I would love to send my 12 year old son to sleepaway camp for at least two weeks this summer. I don't have any recommendations. I know there are referral services. I thought I would come here first since you all always have great responses.

So has anyone sent their son/daughter to sleepaway camp and where did you begin?

A little background on my son. He is quite shy. He doesn't have any great interest in playing sports. He likes the pool and ocean. He has a difficult time making friends. I would love for him to have a great experience this summer. We live in Florida. However, I would prefer that he went to a camp with a cooler climate than ours during the summer. I would be interested in something on the east coast.

Any suggestions?

I greatly appreciate you all sharing any experiences that you all may have had!!!

TIA,
Judi

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"Try to see the glass half-full."

Sleep away camp sounds like it would be 2 weeks of hell for a child like that. Is he interested in going?

Does your local YMCA have day camp during the summer? Maybe starting out on a smaller basis would be better. What about a space camp since you live in Florida? Would that interest him?

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bite me and get a brain!

I would only send him if he begged!
My outgoing daughter went to camp with a shy boy (across the street-they grew up together) best friend at 13. He thought they would be together more, but of course the girls were really separate from the girls. I got glowing letters of how much fun she was having. My neighbor got horror letters of "please come get me" from her son. He hated it. And it was only for 1 week. Camp is not for everyone.

My daughter loved every camp experience and has traveled abroad often on missions trips and now goes away to college. My shy son on the other hand stays close to home and chose a local college and a local job. They both are content.
People are just wired different.

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Do you attend a church? I always went to church camp and made wonderful friends that way. My children are at the ages where they go now. Our oldest stays two weeks, our middle stays one week, and our youngest goes to a 3-day session. Youngest is 9.

My sons have always went to camp with boy scouts or the Y. I agree that he should only go if he wants. One "Christian" camp I sent my son too, he was bullied by some kids. It was a miserable time for him. He loved scout camp though. Scout camp is usually a week. I have found private camps are very expensive.

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Live, Love, Laugh

Maybe there is some kind of day camp with something he is interested in, like a basketball camp or something?? I am not big on sleepaway camp, although my boys have done the cub scout one for a week, but DH goes too

Girls seem more into the camp thing to me... but maybe that's just my perception of it.

Your son sounds similar to my son and he does NOT want to go, "Quit asking me, Mom" type of response. He's 13 and I ask him every year. His older boy cousins that he gets along really well with are even counselors at the church camp that he'd go to! So, even though he drives me nuts in the summer (sigh!), I go along with it and we fill his days more creatively and close to home so that he can sleep in his own bed at night.

I'd see what his school friends are doing. You could even create your own camp(s) with other friend's families -- sort of a trade off thing. I think that we'll be doing that this summer. My son is very comfortable with several of his friends' families. Maybe your son has similar types of friends?

Good luck. I know that it can be hard...

If this is something you are really interested in getting your son to do, have you thought about summer camps that do community service? They have some that are US, like in California or Arizona, and then a ton of abroad community service programs, but you didn't say how much you were wanting to spend, and the abroad options run around $5000 and up.

I would recommend somewhere close to home just in case he hates it.

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Brenda

GO #24 JEFF GORDON

I've already commented but I remembered when my son was that age---he hates sports, very much an indoor kid, and as I said shy, actually enjoyed tennis. Our middle school offered week long day camps in the summer. That way it was close to home and was made up of some kids he might know (actually it combined a few middle schools) but there was a chance it wasn't total strangers. He really enjoyed it and actually joined the team. And remember I said he hates sports! lol, very much a video game and book fanatic.

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My Dh went to arts camp at Interlochen in Michigan He is a bit of a geek and he loved it there. He also did TIP through Duke University but you have to take the SAT and get a good enough score to get in. Also in Ga we have GHP or Govenors Honors Program where bright kids go for academic camp. There may be something similar in Florida.

Would your 12 year old son love to be sent away to at least two weeks of sleepaway camp?

If not, I'm with the others that have expressed concern and/or said they wouldnt do it....it just doesn't feel "right" to me if he doesn't want to go.

Personally, I would try a baby-step camp experience - close to home, a few nights, with at least one other acquaintance or friend.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

My son is 13 and this will be his third year going to Camp Hanes in NC. It is a camp that is owned and run by the YMCA. My son LOVES this camp and even though the prices went up, we are still sending him. It is such a good time for him and he has friends that he met at camp that always go the same week every year and he gets to see them.

He comes home with great stories, songs that he has learned, and tales about things they have done.

If you have any more questions or think that your son might like Camp Hanes, let me know. I can get my son to email him or something so he will feel like he "knows" someone at camp.

Oh, I forgot, Camp runs from Sunday until Friday but if you want to stay for two weeks, they have a program where the kids can stay over the weekend and then enjoy camp again the next week.


YMCA Camp Hanes, serving families since 1927

HTH,
Darlene

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Sell crazy some place else, we are all stocked up here.

That's what I was going to suggest. When I was a teenager (even younger), we looked so forward to going to church camp. It was usually only like a hour or so away. If you're not involved in a church, you could call around to some churches in the area and see where their kids go. Even if your son is shy, I'm sure he will make friends there. You'd better hurry and do your registrations. I know around our area, the churches are asking for the registrations back in really soon. The spaces fill up very quickly.

Thank you all for your recommendations, comments and support. My son expressed an interest in going away to camp a few weeks back when my youngest daughter was going to sign up with her friend at a coed church camp, He would go away with them. That didn't happen. The camp filled up very quickly. I am sending his sister to Girl Scout Sleepaway camp with her friend for a week in the county where we live. He can't go obviously. So I still wanted to send him to a camp that would help him come out of his shell with other kids his age, and have a great time. The reason I mentioned out of state is because Florida is very hot in the summer and it is really hard to do things outside unless it is water related. I did sign both of them up for a one week day camp at an environmental center close to our home.

Thanks for everything. I really appreciate it.

Judi

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"Try to see the glass half-full."