Too Young for Camp? Maybe Not

How can parents tell if their child is too young to go to sleep away camp? Most parents are like Lisa Marie Metzler of McBain , Michigan . She says that for her the right age to send her daughter Nicole to camp was when Nicole expressed an interest in going. "I didn't want to send her to camp just because I thought it would be a fun experience. It was very important to us that she was motivated to go to camp via her own readiness and interest." Having a child show interest in going to camp is a good sign of readiness, but what about younger children who really have no conception of what camp is all about? How young is too young for sleep away camp?

Most kids start going to sleep away camp at age 9 or 10, says Lisa Mullen, South Florida representative for Tips on Trips and Camps, an organization that provides no-cost personalized matching services for families seeking summer camps. However, some families are sending their children away to camp much earlier. Ms. Mullen has had a South Florida family request that she find a camp in France for their six year old.

Many residential camps take children starting at about age eight, but some are open to taking younger campers. "One year we had a five-year-old camper from Japan . When he was escorted off the plane, he spoke no English. He adjusted beautifully. When he went home eight weeks later, he was speaking English," said Jon Estis, director of Camp Redwood in Walden , New York .

Although this five-year-old international camper is not the norm at Camp Redwood , for thirty years, the camp has taken children as young as four or five. "Believe it or not," says Estis "homesickness is less of a problem with very young children. Younger children are very adaptable. Teenagers going away for the first time experience much more apprehension. Younger kids just acclimate and make bonds with counselors."

Jeffrey Solomon, Executive Director of the National Camp Association, which provides free camp matching services to families, says that the trend is toward sending children to residential camps at younger and younger ages. "With dual-career and single-parent families, reliable babysitters hard to find, and more parents not working a traditional nine to five day, there is a place for sleep away camps that specialize in children as young as four or five," he says. "Younger children really do have an easier time adjusting and overcoming homesickness. Kids who are older are more self-conscious and more worried about fitting in."

Many parents cringe at the idea of sending five-or six-year-olds away for even a week, let alone an entire summer, and not all children this young are good candidates for residential camps. "We usually ask if the child is comfortable doing sleepovers at friends' houses," says Dick Travis, who with his wife, Ann, run The Summer Lady, a camp consulting service. Sleepovers are good practice for going to camp and an excellent indication of whether the child can handle being away from home.

Some parents feel more comfortable if their young camper goes away with a friend or older sibling. This can add a sense of security, but it can also backfire if the friends have disagreements at camp or if the older sibling feels excessively responsible for the younger one.

The quality of the camp staff is always important to parents, but it is of particular concern when young children still need help organizing their self-care. Camps that accept young children, such as Camp Cayuga in Honesdale , Pennsylvania , make a special effort to hire American teachers or college students who are majoring in elementary education or child psychology. Child-to-staff ratio is also more critical with young campers who need a great deal of help and direct supervision.

"We have a three-to-one supervision ratio at Camp Redwood ," says Estis. "Usually in the bunk we have an adult, someone like a young teacher, along with a college student." Counselors that work with young children help them more directly than they do older campers. They do everything from making sure their charges take showers and change their clothes to tying shoes and seeing that they eat well. The staff also communicates more directly with the parents, since young children lack letter-writing skills. "They really serve as surrogate moms," says Solomon.

Activities may also be adjusted to account for different abilities and the stamina level of young campers. These children need more rest time, earlier bedtimes, and more structured transitions between activities. Camp Cayuga addresses these needs with a special Junior Campus Program for younger children. On the other hand, Camp Redwood provides access to all their activities for campers regardless of age, but modifies them in developmentally appropriate ways. "For example, in our water-skiing program, for five year olds we simply gear the program down to their level. They use an aqua board [a single board instead of a pair of water skis] and are towed at slow speeds," says Estis.

Although showing interest in going to camp is the classic way to determine if a child is old enough to enjoy the experience, five- and six-year-olds really have no understanding of what summer camp is all about. Talking to them and showing them pictures and videos helps, but visiting a camp beforehand is even better. Suzy Wurtz of Gibbon, Minnesota , sent her daughter to Camp Lake Hubert the summer after second grade. "We had taken her to the camp the summer before to see it, and we were not concerned about her fitting in," says Ms. Wurtz. "If you can, you should visit the camp with your child and observe actual campers."

Even though the idea of sending a five year old to camp be scary to parents, camps that specialize in young children do a good job, and most children thrive if their parents can let go and convey a positive attitude about the experience. "A lot of times, the child is ready, but the parent is not ready to let go," says Lisa Mullen.