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Forum -> Parenting our children -> School age children
Is this common in other places too? (Camp from young age)
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amother
OP


 

Post Sun, Jun 20 2021, 10:30 pm
I live in Flatbush, where I've noticed that it is common and accepted to send kids to camp starting at around age 10-11. By 12, almost every kid I know has been to/starts going to camp.
Is this a Brooklyn thing? Or are there other places
(in the USA/ other countries) that this is common as well?
I feel like these kids are still so young!!! What is the rush??
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amother
Aquamarine


 

Post Sun, Jun 20 2021, 10:52 pm
Do you mean camp not sleep away camp?

My kids have been in daycamp since toddlerhood since BH I worn full time and need the childcare

Sleep away camp? I’m not up to it yet but I started at age 9 and I was far from the youngest of my friends. Many start at 8. This is 35 years ago
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jun 20 2021, 11:26 pm
Sleep away camp or day camp? I went to sleep away camp, over 30 years ago, at age 10. Day camp? Kids start really really young.
And in terms of "they are still young", kids need something to do over summer break, no?
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amother
OP


 

Post Sun, Jun 20 2021, 11:46 pm
Sleepaway camp
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amother
Tangerine


 

Post Sun, Jun 20 2021, 11:59 pm
Brooklyn is sticky and boring for kids. I went at 11. We live somewhere else now and kids go starting at 12. My 10 year kid wants to go next summer and I’ll probably send her. Camp is an amazing experience for many kids I don’t see a negative in going. Not sure what you mean by what’s the rush.
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 12:07 am
amother [ Tangerine ] wrote:
Brooklyn is sticky and boring for kids. I went at 11. We live somewhere else now and kids go starting at 12. My 10 year kid wants to go next summer and I’ll probably send her. Camp is an amazing experience for many kids I don’t see a negative in going. Not sure what you mean by what’s the rush.


Sleepaway camp is super expensive and a luxury. My almost 10 year old is also begging me to go next summer, but I really feel like I want to have her near me for a few more years, before she goes away for an extended period of time. I feel like if kids go very young, they either have very rich parents and / busy parents, or the home is dysfunctional and the child needs to have a breather.
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amother
Aquamarine


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 3:57 am
amother [ Tangerine ] wrote:
Brooklyn is sticky and boring for kids. I went at 11. We live somewhere else now and kids go starting at 12. My 10 year kid wants to go next summer and I’ll probably send her. Camp is an amazing experience for many kids I don’t see a negative in going. Not sure what you mean by what’s the rush.


Only negative is cost! 😭
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amother
Aquamarine


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:07 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Sleepaway camp is super expensive and a luxury. My almost 10 year old is also begging me to go next summer, but I really feel like I want to have her near me for a few more years, before she goes away for an extended period of time. I feel like if kids go very young, they either have very rich parents and / busy parents, or the home is dysfunctional and the child needs to have a breather.


I don’t think your assumptions are true. But if you can’t afford it or prefer her you, you’re her mother you get to decide this. Would you consider or be able to afford 1month?
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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:10 am
In places where sleep away camp is normal, yes, this is normal. I went to sleep away for the first time the summer after 4th grade, which for most kids is 10 (I was still 9, but turned 10 over the summer). My oldest just turned 10 and just finished 4th grade and he is not going this year because I didn't feel he was ready (ADHD, so on the immature side for his age) but about 75% of his class is going. I am sending him for the 3 day trial later this summer that the camp offers, and hope he'll be ready next year. He really wants to go.
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amother
Mistyrose


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:15 am
Yes Brooklyn is not a place for the summer if possible. People go to small bungalows in the country without room for all kids so need sleep away camps. Those who stay in the city dont need their kids to see such groil. Kids in Monsey and Monroe go to camp later but sometimes the boys are allowed to go for a week before camp starts for the experience. Although people go to camp later today than years ago still.
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amother
Mustard


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:18 am
I went at age 7, and every year since. This was in 1985...
Today, kids go later. Camp is more of a luxury than it used to be.
In those days camp was less expensive, we did less trips and less special activities..
In my opinion, it would be far better of we lowered the bar, made camp less expensive which would allow.more kids to go every year..
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Beingreal




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:26 am
I went to sleep away camp at 9 and at first it was hard! I look at my 9 year old son and think how young he is to be sent away!
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mochamix18




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:32 am
Amother mustard I also went around age 8 in 1990 for the first time (it was a two week session). I was away for a full 8 weeks starting at age 11. I’m from out of town and BT. We earned scholarship towards camp through my parents conservative shul by leading shabbos groups or teaching Bar/Bat Mitzvah lessons.
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amother
Viola


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:40 am
Brooklyn smells disgusting in the summer. Please let your kid have some fresh air.
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Raisin




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:53 am
I don't know any non Jews who send such young kids to sleepaway camp in my country. Even teenagers only go very occasionally.

Its more of a Jewish thing. Not even frum. For secular Jews who might send their kids to non Jewish schools its important to make sure they stay connected and dont marry out, for frum Jews meeting peers in the summer and experiencing yiddishkiet in a positive way is important.
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ora_43




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:59 am
Age 9-12 is the best time to go to camp! Once you're a teenager you start to be too cool for things like campfire songs and color war.

I think camp is good for teens, too, but younger kids just have so much fun.

Of course it depends on the kid, and on the family, and what's fun for one 9-year-old might be miserable for another, so everyone has to know their kid. But I wouldn't say that in general kids that age are too young.

When I was that age I was in a mostly non-Jewish, non-NYC part of the US. Most kids did day camp or summer school, not overnight camp, but going to overnight camp was not uncommon at those ages.
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amother
Tangerine


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 5:04 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Sleepaway camp is super expensive and a luxury. My almost 10 year old is also begging me to go next summer, but I really feel like I want to have her near me for a few more years, before she goes away for an extended period of time. I feel like if kids go very young, they either have very rich parents and / busy parents, or the home is dysfunctional and the child needs to have a breather.


Other than cost the rest is just not true. Normal healthy kids from regular homes go. I don’t feel a need to keep my kids near me. My daughter is very independent and she will thrive in camp. I’m not making her lose out because of selfish reasons. I think it’s ridiculous that you think a kid needs an extreme reason to go to camp. And I’m far from rich.
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amother
NeonGreen


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 5:25 am
I also don’t understand it. Besides the cost, I don’t see young kids being away from home and away from any close parental figure as a good thing. I see it as a place kids go to get badly influenced by peers who unfortunately need to be away from home because the adults in their life are not as involved as they should be. Maybe I’m naive or maybe I’m cynical but I don’t see camp at such a young age as positive. How can you know what they will be exposed to and how they will react to it without having someone they feel comfortable with to process it? Idk I just really don’t understand it.
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amother
Tangerine


 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 5:43 am
I guess some of you have never been to camp and are just basing things off assumptions. You do research before sending your kid to camp. In most camps the kids are supervised very well. Being away from home for a few weeks is not a big deal and is for the most part a positive experience for most kids. I'm just glad I don't have these hang ups. I hope kids don't resent parents who withhold amazing opportunities for reasons listed above.
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dankbar




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jun 21 2021, 6:12 am
I went to camp starting from 9 yrs old but today most of the camps don't accept you before 12-13 yrs old. They don't have accomodations for younger kids anymore.

The cheders didn't have summer school for kids past age 9 so all boys needed to go to camp at age 10, but that changed too & most chedarim already have classes in city for kids till age 11-12.
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