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 American Camp Association, here’s some sound advice that helps parents sort through the choices and benefits that camp delivers.

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 child’s 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? 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.

Your confidence in a positive experience will be contagious.

A Camp for Every Child-The Perfect Fit

It’s 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.

Near or Far?

Where do you want your child to go to camp? While each camp experience has something unique to offer, this is an opportunity for families to assess what they value for their campers.

Benefits of Camp Nearby

• Easier to evaluate and visit

• Minimal travel costs

• Likely contact with classmates or children from same region

Benefits of Camp Far Away

• More choices

• Different experiences, different geography-even different languages

• Promotes independence for adolescent campers

• Diversity of campers
Session Length Offers Another Choice

Camps offer wide options to help reach the 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 learn new skills

• Great exposure to camp experience with less expense

• Minimizes homesickness

Benefits of Longer Sessions (four-twelve weeks)

• Strong sense of belonging to camp community

• Develop specialized skills

• Multiple opportunities for learning and enrichment

• Lifelong friendships

• Opportunities to contribute to camp culture

Boys Only, Girls Only, or Co-ed?

Explore the 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

Benefits of Co-ed Camps

• 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

A Camp for Every Child—Traditional, Specialty,  & Special Needs

One camp may highlight a variety of activities geared to campers of all ages and skill levels, others may concentrate on one or two activities while providing traditional activities as well. Parents of children with special needs are pleased to learn about the range of camp activities that help kids be kids first.

Benefits of Traditional Camps

• Wide variety of activities

• Chance to try new activities

• Exposure to more campers and staff at varying activities

Benefits of Specialty Camps

• One or two specialized activities

• Expectation for increased proficiency during camping session

• Deepens knowledge and skill in particular area of interest

Benefits of Special Needs Camps

• Activities geared to campers’ abilities

• Knowledgeable staff with expertise to understand campers’ strengths and challenges

• Supportive and fun atmosphere to share with others

The Value of Camp For Every Child

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.

For nearly one hundred years, the American Camp Association has been serving the camp community and families considering camp.

For more information about child development and the camp experience, please visit our family-dedicated Web site, http://www.CampParents.org or call our toll-free number, 1-800-428-CAMP (2267).

Reprinted by permission of the American Camp Association ©2005 American Camping Association, Inc.