lots of hard work involved, but she loved it. She wants to go back this summer.
Hope this helps! Elizabeth will do great!!
I was a number 10, and it was fine! I went to a church camp for a week as a child, didn’t like it very much (I’m an introvert, I didn’t really like being so scheduled, I couldn’t poop in a non-home toilet), but I stuck out the week, enjoyed some parts, and then just didn’t go back the next year. EVERYTHING WAS OK! :)
I didn’t love camp, but I was FINE.
I went to sleep away camp around fifth grade, can’t remember if it was the summer before or after. It was a camp that my cousins had been to for many years and spent the whole time riding horses. I loved horseback riding and didn’t mind being away from home so we thought it’d be a good idea. WELL. My mother registered me late and so the only group I could get in to was “Sports” which my mother thought was “fine” even though I was an introverted asthmatic who would only succeed if the sport was “Competitive Reading”, there was no horseback riding for me (which oddly neither I nor anyone else considered a sport at the time). I was a super picky eater (still am) and so meals were always a challenge. The lake water was yucky. I was super shy and had a hard time making friends. I didn’t volunteer to go back another year. I didn’t love it but nothing bad actually happened and any other kid probably would have loved every minute of it. I just wasn’t that kid, which is FINE. To this day my motto is “I don’t camp” which is FINE, know your audience.
I’m not even making this up to make you feel better: I went to 3 different kinds of sleepaway camp as a kid (2 different church camps and one GS camp) and each of them had their hiccups as far as being away from home but were on the whole MUCH more fun than not. I particularly remember canoeing in a lake (Weeds! Aiiee! Paddle faster!)) and singing funny songs in the dining hall, particularly one when the milk ran out? The “rivalry” between the different cabins and counselors was a lot of fun as a kid. There were capture the flag raids and counselor singing contests. We also had some kind of all-camp big hide and seek thing on the last day that was mystifying and completely unclear and tons of fun. I remember the craft cabin being kind of lame but that is not a surprise given my complete lack of craftiness now. Also it was the rainy day thing so blegh. (Poor art cabin counselor.)
I never got to go to camp as a kid, so these stories make me ache for it all over again. I’ve volunteered as a camp counselor/camp buddy before, though, and will just say that those who work at camps do it because they love kids and love (even the idea of) camp, so they want to make it the best experience possible for everyone. I’m sure Elizabeth is in great hands and is just fine, Swistle.
Everyone I know who does sleepaway camp loves it passionately. Somewhere there must be people who didn’t like it, but I haven’t met them.
I did it for a couple of years and had a great time, though I don’t have specific memories about it.
About the forms/organization — one thing I keep learning in parenthood is that the skills that people need to do certain things, like take care of my children well, are not necessarily the skills I generally look for in people I hire to do things for me or work in my office. So to work with me I would want someone super organized with excel file lists of who bought t-shirts and who completed forms (or the equivalent for my office). But the people who are great at caring for kids aren’t necessarily those same people — they are the people who love working with other people, who get along well with others, etc. etc. So I’ve had to learn to calibrate my skill requirements to the task at hand, rather than expecting everyone to be a clone of me.
I deeply loved camp, but it was Nerd Camp and we were mostly in class and they didn’t really let us near large bodies of water. = Everything Was Fine But Also Not Helpful
I loved camp. It was awesome. I was a shy kid, and the camp environment was challenging for me. I still loved it. It truly seemed like a magical place where the counselors were the absolute epitome of cool and they could make anything happen. It is hard to believe now that they were 17-ish year old kids.
But mostly I just want to say that reading the kind responses is wonderful. It’s rare to find such a supportive group on the internet, and it’s just great to read all these comforting words.
I never went to sleepaway camp as a kid, but I was a GS leader for several years, and I remember being crazy aggravated at one group of moms who were HYSTERICAL about sending their kids on a camping trip (and I mean cabin-camping at a GS camp with me and the troop and six other moms, not even sleepaway camp). The kids who were allowed to go were just fine and had a great time, of course, but MAN I had to mollycoddle those mamas, some of whom still slept with their precious baby in the bed with them, at 8 years old. Seriously. A lot of the kids weren’t even allowed to go because I ticked a lot of the moms off, but that’s another story…anyway, this year I sent all 3 of my kids to church camp at once (GLORY) and my youngest cried and cried the night before because she was so nervous, but then she had a wonderful time, didn’t even remember that I existed the entire time. So the moral of the story is, kids always have a great time, the end. Can’t wait to hear how she does!!
Camp during middle school: my friend got her (maybe first) period and was wearing a PAD IN THE POOL and it um…left the confines of her bathing suit and floated by us. I am snort-laughing red faced right now because in hind sight SO FUNNY and at the time she was mortified. I’m pretty sure that Elizabeth is too young for this to happen this summer. She’ll be fine! You’ll feel that “did I leave my purse somewhere?” feeling all week. You’ll be okay! I promise!
I LOVED camp when I was a kid. My first year there, I cried at the end of the week, not because I was homesick, but because I didn’t want to go home and leave all the fun of camp behind. Some of my best childhood memories revolve around camp — the camp experiences themselves, and the great one-on-one time with my mom in the car on the long drive home. We had a lot of really good conversations on those drives.
I hope Elizabeth had a wonderful time!