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Away
From
Home

Some camps admit children as
young as 6 although most kids
don't start til age 9 or 10. How
can you tell when your child is
ready for overnight camp?

BARBARA PASH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

THE DETRO IT J EWISH NEWS

L

68

inda Cohen knew her son
was ready for residential
camp because he told her
so.
Ricky Cohen, now 12, "asked
to go," remembered Mrs. Cohen.
The family subsequently went
to a camp fair "and he really
clicked with one (camp) direc-
tor." So she sent her then-8 year
old son to that director's camp,
which turned out to be Camp
Harlem in Pennsylvania.
Ricky didn't start tentative-
ly, with a 1- or 2-week session.
Instead, he plunged right into
a 4-week session — and loved
it (he's been back every sum-
mer). Said his mother, "He's
very independent. Always has
been. He's the type who was
sleeping over friends' houses at
age 5."
Once a child can spend the
night comfortably at a friend's
house is a step indicating the
child is ready for an overnight
camp experience, says Harvey
Finkelberg, executive director
of Fresh Air Society/Tamarack
Camps. Mr. Finkelberg noted
that there are other signs of
readiness. "The second step is
if the child asks to go to
ovenight camp," he said.
Mr. Finkepberg also men-
tioned that a family camp ex-
perience can be a trial program.

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a child who is reluctant to leave
home. "If you send him and he
is not ready, then he will never
want to go again. She mentions
that a two-week or shortened
experience is ideal for the first
time.
At Tamarack Camps the
two-week program is for chil-
dren entering second grade. In
1993, 75 children out of 1700
campers were entering second

camp's assistant director.
At the time, that was the
youngest
age the coed camp ac-
Here the child spends the night
cepted. This coming summer,
with his parent, but all the dai-
the camp is lowering the age to
ly activities are with peers. He
7 for first-time campers, who
suggests the winter family
will
be offered an introductory
camp programs offered by the
2-week session (depending on
Fresh Air Society.
birth date, first-time campers
Knowing when to send your
who are 8 years old can attend
child to residential camp isn't
either
the 2-week or regular 4-
always so easy. Although there
week session).
are camps around the coun-
Why the change? "We feel
try that accept children as
that the younger the better
young as 6, most parents
to start them in camping.
don't feel their kids are
We also feel that two weeks
"if you ask a child
ready for overnight camp-
is a short enough time frame
ing until age 9 or 10.
and he's enthusiastic
for a 7-year old to handle.
"Some children are ready
And most of them have had
for overnight camp at age 8
about going,
day camp experience," Dr.
or 9, while some children
Gershman answered.
aren't ready until age 12,"
then send him"'
Other camp directors feel
says Fran Parker, clinical
differently. Ed. Cohen, exec-
psychologist at Compre-
utive director of Camps Airy
— Fran Parker, of Compiehensive Psptiati is Services
hensive Psychiatrit Ser-
in Farmington Hills
and Louise, boys' and girls'
vices in Farminton Hills.
camps in Maryland that are
Dr. Parker believes that it's
part of the Aaron Straus and
an individualized question
Lillie
Straus Foundation,
about when to send your child
grade. Although Tamarach
likes age 8, which is the "tra-
to overnight camp. She men-
Camps have many children
ditional" age kids start
tions the examples of her two
participating in the two-week
overnight camping. His camps
children, who attended Camp
programs, the majority of first
make only two exceptions to
Maas. Her daughter, Rebecca,
time campers are in the fourth
this age limit — for a staffer's
went to camp for the first time
or fifth grade.
kid
or if a sibling also attends.
at age 11, while her son, Daniel,
At Camp Harlem, which is
Not that parents don't ask.
tried the two-week camp expe-
sponsored by Reform Judaism's
Mr. Cohen commented, "We get
rience at age 9. "If you ask a
Union of American Hebrew
a lot of requests from parents
child and he's enthsiastic about
Congregations Mid-Atlantic Re-
who
want to send younger ages
going, then send him," she ad-
gion, only 30 out of480 campers
— 6 year olds, 7 year olds —
vises.
last summer were 8-year olds,
away for 8 weeks. I tell them,
She cautions about sending
says Dr. Gary Gershman, the
'For God's sake, keep the kid

; cf.s7, tit

home a little longer."
Judy Young, assistant direc-
tor for Capital Camps, thinks
in terms of school grades, not
ages. Capital Camps, a mem-
ber agency of the Washington
Jewish Federation, operates the
coed Camp Benjamin for kids
entering third grade through
seventh grade. (It also has
Camp Kaufmann, a coed
camp for teens. Both
camps are in Pennsyl-
vania.)
Most third graders
are 9 years old but if
they're still 8, that's
OK. By third
grade, Mrs.
Young explained
the decision,
"children have
reached a level of
maturity where
they can be inde-
pendent." But
just in case the
regular 3 1/2-
week long camp session is
too much, young first-time
campers can choose instead
to attend a 13-day
long program de-
signed especially
for them.
Mrs. Young
has worked in
camps in New
England where children as
young as 7 were sent far from
home for 8-week sessions. "In
some families, that's been go-
ing on for three generations,"
she said.
But she doesn't approve. In
fact, she considers it a
"holdover" from an earlier era
in camping, when the concerned
parental goal was to get chil-
dren out of stifling, polio-in-
fested cities for the summer.
"This tradition is particularly
prevalent in camps that attract
a large Jewish clientele," she
said.
Almost without exception,
the experts say that the emo-
tional maturity of boys and girls
are the same at comparable age
levels. The exception is Mrs.
Young, who thinks that boys
are less mature than girls at,
for example, age 8.
"We find the boys need a
higher level of mothering than
the girls," she remarked. "You
have to make sure they've
brushed their teeth, washed
their faces, cleaned their bunks.
The girls seem to be more re-
sponsible and more indepen-
dent."
The American Camping As-
sociation, a national non-profit
organization headquartered in
Indiana, accredits day and res-
ident camps. Ruth Lister,
ACA's media director, says a
child's age doesn't necessarily
determine if he's ready for