Can someone explain to me?

amother

Eggplant

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 9:41 am

The option exists to send that young, but I know very very few who do, and they're never oldest children, they have a sibling or two at camp as well. Also a lot of them are staff kids, sleeping in a bunk instead of with their parents but the parents are in camp. Most people in my community send for the first time the summer after 4th grade (so 9 or 10 depending when their birthday falls out). My oldest didn't go till a little later because he wasn't ready, but my second went after 4th grade (he has a summer birthday and was 9 at the time).

amother

Aqua

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 9:51 am

RWMO

I have an 8 year old daughter who is going into third grade and some of her friends are doing three day trials this summer with the intention to go to camp next summer. My daughter is not ready for that at all, but we're hoping she'll be able to do the trial next summer and go to camp the summer after that. I don't know anyone sending 7 year old kids for the summer unless they themselves are working in camp and it's a staff kid bunk.

You have to know your kid. We sent our older daughter for 1 month when she was 10 and she loved sleepaway camp and was miserable the other month in day camp. Now she goes for a whole summer and it's really good for her. The day camps around us are all based in schools with limited grounds so they do a lot of arts and crafts and dance and baking activities and not so much sports. DD wants to be outdoors and active all summer and she gets that in sleepaway camp. She's been going every summer for 6 years now.

amother

Rainbow

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 10:20 am

I’m MO adjacent (live in a diverse community) I do know a friend whose 8 year old is in Lavi BUT so are his 3 older siblings (I was honestly overwhelmed at the money of sending 4 kids to Lavi) my 8 year old is a daycamper (though 35 years ago I went to camp hedvah at age 9) I think my 8 year old would love sleep away camp but I can’t swimg the cost and I’m
Just not ready to send her. We all have different comfort zones

amother

Azalea

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 10:42 am

amother Powderblue wrote:

No chassidish camp starts before end of 6th or 7th grade. Mostly 7th.

My brother went to stolin when he just turned 9. It's possible things changed though. He needed it, and loved it.

amother

Peachpuff

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 12:39 pm

I want to come on here and say that my best memories are from camp.
I still think about almost daily and wish I could go back to the camp days!
I thrives in camp vs school where I was stressed abt grades and Hw.
I got to be with my friends, have fun, be carefree it was the time of my life!

Don’t think of it just as parents wanting to send their kids away.
Now there are some kids that don’t thrive in camp and I believe no kid should ever be forced into it. But for some kids it’s a lifeline and a huge price large to be able to go to camp for the whole summer.

amother

Petunia

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 12:59 pm

amother OP wrote:

I didn’t say “all”.
I have a friend who has a 7 year old in camp lavi for 8 weeks straight. Her bunk is jam packed.
Is there more of a maturity in these types of kids? Do they actually enjoy being away from home for so long? I would never ever in a million years send away a 7 year old for one week let alone 8.
My daughter is 11 and was offered the option this year for the first time to go to sleepaway and she chose not to since she “didn’t feel ready yet”.

Because many parents travel for the summer and need where to leave the kids.

amother

Petunia

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 1:02 pm

amother Powderblue wrote:

No chassidish camp starts before end of 6th or 7th grade. Mostly 7th.

Nowadays chassidish girls camps start the summer after 7th grade & for boys, in kittah vav, 6th grade, which is about 11 years old.

amother

Grape

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 1:06 pm

When camp feiga was around they had bunks from 1st grade with campers that slept over (not just staff kids). 2 girls from my school went from that age and they loved it
It wasnt a modox or rich camp at all

amother

Lemon

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 1:07 pm

amother OP wrote:

Why modox/rich send their kids to sleepaway camp at 7/8 years old for the entire summer?
I would never ever look at this as a money thing, since rich shouldn’t have to do with sending away such young kids for so long. A good friend of mines 7 year old is in camp for 8 weeks-, yes, she can afford to, but why would she want to?
Why would ANY parent be ok with sending away a 7 year old for an entire summer ?
I find this mindset very popular amongst modox.
Of course a big answer why typical yeshivish people don’t send so young is because they can’t afford it but that’s not what I’m commenting on. I’m saying in general, the idea of a 7 year old (or even 8 or 9 year old) being ready to be away from their parents so long, boggled my mind.

I work at (a very well known) MO school that has a very wealthy student body so I feel qualified to answer.
The kids who go to sleep away camp usually start at 8/9 years old, not 7/8. And they mostly seem to go for 2/3 weeks. Not a single student that I've had went away for the entire summer.

amother

DarkKhaki

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 3:52 pm

I heard about such camps from girl with no job. they're very into sleep away camp. He sister wrote a kids book about going to camp as a little girl and she was talking all about it... the concept is so foreign to me!
I think it really is part of the modox culture.

DrMom

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 6:16 pm

amother Petunia wrote:

Because many parents travel for the summer and need where to leave the kids.

This seems unlikely to be a widespread reason. How common is it for parents (I'm assuming at least one of whom works) to travel for the entire summer?

Highstrung

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 6:26 pm

giftedmom wrote:

No one chassidish sends before ten

I was a counselor for 7/8 yr olds in a Chasidish camp. The bunk was small . About 8 kids . The rest of the kids were daycampers who came to the camp grounds daily as daycampers .
The girls that did sleep there loved every moment . None of them cried or were homesick . I doted on them as a counselor and gave them loads of attention. I sang to them at bedtime and tucked them in every night . I did their hair for Shabbos every week and made them feel like princesses .
These girls all came to my wedding a few years later because they kept in touch with me.
Two were a set of twins who were the youngest in the family and their parents were getting older . Another two were sisters ages 7 and 8 whos mother had a very demanding job and they were also the youngest with all other siblings out of the house . The others were all the only girls in their families.
Sometimes , there’s a family dynamic where the kids will benefit in camp more than at home.

zaq

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 8:39 pm

amother Petunia wrote:

Because many parents travel for the summer and need where to leave the kids.

Stereotype much? Unless both parents are schoolteachers, it's HIGHLY unlikely that they would both be in a position to travel for the entire summer. More likely that both parents work and need full-day child care while they work--in which case, day camp is the usual solution.

B'Syata D'Shmya

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 8:42 pm

amother PlumPink wrote:

My dads was sent at 8. It was emotionally scarring for him. He has an awful counselor who harassed and bullied him.

Sadly this happened often. The counselors have no training or supervision and can basically do what they want to their poor victims. I mean campers.

amother

Clear

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 8:51 pm

My first year was 10. I would never send a child before 10. There is a younger bunk but many were staff kids and the rest were miserable. Some kids are more independent but most aren't.

amother

Petunia

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 9:12 pm

zaq wrote:

I know more than a few, actually quite a lot from my community, couples that none are teachers and they're traveling for most/all of the summer. Their kids are at sleepaway camp. They work remotely or run their own business.

amother

Petunia

Tue, Jul 18 2023, 9:17 pm

Highstrung wrote:

How long ago was this? I remember about 20, 25, years ago some camps had a 2nd & 3rd grade bunk combined.