Day Camp at the park for Three-year olds

I signed my kids up for day camp today for the month of August at a local park. It's run out of the Rec. Center, where there is a preschool, and the camp is basically an extension of the school. It's arts and crafts, playtime on the apparatus, water-play-just a lot of fun outdoorsy stuff.It's Mon-Thurs, 9:30-12:30. My kids are in preschool already and will be three in June, so they are used to me coming and going, but that's at their school. There was definitely a period of adjustment but they felt comfortable at their preschool fast.

I'm feeling anxiety in the pit of my stomach after signing them up though, mainly concerned about safety. It is at a HUGE park. There was recently a local scare about an abduction at a different park which it turns out was fabricated by the kids. Either way, it's made me more cautious about parks and safety, which isn't necessarily a bad thing I think. I was told there is a 1 teacher:6 children ratio. I have two friends who are sending their kids to the same camp and don't have apprehensions about it. Has anyone sent their kids to a park/rec. center camp? If so, what was your experience? Is my gut right in worrying this much? Or is that that I'm being overprotective?

 

That's a tough one! I'm a bit overprotective and that would worry me for my ds but not so much for my dd. Only because she loves to hang out with the "teachers" and Jake is my kid that isn't as social and tends to wander off.
I always think you should follow your gut, but maybe send them and stay behind and watch from a distance to see how they are doing and how well supervised they are. Also talk to the director of the pre-school and ask what they do to make sure that no child is left behind or able to wander.

Good luck, it sounds like a lot of fun for them, but I don't think you're being overprotective worrying about these things. :hug:

 

I would be worried, but only because my ds is a daredevil. He runs me ragged, and I can't even take my 4 kids to the park by myself without him giving me at least one heart attack. He would be the 2 yr old at the top of the slide coming down head first, or climbing the monkey bars and sitting up on top...you get the picture. If he was less high maintenance then I probably would be okay with it

16 months old he climbed up on the top bunk of my older son's bunkbed, without a ladder. He climbed up the bars on the end. We knew then he was going to give us gray hairs, and he hasn't let us down! :lol:

 

I might be a little concerned, but not enough to make me not do it. I guess it depends on how you feel about your rec center, but ours is a very professional operation and I would trust that they know how to do it safely.

A 6:1 ratio sounds like a lot of kids for one adult, but (IMO) it's a lot easier for two or three adults to handle a lot of kids than for just one adult to handle three or four. I agree that it makes sense to ask the camp director (or whoever) how they make sure not to lose anybody.

 

I would have reservations- depending on the kid and the counselors/camp.

I teach 3 yr old preschool. (must have been 3 in Sept) so mine are a bit older. We have a 1:6 ratio-- and at times it is hard to keep all 12 together. Two of our kiddos are 'wanderers' adn will walk away quickly. We are all indoors and in an enclosed playground so it is not a problem since we can easily round the stragglers up and they are in-line-of-sight at all times since the building we move around in is very small. Still one kiddo has to go potty, has an accident, needs one on one attention and all the sudden the ratio is 1:11 until the situation is resolved.

A large playground type set up with wanderers and/or young inexperienced counselors would make me nervous-- especially if one of my kiddos was the one that liked to wander.

3 is a tough age-- though I love it!! The kids are fairly emotional, needy, and have a short attention span. My co-teacher and I have a well structured play-based classroom for 2.5 hours (we are both parents as well) and our crew of good little 12 yr olds wear us out!

I probably would stick with a more tightly controlled environment (fenced/indoors/etc) until kiddos are old enough to not wander/stay with group (depending on kiddo between 4-6).

I dont think you are overprotective. Our local Rec programs start at the summer before K for 1/2 days and full days for kiddos that have completed K. (so 1/2 days kiddos 'could be a 4 turning 5 in weeks, but most are 5). They also hire 17+ college age students that mostly are education majors or have kid experience. I was told they used to do 3 & 4s but it was too hard for kiddos to adjust to a week or two (they only had a few session for that age). As soon as they got the routine, it was over.

 

I would have to agree completely with this post. I would be very concerened especially with my DS, as he is a free-spirit. BUT....I wouldn't just not do it because of my bad feelings. Check it out throughly and ask tons of questions. If you are still not comfortable with it, then go with your gut.

AND.....for the record, I don't think you are being overprotective at all! It's just mommy instinct and sometimes that just means we need more details to feel comfortable about something.

 

I don't think you are being overprotective at all. I think it would be good if you could talk to other parents in the program and see how they liked it. My two go to preschool through our local tot rec program but that's only two days a week. When I was thinking about signing them up, I brought my SIL with me to ask questions because she's worked in a child care setting for years (she teaches 5th grade during the school year and then works at a daycare during the summer) and if she gave them a thumb's up and I felt good about it, then we went ahead and signed the kids up.
Would the school let you sit in on the first day or two to see how things go?