What is a good age to allow a child to go to sleep away camp?

Question

I have a son that is 7 and a son that is 5. My hubby wanted to send the 7 yr old to a two day one night sleep over camp. I thought he was a little young. The camp is about a two hour drive to the nearest hospital. All the staff had crimanal record checks.

Your thoughts?

Answer 1

I personally think h e is old enough, however what im hesitant about is the distance to a hospital....however, I am sure that the people runing the camp has all emergancy numbers and have emergancy plans to handle things...IF they are that far away from a hospital i would have to think that they would have to have a nurse on hand, and everyone ther should have knowledge of First Aid....If they didn't no parent would send their children.

I was 6 years old when I first went away to camp...I was at least an hour away from my parents and I was gone for a whole week. I loved it. I did it every year until i was 16. I enjoyed it.

I think you should let him go..but enquire as much as you need with the directors to make you feel secure...if you don't feel right about it or the answers don't satify you then go with no...but give the directors a chance to ease your concerns.

Answer 2

I think it depends on the child.  My kids go camping every year with my BIL and SIL for a weekend starting when they are 4, but my (other) SILs kid hasn't gone with them (he just turned 7) yet.  Some kids are up for it, some kids aren't.  One night isn't that long for most kids, so long as he's stayed other places overnight he should be fine.  If he's never done a successful sleepover with other kids without you, I wouldn't chance it.  Good luck.

Answer 3

My 6yo went to a 2 day, 1 night sleepover camp with her 17yo sister this year.  They slept on platform tents at the girl scout camp.  

Neither of them slept very well.  One of the middle school aged girls in their tent went home in the middle of the night, too.  

But, besides that, they had a blast!

Answer 4

I think a 2 day camp would be good for your son only if he is used to staying away from home. My daughter is 8 and is not ready for overnight camp. She has a hard time staying at m neighbors house.

I'm a girl scout leader and would love my daughter to experience resident camp. I loved it when i was a kid. She just is not ready.

I was in like 6th grade when i first went to camp for a week. 2 nights is not that long if your son doesn't have problems staying at friends houses. Will he have a buddy with him?

We are having our 3rd annual camp out in my back yard for 2-3 graders. Only about 6 out of 12 want to attend and 2 said they might not want to stay in the tent all night. I think it's the whole sleeping in a tent thing that bothers parents and younger children.  

Answer 5

I was doing week long camps at 8. So one overnighter shouldn't be a big deal, if he wants to and can handle it. He'll have a blast.