adult supervision at camp

[Only me]

My 16 dd is going to a camp with her poms squad. They are going to be staying in dorms at a university a few hours away. I was fine with this because I just assumed that their coach would be going with them. Yesterday I found out that their coach is staying about 20 minutes away. Apparently each squad will have an adult who will be in charge of them. I have no idea who this adult is and how old they are and how many kids they will be in charge of. Apparently the organizers of this camp have strict guidelines curfews, etc. but I'm still a little uneasy about this. On the other hand since dd will be going to college in 2 years maybe I'm being unreasonable.

 

I just got off the phone with another mom whose dd is in this squad. She is actually a teacher at this school and is very upset about the whole situation.

[Myrtle]

My 16 dd is going to a camp with her poms squad. They are going to be staying in dorms at a university a few hours away. I was fine with this because I just assumed that their coach would be going with them. Yesterday I found out that their coach is staying about 20 minutes away. Apparently each squad will have an adult who will be in charge of them. I have no idea who this adult is and how old they are and how many kids they will be in charge of. Apparently the organizers of this camp have strict guidelines curfews, etc. but I'm still a little uneasy about this. On the other hand since dd will be going to college in 2 years maybe I'm being unreasonable.

 

I just got off the phone with another mom whose dd is in this squad. She is actually a teacher at this school and is very upset about the whole situation.

 

 

I stayed in a university dorm completely unsupervised when I was 14.

 

We acted responsibly because we knew we had to get up on time and make it to class and we were motivated to earn good grades.

[Marie in Oh]

my coach was a man so being in charge in the dorms was not an option. What I 've found is that when attending these things, you are so exhausted from participated in said activity all day, that it isn't really an issue. We didn't get back to the dorms til about 10 pm and we fell into bed, as we had to be at breakfast at 8 and back on the courts at 9. It was a long day. Not much time and energy for fooling around.

[Renee in NC]

My ds went to a camp at Duke University at 12 where he stayed in the dorms and was overall pretty responsible for himself. He got himself up, showed up in a dining hall for meals, didn't lose his keys, etc.

 

I imagine a 16yo will be fine.

[jmgconner]

my coach was a man so being in charge in the dorms was not an option. What I 've found is that when attending these things, you are so exhausted from participated in said activity all day, that it isn't really an issue. We didn't get back to the dorms til about 10 pm and we fell into bed, as we had to be at breakfast at 8 and back on the courts at 9. It was a long day. Not much time and energy for fooling around.

 

This was also my experience with cheerleading camp at the same ages.

[Only me]

I'm not actually concerned about dd being responsible enough, etc. Quite honestly I didn't even think too much about it until I started talking to this other mom. She brought up a few things: what if someone gets sick or hurt, what if kids from other squads bring in alcohol, etc. I honestly hadn't thought of these things but now I'm wondering if this is something I should be concerned about.

 

When I was in college we had resident advisors (seniors) on each floor. Then there was an adult (late 20's/early 30's) in charge of the dorm. Of course I went to a small college so I'm not sure what the atmosphere is like at a bigger university.

[Renee in NC]

I'm not actually concerned about dd being responsible enough, etc. Quite honestly I didn't even think too much about it until I started talking to this other mom. She brought up a few things: what if someone gets sick or hurt, what if kids from other squads bring in alcohol, etc. I honestly hadn't thought of these things but now I'm wondering if this is something I should be concerned about.

 

When I was in college we had resident advisors (seniors) on each floor. Then there was an adult (late 20's/early 30's) in charge of the dorm. Of course I went to a small college so I'm not sure what the atmosphere is like at a bigger university.

 

I wouldn't be worried about that kind of stuff - their time will most likely be so structured there won't be time for that.

[snickelfritz]

When I did these things in high school, the dorm was closed down for regular students. We weren't mixing with college students. We were highly regulated and had things scheduled from early morning until late at night. Some of them did random room checks, but not all of them did.

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

By 16, most kids have already been exposed to drugs/alcohol, etc. I think you already know what your dd would do if presented with those things. I was away at college full time at 16. Some kids can handle it, some kids can't handle it at 20 even.

 

If you are uneasy based on your own observations of your own kid (not what some other parent thinks) then maybe take a 2nd look. Otherwise- she is going to be fine. :)