Today my DS5 started a new summer camp and he hated it. When I picked him up, he looked miserable. He started to sob as he entered the car and said was that he never wanted to see that place again. I feel really torn about whether we should push him to return and attend future weeks or if we should just ask for a refund and let him stay home.
Some background: My son is introverted and very sensitive to noise and chaotic situations. He has social skills issues (he is getting help with this). He hates sports and generally connects with other nerdy kids one on one over similar interests. While he attended part-time preschool for three years, it was a small, nurturing program where he felt safe and knew everybody. He has always attended camps at the preschool but I felt like he had outgrown them and signed him up for some tinkering/science camps this summer. I am home for the summer and also have a two year old so I don't need the child care. I signed my son up for a few scattered weeks of camp so he could have fun and maybe connect meet some new kids who share his interests. While he does know one kid in this camp well, the kid ignored him when he ran up to say hello and I'm not sure if it got better as the day progressed. My son was very enthusiastic about going to this camp until drop off. I think the huge campus and large number of kids (many older) and the fact that he didn't see any friendly faces really scared him. My husband, who did the drop off, said that the camp seemed minimally staffed and that nobody appeared to notice that my son was upset about my husband leaving. He thought that if a counselor had made an attempt to come over and connect with my son, the transition would have been better.
My son complained about a few things. First, there were tons of people. It was loud and chaotic. They spent very little time tinkering and lots of time "waiting around" or in the yard with balls (which he isn't interested in). He said the projects weren't particularly challenging. He was unimpressed with the equipment and materials and said we have all the same stuff at home. He was really upset that there wasn't any soldering or tools! He said he was confused about the pickup procedure and started to cry when his one friend left and that nobody came to help him for a while.
This camp has amazing ratings and everybody kid I know loves it. I wonder if it's worth it to push my son to go back and see if he likes it better once he recognizes the place and some familiar faces. I recognize that I'm a bit overprotective. I feel like I am this way partly because I deeply relate to my son's introverted tendencies. I also know that he is very sensitive and he's just not like other kids who either have a disposition that enables them to jump into this kind of situation or the experience of doing so.
I also feel guilty because we have so much fun when my son is off. We spend hours building forts in the woods, hiking at the beach and visiting space museums. I hate to have my son miserable in some camp when we could be enjoying summer. On the other hand, I recognize that this could be a very good experience for him.
I have received so much wise advice and support on this board. If you've experienced this with your child, what did you do? What advice would you give to me?
