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Forum -> Parenting our children
Do you/Would you send your kids to secular day camp?



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amother


 

Post Tue, Feb 24 2015, 1:34 pm
Have one preschool aged child and want him to go to a proper day camp this year with structured activities and swimming lessons. all the frum camps in my area are backyard style. A good option that is very close to where we live is a great, structured camp in a hebrew day school building, but it is not religious and kids don't have to bring kosher food.
my Dh is a little uncomfortable sending him here, but I don't see the big deal as I went to many secular day camps growing up as a frum kid and never had any issues with it.
Wondering what other's thoughts/experiences are...
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 24 2015, 1:40 pm
Me, I would rather send to public/non Jewish (provided the local culture is "clean") than secular Jewish. Too confusing.

The world has changed a lot since our youth, I say it as a teacher who also went to public school... I don't recognize... but preschool should be totally ok.
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amother


 

Post Tue, Feb 24 2015, 1:41 pm
My mother sent me as a kid, usually half to a jewish camp, half the the non-jewish or non from camp. I ended up eating non kosher on a few occasions, it was too hard to resist when they were handing out donuts to other campers etc . . . I picked up some language and ideas that I don't think my parents realized. If I had a choice to send my kids to a jewish camp personally, b/c I remember what it was like. On the other hand although I wish I hadn't eaten non-kosher I think I basically turned out fine (I'm bais yaakov type frum), even with all of those experiences.
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amother


 

Post Tue, Feb 24 2015, 2:39 pm
My parents sent me as a kid to a secular/non jewish day camp and I hated it because I felt so out of place. I was like 7.
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amother


 

Post Tue, Feb 24 2015, 4:59 pm
I attended secular day camps in the public schools for a few years in elementary school, like 3rd-5th grade or so. A little different from you're talking about because the camp wasn't secular Jewish, it was not Jewish, period. I was a fish out of water, met only two other Jewish girls , each in a different year, and I was the ONLY frum kid. The activities were nice though there was some estrangement there because I wasn't into secular culture, and I felt very out of place and isolated, had to bring lunch from home while e/o else ate the lunches provided--including ice cream for dessert!--and so on. Having a name no one could pronounce only made things worse. I dealt with it but wouldn't say it was a great experience and wouldn't do this to my kids.
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Miri7




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 24 2015, 5:11 pm
We send our kids to secular day camps and they love it. There are a lot of other Jewish kids around so it probably helps.

If the camp is serving a treat I send a kosher version along. They just put my kids ice cream in the freezer. Staff is very understanding - it helps that there are so many kids who have food allergies or are gluten free etc who also get special foods from home.
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little_mage




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 24 2015, 8:27 pm
My experience with secular Jewish camps (both as a camper and staff), is that even if the children do not need to bring kosher food, any food provided by the camp itself will be kosher, if food is the only issue. These were mostly JCC camps. Personally, especially for a preschooler, I don't think it matters too much.
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