Am I being too protective? (Summer camp related)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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My daughter will be 7 by this summer. She’s a good kid who has a good sense of what is right and wrong and doesn’t hesistate to tell other kids her age if they are treating someone badly.

On the other hand she doesn’t know how to protect herself when someone is picking on her her physically. (We had a situation earlier this school year in which a group of boys would push her down and kick her. She told me about it after a few weeks and after talking to the people who were supposed to be supervising the kids on the playground and with the boys’ mother it has stopped. Yes she did “instigate” things a bit by her and her friends annoying the main little boy in summer camp last year, the girls chased the boys and vice versa and they continued this once school started. I have repeatedly told her that she shouldn’t play that way if the other person doesn’t want to and to immediately tell me if anything like that should happen again.)

The YMCA here has many different types of minicamps throughout the summer which take place in various locations. The rule is usually that kids are grouped together by age (5-8, 8-12, 12-15) and the ages are not combined in the minicamps. For instance for the “Theatre Machine” camp ages 5-8 are in the early part of the summer and ages 8-12 are later in the summer.

My concern is that in the last camp of the summer “Pohick Outdoor for Week 10” (August 30-Sept 3) the age grouping is 5-15. This is the only thing scheduled for the last week of summer for her age.

I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this. Normally I’d just keep her home that week or send her to her father’s place - but I’m due to give birth the week of August 22. I don’t want her to be home all day with me and the baby (assuming that the baby isn’t premature, that I don’t miscarry, and that I’m able to ferry her back and forth to the place everyday) but I want her to be home that week.

A strong plus, in my opinion, for the YMCA camp compared to other camps in the area is the fact that the ages are so closely segregated. (Also, cost, convenience and the fact that some of her friends from school will likely be in some of the same camps.)

Am I being a worrywart for nothing?

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My opinion, as a veteran of summer camps (and former camp counsellor)? If it’s about age, then yeah, you’re worrying too much. They’re probably going to break this large group of kids up into smaller, age-appropriate groups. It’s an outdoor camp, and five-year-olds aren’t going to find the same sort of outdoor activities fun as the fifteen-year-olds. They’d practically have to divide them up. Of course, I’m just guessing here, but I’m sure you could call someone and find out.

If you just want to keep her home that week because it’s less stress on you, then by all means, keep her home. One week will not kill the kid.