This summer, I decided to try something new and enroll my 9 and 5-year-old sons in summer camp for…read morethe very first time. They attended Kidcam Camp in Slidell for about 2.5 weeks. While I had high hopes for the experience, unfortunately, our time with the camp was overwhelmingly negative and left me with serious concerns about the safety, attentiveness, and communication of the staff.
During the second week, I arrived at aftercare to find my 5-year-old sitting shirtless at a table, completely unresponsive, with his head down. My 9-year-old was at a different table. They were the only children left, and there were two counselors present--Jill and a teenage staffer. Jill casually mentioned that my younger son didn't want to put his shirt on because he was hot and had been repeatedly asking when I was coming. But something felt off. When I reached him, I realized he was foaming at the mouth, eyes rolling back--he was having a seizure. I screamed for them to call 911, and he was rushed to the hospital.
I still can't understand how a counselor could miss the signs of a 5-year-old in distress. Why wasn't I contacted when he kept asking for me? Why didn't anyone notice the seizure before I arrived?
Despite this terrifying event, I allowed the kids to return the following week because I didn't want to take the experience away from them. I believed it was not the camp's fault he got sick--but a clear lapse in attentiveness.
Then, another issue arose. My 9-year-old confided that while on a movie field trip, another camper threw a drink and popcorn on him and his brother. I was never notified. When I brought this up with Jill the next morning, she acknowledged it happened, but I was extremely upset that no one thought to inform me.
Later that same day, I received a call from a staff member I had never met, asking me to pick my son up due to an "incident." When I arrived, I was told my son had hit another child and that the director and Jill decided he should not return to camp. There was no conversation, no opportunity to understand his side, and no communication from the actual camp director. This sudden decision, paired with the timing, felt more like retaliation than genuine concern--especially considering how I had challenged their communication that same morning.
My son has no history of behavioral issues--he was awarded a "Good Citizen" award just last school year. To be abruptly dismissed without any real discussion was both hurtful and unprofessional.
While I did receive a refund for the remaining week, the emotional impact and disappointment linger. From a lack of supervision during a medical emergency to poor communication and questionable disciplinary decisions, my experience with Kidcam Slidell left me with more worry than trust.
I hope this review encourages the leadership to take a deeper look at how children are supervised and how parents are communicated with. Every child deserves to feel safe, seen, and heard--and unfortunately, mine did not. Jill is sensitive and unprofessional.