11 yo son on first "away" trip

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-19-2003
11 yo son on first "away" trip
10
Wed, 04-11-2007 - 7:39pm

I am new to this board as I usually hang out on parents of teens. I have a teenage daughter turning 16 this year but I also have a son who is 11 going on 12. Thought I'd hang out here for a bit and get some tips and ideas.

So my 11 year old son is currently on his first "away" trip with his school. His school (and my daughter also went there) has a tradition of starting the overnight trips in 6th grade and then they have one per year until 8th grade. The 6th grade trip is usually something very "educational" but when they are in 7th and 8th they will do more touristy type stuff.

So today he went off to an outdoor education centre which is actually less than an hour away and will be there for 3 days and 2 nights. He's never done the summer camp thing so this is a first for him and us.

Naturally he was apprehensive about being away as well as excited. I am too. Here is a kid who is so not independant and although he is a cautious boy I do worry about him being safe and sound. Weather is quite changeable here (we live in Southern Ontario in Canada) and they are doing outdoors stuff and like all moms I never trust anyone to take care of him as well as I do. Like, who's looking for him all the time and making sure he's okay the way that I would? I hope the teachers supervising are conscientous but I imagine its hard to keep track of all these kids coming and going all the time. So I'm a bit nervous.

Also, his school is strict about the kids not calling home all the time. I even had to hide a cell phone is his luggage as they aren't allowed. With 50plus kids on the trip they didn't want to have to spend an hour a day for kids to call home. So its very limited. And all I want to do is hear his voice so I know he is okay. I remember going through this with my daughter. She only managed to call me one night out of 2 on her 6th grade trip and I was a nervous wreck! Now, looking back, she just tells me to relax and that her brother is fine and okay and not nearly as wimpy and inept as she was so he'll be fine.

*Sigh* I guess I'll just have to take her word for it!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 04-11-2007 - 8:28pm

Welcome fellow Ontarian. :-) He will be fine, honest. My DD did her first overnight when she was about 8 and it was Brownie camp for 2 nights. She was in tears as the bus left, scared and nervous, but she was fine and had a blast. He is 11, that is quite old (relatively speaking)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Wed, 04-11-2007 - 9:38pm

Welcome!

That is very cool! Sounds like fun!

I have a 4th grader (10 years old), but I teach at a 6-8 school and sponsor Junior Beta Club. We have a convention about 2 hours away from the school every year that is 2 days long. We do need a chaperone for every 3 students, so a lot of 6th grade parents ARE coming (very few 7th or 8th grade parents, though).

One thing that we are lenient on for the overnight trip is cell phones. Our school, our district is very ANTI-cell phones (even the teachers aren't supposed to bring cell phones on campus--since I've gotten a very expensive cell phone, I take mine in--it gets too hot here to leave it in the car, I just turn it off--not on silent, but OFF) and even for District Day for Beta students (one morning/early afternoon, only an hour from school), they are NOT ALLOWED to even bring them. If caught, they cannot go to convention. We have ours if they need to get in touch with parents. But, we do allow them for convention. They cannot bring them in the convention center (national club rules), and we are not held responsible for loss, theft, usage, blah, blah, blah.

Alysha


iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2003
Wed, 04-11-2007 - 11:35pm

welcome6.gif


Glad to have you jump over and visit us!!!


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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-19-2003
Thu, 04-12-2007 - 5:57pm

So...interesting story.

I get a call today, at work, on my cell, from my son around 1:30. He asks if I got the message from his teacher that he wasn't feeling well (no, I had not) and that he was in his dorm room and going to rest and not to worry that he would be okay. So after he hung up I got concerned and called his school to put me in touch with the teacher. The school called the teacher who passed on the message that he was having a nap and would be fine and that they'd call if he wasn't better. Okay...no problem.

Two hours later he calls me again, crying, that he was awake and wanted to rejoin the activities but no one was around and he'd be stuck in his room until dinner -- yada yada yada. Now at this point, what the heck was I supposed to do? I'm at work 2 hours away from him. So I told him to find a teacher. He said the teacher was having a nap as well and he didn't want to disturb her. I told him to wake her up and than call me to tell me everything was okay. 15 minutes passes and no call. Now I'm concerned. He was apparently alone, in the dorm, with a sleeping teacher. What if he attempted to wander out and find the group on his own? This is in the middle of a wildnerness area.

So I call the school again -- the secretary is soooo nice and she calls for me again and passes on the message that he was fine and had found the teacher and had rejoined his class. Whew! About an hour or so later his teacher calls me personally to reassure me that he is fine. He was just overtired from not sleeping and in fact most of the kids were tired and cranky and teary from having no sleep so they were going to make it an early evening to ensure everyone got a good night's sleep tonight. We talked and laughed a bit and I talked to my son who said he was feeling much better and he was comfortable staying the night and I didn't have to go get him. (No kidding kiddo, you're staying right where you are is what I am thinking!!!).

Oh good Lordy, thank goodness this experience is almost done and he'll be home tomorrow. He needs a good lesson in not making a big fuss about everything and being a bit less "high maintenance". He has a tendency to make a fuss about things (I call him drama queen) and everyone around him is forced to respond.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-14-2003
Thu, 04-12-2007 - 7:13pm
We also live in Southern Ontario. I know the weather wasn't very nice where we are so but it doesn't seem to bother the kids when they are with their friends. I am sure he is having a blast and he is probably kept to busy to even think about home.
DD 13 is going to Ottawa this summer with her Pathfinder group and i am a bit nervous with her being there for Canada Day. We will also be sneaking her a cellphone just incase she gets separated from the group.
Both DDs have been going to camp since YDD was 6 and ODD was 8. They will be going back to camp Ki-w-ay ( it is outside of St.Jacobs) this summer. It is a wonderful YMCA camp so i know they are well looked after but Wow does the house seem quite while they are gone.
Welcome to the board.
Kelly
Mom to Tegan 13 and Kelsey 11
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 04-12-2007 - 8:43pm

Canada Day here is wild but its an amazing thing to experience. There is no feeling like standing on parliament hill with 60,000 others singing the national anthem. Its fantastic but they crowds are brutal. As long as they have some kind of reference point (the eternal flame on the hill is a good one) they should be fine. During the day its not that busy and there are lots of fun things to do downtown, it really gets busy around 7:00 until the fireworks at 10:00 but the live concerts are great. I've never seen anyone rowdy at the celebrations or ever felt fearful being downtown at night. I'm sure she'll love every minute of it.


When I was 16 I went to Europe for 3 weeks with my marching band. Looking back I can't believe we just ran wild around Europe (more or less), wandered cities we had no idea about, but somehow we always managed to get back where we were supposed to be safe andsound. LOL Kids are amazing that way. It will be a great trip for her.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2003
Thu, 04-12-2007 - 10:15pm
Whew, that would have freaked me too!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-09-2005
Sat, 04-14-2007 - 6:45pm

Isn't that strange... the little girl that I am a 'big sister' to in a mentoring program just went on a 3 day 2 night educational school trip, is in grade 6, and we also live in Southern Ontario. It wasn't called Mansfield, was it??

-Nikki


                             
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-19-2003
Sun, 04-15-2007 - 9:22am
No, it wasn't. But what a coincidence eh???
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-14-2003
Sun, 04-15-2007 - 9:32am
Our 6th graders go to the Tim Horton's camp. Unfortunately when DD was in 6th it was cancelled due to work to rule by the teachers. In 8th grade they go for a week to Camp Tawingo but it was also cancelled this year due to lack of interest. They needed a minimum of 50 kids and they only had 32 sign up. DD was very disappointed.
Kelly