Anyone do overnight camp?

[JAG10]

Any of you with older kiddos try overnight camp? I think it will be really good for my dd13 so I signed her up. Now I'm looking at the medical forms with dread..... Ok, we have a medical exemption for the Dtap booster and meningitis, we are getting tetanus titers measured. I hope that'll do it? Then the meds...they want this info almost 3 months in advance and written by a doctor. hmmm. We are still "tweaking" so I'm not ready to send it in yet.

 

Anyone with any experience?

 

She does have anxiety about this, but I know after a day or two, she will be so proud of herself.

 

Everything is always so complicated, isn't it???

[norcalmom]

DS has done several and loved it. But he does not get, or as far as I know have a major reaction with exposure to strep - so consider that your child will be living in a cabin with 5 other kids sharing one bathroom and supervised most likely at night by a counselor who's idea of cleaning is what you would expect of a 20 year old boy.

 

We had notices of both strepand (whooping cough? - can't remember). in the camp AFTER camp was over of course - that camp was in cabins in the woods, and it was 2 weeks long. But it didn't seem to have any effect on the over all baseline with DS at that time (this was a few years ago).

 

Last year he came back from a different camp and was depressed for several days. His phych issues are focused on family members - and he was crying and had regression for a couple days because all the fun was over, "nothing in life to look forward to", and he had to be with me (not kidding - I'm his trigger for rage/ocd by swallowing anything- including saliva - try to talk for more than a minute without swallowing!)

 

We obviously did it despite the risks, and the first time I was pretty freaked - with lots of communications with the nurse at the camp and the counselor he had living in his cabin. I think also that now that he is 14, the sickness exposure is a lot less. Don't tend to see much strep or other viruses that littler kids get, and better hygiene too.

 

good luck with your decision. Consider having some sort of a re-entry plan, I did not, and that is why DS was depressed when he came home. This made me sad bcs I missed him - while he was having an OCD and rage-free time of his life!

[AmySLP]

A little different since our dtr. Was 7...but last spring her brownie trip did their first overnight. I used PANDAS as the reason I needed to go in early and bleach the place. Myself and two other moms did all the beds, showers, door handles,, and kitchen before the girls got to get in there. It have me peace of mind knowing my daughter was safe from strep and anything else that was lurking there! Good luck Jill! My daughter loved everybit of it! Now we are gearing up for this years overnight in April.

[JAG10]

Thanks ladies!

 

DD13 actually has a lot of anxiety about this, but I'm making her go. She has normal social skills once she deems you safe, but as a protective mechanism with tweens and teens, her "girl world" is getting too small. She needs to develop tools other than avoidance of girls who partake in any drama. You can interact with girls without becoming completely entangled in girl drama.....take it from me, I work in an elementary school and those drama girls grow up to be drama women!

 

The camp is all girls. I have discussed my dd's avoidance of girl drama with the director and why I want her to experience that she can navigate the "world of girl" and make it out the other side (her closest friends are all boys, to the point she feels out of sorts when the grade is divided by sex.) The director has been very response and totally gets where I am coming from as well as my daughter's type. But I didn't get into PANDAS too much, I just said that she had medical issues in the past that impacted her confidence. I sent her an email about the vaccines and medications and she suggested I speak with the nurse. I'm going to try and befriend the nurse so hopefully I can call and check in via her. I haven't decided if I'm going to use the P-word with the nurse.......

 

The camp session is 3 weeks. Lots to worry about, lots of risks...hopefully lots of rewards.

[EAMom]

Any of you with older kiddos try overnight camp? I think it will be really good for my dd13 so I signed her up. Now I'm looking at the medical forms with dread..... Ok, we have a medical exemption for the Dtap booster and meningitis, we are getting tetanus titers measured. I hope that'll do it? Then the meds...they want this info almost 3 months in advance and written by a doctor. hmmm. We are still "tweaking" so I'm not ready to send it in yet.

 

Anyone with any experience?

 

She does have anxiety about this, but I know after a day or two, she will be so proud of herself.

 

Everything is always so complicated, isn't it???

 

2 experiences, 1 good, 1 bad:

 

--Dd went to science camp (with her school) in 5th grade and LOVED it, not problem whatsoever, ate well, slept well, had a great time.

 

--Last summer (summer before 7th grade), she went to a camp with a couple of friends (YMCA) and she had a terrible time. She came back in a flare (even though we had upped her azith to 500mg/day while she was there). Not sure if "something" traumatic happened with another camper or if she was exposed to some pathogen??? Also, (TMI here) she didn't poop the entire time (5 days!!) b/c the camp policy was that someone must accompany a camper to the bathroom. This made dd uncomfortable, so not pooping! E gads. The flare lasted several weeks after camp.

 

I should also note that I've become a bit tick phobic lately, which makes me less thrilled about sleepaway camps (as most are in the woods, where the ticks are).

Edited March 12, 2013 by EAMom