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Previous Issues > May 2007 > Parentown Kidshape > Ready Set Camp! Finding The Right Camp For Your Child
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 Parentown Kidshape
Ready, Set, Camp! Finding the Right Camp for Your Child
Ready, Set, Camp! Finding the Right Camp for Your Child
 You are considering a summer camp, but how to choose? There's a camp that is ideally suited for every child, providing a summer of growth and fun whether your child attends a day or overnight camp, a specialized or traditional camp. With a little help from the camp professionals at the American Camp Association, here's some sound advice that helps parents sort through the choices and benefits that camp delivers. As spring approaches, parents and children can look forward to planning for the future a future that includes the opportunities for exploration and discovery that arrives with summer camp.
How to Decide When Your Child Is Ready for Camp
Children are ready for new experiences at different stages. Parents know their children best, and these questions can help gauge whether this is the summer your child will start camp.
What is your childs age? Children under age seven may not adjust easily to being away from home. Consider the day-camp experience to prepare them for future overnight camp.
How did your child become interested in camp? Does your child talk about camp on a sustained basis? How much persuasion is necessary from you?
Has your child had positive overnight experiences away from home visiting relatives or friends? Were these separations easy or difficult?
What does your child expect to do at camp? Learning about the camp experience ahead of time allows you to create positive expectations.
Are you able to share consistent and positive messages about camp? Your confidence in a positive experience will be contagious.
Camp can last for just a few days or stretch to all summer long. Its well worth the trouble to investigate the variety of choices offered by camps before your child packs a backpack. These questions help you consider the options.
Session Length Offers Another Choice
Camps offer widely varying options to help parents and children reach their goals for summer fun and exploration. Talking with your child about the goals you both share helps determine which choice is right for you.
Benefits of Short Sessions (one-three weeks)
First-time or younger campers have a chance to learn new skills.
Bonds develop with other campers and staff.
Great exposure to camp experience with less expense
Minimizes homesickness
Benefits of Longer Sessions (four-twelve weeks)
Strong sense of belonging to camp community
Chance to learn new skills
Development of specialized skills
Multiple opportunities for learning and enrichment
Lifelong friendships
Opportunities to contribute to camp culture
Boys Only, Girls Only or Co-ed?
Now may be the opportunity to explore the choices and benefits of all-boys, all-girls, or co-ed camps.
Benefits of Single-Sex Camps
Breaking gender stereotypes girls interact with women in position of authority, and boys interact with men who act as nurturers.
More opportunities to be yourself without impressing or competing with the opposite sex
Camp philosophy may be tuned into gender strengths and weaknesses.
Brother or sister camps may share activities
Benefits of Co-ed Camps
Breaking gender stereotypes girls interact with women in positions of authority, and boys interact with men who act as nurturers.
Mirrors and prepares campers for everyday living in a co-ed world
Allows families with a boy and a girl to attend the same camp
Offers diverse points of view
Breaks through rigid divisions set up in school when campers participate in equal footing
What happens when you make the decision to choose camp? You open up a world of discovery and learning for your child, a world that values children for who they are and who they will become. Camp gives each child a world of good.
Information and photo provided by the American Camp Association.
A Camp Resource for Families
www.CampParents.org
www.CampParents.org provides expert advice from camp professionals on camp selection, readiness and child and youth development as well as Find A Camp, a searchable database of over 2,400 ACA-accredited camps. Through the Find A Camp searchable database, camps can be searched by:
Special needs
Special interest (such as academics, marine
biology, sports)
Location
Cost
Length
Gender or co-ed
Religious or cultural affiliation
After finding a camp, meet with the camp director and ask important questions:
Is the camp ACA-accredited?
What is the camps philosophy or program
emphasis?
What is the camp directors background?
What training do counselors receive?
What is the counselor-to-camper ratio?
What are the ages of the counselors?
How does the camp handle homesickness and other adjustment issues?
The American Camp Association is the only national association that accredits camps. With up to 300 safety and regulation standards, ACA promotes a safe and fun camp experience, with developmental benefits backed by independent research. To learn more about the American Camp Association, visit www.CampParents.org or www.ACAcamps.org.
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