Girls and boys attending the same camp.

[rinkrat]

My ward is taking both the boys and girls to the same camp, camping 1/2mile away and having meals together. Many parents have asked for the camps to not be done together. But the leaders insist theres nothing co-ed about it. Theres not mich in the hand book aboit it. If it was 14 and up it would be youth conference. But normally 11 and 12 year olds are not taken to the same over night activities. Is this an oppreatate activity or are parents right to not want it ?

[mdigi]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I'm by no means an expert on the Church's youth policies, but here are my thoughts:

1) It's my understanding that [generally] any child who WILL be turning 12 during the current year (e.g. 2024) is automatically advanced from the Primary organization into the Young Men/Young Women Youth organization on January 1 of the current year (e.g. 2024).
Said another way: any child who is 11 years of age on January 1 is, on that date, now a young man or young woman UNLESS their birthday happened to be on January 1 (i.e. the day prior, they were 10 years of age.)

So effectively, you're describing a Youth campingi trip involving both the young men and young women.

2) General Handbook 20.5.5 discusses overnight activities for combined groups of young men and young women.
Notable:
* Parents/guardians must give permission for their youth to attend overnight activities
* Overnight activities involving combined young men & young women require approval from both the Bishop and Stake President
* All the usual youth protection guidelines apply and are outlined in that section (multiple & sufficient YW leaders present for the YW, multiple & sufficient YM leaders for the YM, Priesthood presence, ...)

Based on the info shared (and provided the Bishop and Stake President sign off on the activity), I personally don't see anything in conflict with the policy.
(Keep in mind, I'm not particularly up-to-date on ALL the current youth policies -- 20.5.5 is just the section that seemed applicable as I skimmed the topics)

Of course parents always have the option of not allowing their youth to attend, but it's more fun for the youth if all their friends are present.

The leaders will likely want to chat with the parents individually to get an idea of what their specific concerns are.
(Maybe for parents with multiple youth, Mom wants to attend with her daughter and Dad wants to attend with his son...but if they have younger children at home it may cause a concern for them both to be away at the same time, etc.)

[BrianEdwards]

I'd also add that GHB 20.5.5 states that "Such activities should be rare." The example scenarios are conferences or long-distance temple trips (my story growing up!), and camps aren't necessarily in these categories. That said, I do 100% agree that the Handbook gives full discretion to local Bishops and Stake Presidents to make their decision. But since the church supports parents and not the other way around, I wouldn't minimize parental concerns.

If the ward's driving factor is "convenience" for leaders and support personnel, or budgeting constraints, that's one thing. But if there's other reasons why they want the ym/yw together at the same camp, perhaps making sure parents understand those aspects will help.

[sbradshaw]

… Many parents have asked for the camps to not be done together. …

But since the church supports parents and not the other way around, I wouldn't minimize parental concerns.

I agree with this – if there really are "many" parents bringing up the concern, it's worth listening and considering an alternative.

[russellhltn]

Many parents have asked for the camps to not be done together.

I wonder if the issue is with both camps running at the same time, or with the limited interaction between them.

I'm thinking that the leaders feel that feeding one big group is easier than feeding two smaller groups, but the parents feel that having both at the same time might be over-extending something.