MilliCal’s writing this one:
I am going to resident camp for a week this summer. What do you think about this? When did you first go to sleepaway camp?
I first went to a sleep-away camp when I was about your age; it was a 4-H camp and I had a great time! I hope you enjoy yourself as much as I did!
I know I was younger than 10. 8, I think. I loved it. It was wonderful. On the other hand, not every 10 year old can take a week away from their home.
Have you been on sleepovers? Do you miss your parents by the end of the night? What kind of camp is it? Will any of your friends be going?
What kinds of things are you worried about?
I must have been 10 or 11. I went away for two weeks, but my Dad did come to stay at the camp the second week (he was our Assistant Scoutmaster and was scheduled to be the adult in charge that week). I had a great time.
Oh, oh! I actually have informed input about this topic! I spent the past eight summers going to and then working at sleep away camp. There are a couple of considerations. The first is how long you’ll (I’m assuming MilliCal is the ten year old and the person I’m talking to; is this right?) be away. A week sounds great for a first time camper. Have you ever stayed away from your parents’ house for more than a night or two before, like at your grandparents’ or a friend’s house? Did you enjoy it? If you did, that’s a good sign for you being ready for camp.
The next thing to consider is where you’ll be staying. Will you be sleeping in a cabin , a platform tent , a glen shelter? Do you feel comfortable sleeping in one of those arrangements? If you’ve ever camped outside with your friends or family, then you’ll probably be just fine with night sounds. That’s what freaks most people out, but after a while the sounds of tree frogs and crickets lull you to sleep.
Finally, camp is a place to meet new friends and try new things, but you have to be comfortable sharing your living space and making compromises to do that. The campers I’ve met that have the most issues at camp are the ones who don’t compromise and don’t adapt to change well. Camp is a brand new environment and some of things (like rules and food, especially) might be different than what you’re used to. It’s a lot of fun though, you just have to be willing to give it a chance.
When I talk to parents about if they’re child is ready for camp, the main thing I ask them is if they’re child feels ready. Ultimately, you know yourself better than anyone else. If you feel like you’re ready, you probably are!
As a side note, the camp I grew up at is closing and we’re having our last weekend there ever this weekend. I’m missing my college graduation to go to it. Writing this message makes me feel a little bit jealous of you, MilliCal. Camping has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I have gained a lot from it. Part of me wishes I could go back and start all over again. If you do go, make sure your parent (I don’t know if CalMeacham is your mom or dad) posts stories about it for the former campers of the SDMB.
I started sleepaway camp, at the same camp as my older brother, when I was 7. I thought it was pretty fun. When I was 9 I went to a different camp with a friend, and stayed the whole summer (8 weeks). I returned to that camp for the next 9 years, eventually working as a counsellor the year before I started college. A couple of years ago I was a bridesmaid in the wedding of a 27 year old friend I met at summer camp when we were 10!
I loved summer camp. Unlike some, I never got homesick (although I did miss my cat). Home was boring and way too hot. Camp was fun and in the mountains. 
My favorite activities were horseback riding, Performing Arts, and hiking. Oh, and swimming!
How long are you going for?
Have the kid watch this before you send him off. It just might save his life!
Oops. You’re going for a week!
A week is a good amount of time if you’ve never been away from home before. You might find it is over just when you started to get the hang of it though! (Great post MissMossie).
Huh. I went to *India *for a month, alone - I mean I met family there but on the plane it was only stewardesses and no one I knew - when I was 10 years old, and Girl Scout Camp for a week a year or so later, and Hindu camp some time after that. I guess IMO it is a great age.
I think I was about 11 when I went to sleep-away camp. It was a Girl Scout Camp, and I went with 3 other girls from my troop, and we managed to arrange things so that we shared one tent. That was fun, and also kind of “safe”. But you don’t have to go with friends to have a good time.
I think I had been on overnight trips with the Girl Scouts before then, but I’m not sure.
Can you tell us a little more about the camp? What kind of activities will they have?
I went to sleepaway camp for a week the first time when I was nine. I loved it. If I remember right, there were kids as young as seven. I think the older girls, the ones that were 12 or 13, actually had a harder time than the younger ones, because they were so worried about their hair all the time. The camp didn’t allow hair dryers or curling irons, and it was fashionable back then to have “big hair” carefully styled with lots of hairspray.
My camp was on a hillside in the woods next to a lake, and we stayed in group cabins with bunk beds. The bathrooms were in a separate building, down a little path. Some kids didn’t like having to go outside after dark just to go to the bathroom.
I’m still in touch with one friend I made at that camp, 28 years later! And I learned some great songs there - some great in a “completely annoy your parents” kind of way, like “Fried Ham” or “Eddie Kootcha Catcha Camma Tosa Mariposa, Known as Samma-camma Wacky Brown, Fell into the Well,” and some just great, like “The Ash Grove”… and I’ll never forget swimming a whole mile in the lake, all the way out to the island and back - I really didn’t think I could do it. Lots of other stuff. It was fantastic.
MilliCal’s in bed now (She’s my daughter; I’m her dad), so I’ll reply.
We looked at a Girl Scout camp less than an hour away. MilliCal’s been away overnight, but not for extended periods. We had a look at the camp recently, and it looks pretty good. Both Pepper Mill and I went away to scout camps several times, although we were a little older than MilliCal is now.
The camp looks pretty impressive. They have a variety of tents and cabins (including yurts!), but she won’t get a choice where she stays. It’s luck of the draw.
This is all MilliCal’s idea, by the way. She’s the one pushing for it (and for starting this thread).
She might have one friend go with her, but it’s still uncertain. I think she’s going to end up making several new friends there.
Hi, MilliCal! I went to sleepaway camp for the first time when I was eight, also for a week like you. It was a church camp up in mountains and I loved it. I went for six summers. My favorite part was in the evenings when we would have a campfire and our counselors would play the guitar and we’d all sing.
MissMossie has some great advice. If you don’t have brothers or sisters, it can be a *little * hard adjusting to sleeping, eating, and doing everything else with a bunch of other kids. It’s a lot of fun, though, and you’ll get to meet some really neat people (both campers and counselors) that you never would otherwise.
I’ve been to Girl Scout camp a few times - always with my troop though. Girl Scout camp was always super fun! They usually provide lots of neat things to do. Go for it! One year we ended up at camp on my birthday and I found out you can make cake over a fire!
I went to Girl Scout camp for the first time when I was 10, for a week, and I had a great time. Went back for several years, for two weeks after the first time. Have a wonderful time Millical! (You get somewhere to sleep?! Man, we were in sleeping bags on tarps on the ground.)
I first went to sleepaway camp when I was eight. Only one week. I loved it; I never wanted to go home. So, the next year, I went for two weeks. And so on.
I have an 11-year-old son who’s going for two weeks this year. The camp he liked better was four weeks (for his age group), but he thought that might be too long and he would miss his cats. He thought three weeks would be okay, but it’s four weeks or nothing at that camp. So he’s going to a different camp, and hoping he likes it as much.
Moon Unit went to sleepaway camp last summer - a one-week session at Girl Scout camp. She had a great time.
I think it’s great.
I was a rather late bloomer; I didn’t attend my first sleep-away camp until I was 14. I went for four weeks, though, as if to make up for lost time.
My older daughter’s first sleep-away camp experience came when she was eight-and-a-half. She went for a week, and loved it. The next two years, she went back to the same camp for two weeks stretches. Now her sister, age seven-and-a-half, is going to the camp for a week. She’s nervous but excited. So are her parents.
I went to Girl Scout camp when I was young - 7, I think. Some others from my troop went as well so I wasn’t totally alone. I loved it. Around 9 - 10 I went to Methodist Camp with a friend. Going with a friend was a great idea for me - I was able to make new friends, but have a familiar face too. If you have a friend that might go with you - ask!
And have a great time. It’s a wonderful experience.
Oh, my! I want to go camping and sleep in a yurt! Heck, it’d be neat to have a yurt for camping or whenever. (It was my pet “joking threat” to my mom for a while to go to Mongolia and live in a yurt. I wasn’t completely joking at the time, though, as I thought I might become an anthropologist at the time.)
I went to camp a few times when I was seven or eight as part of girl scouts and church, then did two week long summer camps in Iceland when I was eleven; one was a church camp (more like a hang out, have fun, and sing a couple of religious songs in the evening camp) and the other was a horseback riding camp. (Definitely not the traditional “sleeping in tents” camp, but more of a “here’s some rooms with bunk beds; don’t fight with your roommates” camp.) I had lots of fun at all of them, even if I had a little bit of a language barrier (with my broken Icelandic and their broken English) at the church camp. Experiences like this are what made me appreciate the natural world so much; I got to see a few different types of countryside while having fun and learning lots of neat things along the way.