Claire64

I was just wondering if anyone is sending their kids to camp this summer?

I'm thinking about signing Landon and Sean up for camp. I think Landon would love a sports camp and Sean has been bugging me to go to surf camp.

Does anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with summer camps?

musicmom

Trina

My kids have gone to a summer day camp, but not an over night camp where they would be away for a week or two. DS did go to Nature's Classroom (5 days away) this past October, but that's something Gr. 6 does every year in our district. Both kids have asthma and severe food allergies, so I'm hesitant to send them out in the boonies, besides the fact that neither child has shown any interest to go.

thx1138

I am actually a summer camp counselor (I had one cabin of 9 year olds, and later one cabin of 12 year olds coincidently) so I might have a different perspective on this issue than most. I think summer camps are great. They can be a lot of fun, they can help kids to learn to be a bit more independent and they can be a place where they make a lot of new friends. The two biggest issues when it comes to summer camps are choosing the right one, and helping your kid deal with home sickness.

As far as choosing the right camp there are a couple issues to look at;
-Do either of your sons have friends that go to camp, if so would that camp be an option. For first time campers having a friend with them can be a huge help.
-Are you going to feel comfortable leaving your kids with the people running the camp? Depending on how long your kid is going to be there these are the people that are going to be taking care of them for 2, 4, or even 6 weeks. They will be responsible for making sure they are eating right, taking their medicine, using proper hygiene, and getting enough sleep. When your child gets hurt or sick at camp (almost everyone does whether minor or major) these will be the people that take of the injury and illness and deal with the aftermath. So make sure you can trust these people! Talk to the owner/director, if he/she doesn't seem like somebody you'd let watch your kid, don't. A few other things to look for are how old the camp is, what medical staff they have, how close they are to a hospital, do they have insurance on the kids (important if your kid gets hurt), how old the camp is, whether they are accredited through any organization, and whether you can find any reviews of the camp online or through friends. The age of a camp can be a good indicator of quality sometimes, though not necessarily always, some new camps are great, while some old camps are terrible. One last thing to look at is how large the camp is and what their counselor to camper ratio is. A smaller camp (up to around 400 kids) can offer more individual attention while some bigger camps can just feel like a puppy mill.
-If at all possible take a tour of the camp preferably while they have kids there (alot of camps have father son weekends you might be able to look at). Are the buildings in good condition, are the activity participants wearing the proper safety equipment, do the kids look like they are having fun or are they just sitting around, and how are they interacting with the counselors?
-Other factors that will affect you decision will of course be price, duration/timing, and location. Location may seem like a bigger barrier than it actually is, if you aren't comfortable being too far away from you child then you might feel more comfortable with a camp that is within driving distance. If you don't mind a bit more separation however feel free to look outside you state. The three summer camp meccas are Pennsylvania, Texas, and California, and they might actually be cheaper than more local camps even after you factor in air fare.

Once you have a camp chosen, take you kids on a tour and show them around. This will help with some of that first day nervousness. When you get to camp help your child get his stuff in the cabin and then get out of there. It is of course going to be hard to just leave you kid like that but long goodbyes only make things worse, kids start crying and it just gets horrible. Instead leave your son to make his bed with his counselor, this gives them a chance to get to know each other while giving you a chance to leave without a long goodbye. Leave a letter either with you child for the next day or with the office so that it can be given to him the next day. That way when your child is feeling the most homesick those first few days they have some reassurance from you. Don't call your kids, most camps will allow it but it really awkward as they have to pull them out of activities for it which just slows them down and makes them homesick. The one real exception to this I can think of is if your child's birthday is during camp, in that case I would call the camp and find out when a good moment of downtime would be for you to call your child and wish them happy birthday would be. When your packing your kids stuff make sure that its not all new things, this gives your kid a connection to you and some reassurance if he has his favorite board shorts or whatever. Not only that but if you send it to camp it might get torn, stained, or lost. Not something you want to happen to new items. If your child has one, pack a teddy bear. He may say he doesn't want it but I can guarantee you he won't be the only kid in the cabin to have one, nobody will make fun of him for it (a good counselor would stop any teasing immediately), and he will miss it if he doesn't bring it. Once your child is at camp write letters, kids in my cabin noticed and got upset when they went more than a day or so between letters from mom and dad (even the older kids who most of the time wouldn't be caught dead hugging mom). In your letters tell him what your doing, without making it sound like something he's missing out on, tell him you hope he's having a good time, and whatever you do please do not tell him you miss him. That sets off the waterworks, and makes them homesick instantly. If you want to send you son package by all means do, but follow the rules. Don't try to smuggle in food, firecrackers, or anything else the camp forbids. They will probably check packages and find them anyway, but if they don't when your son gets a hold of them they are just going to get him in trouble.

When you are packing your kids up get them involved with it, have them help. They deal with it better if they know exactly what they do and don't have with them. Pack a few new books for distractions during rest periods (most camps have a two hour rest period/nap time during the hottest part of the day). Some camps may allow it but I frown on packing electronics, they get lost, broken, and need new batteries. Plus a month without a game boy does kids worlds of good. When packing toiletries try to make sure your child has enough for the summer, and when it comes to soap go for a bodywash instead. A bar of soap even in one of those plastic boxes gets nasty quick. Lastly if it is against the rules, don't pack it. PLEASE!

When you get a chance to talk to your kids counselors tell them about your kid. It helps for us to know things like what they are afraid of, what allergies your kid has (I cannot stress this enough), if they are bed wetters, if they are aggressive, and any medical conditions like asthma. The medical staff should already know (and if there is no medical staff you shouldn't send your kid there) and they have probably already told the counselors but reminding never hurt anybody.

Lastly when you pick your child up talk to him, talk to his counselors and see if camp is something you want to do again next year. When you pick your child up some camps encourage tipping while others discourage it so it runs the range. You don't need to be passing out hundred dollar bills but as a counselor we really appreciated almost anything we got. Pocket knives, 20 dollar gift cards to Chile's or Wal-Mart, even cookies were wonderful. We can be there away from home for upwards of two/three months getting paid well below minimum wage (as a returning counselor I made 1600 for 11 weeks) and even getting something small made our day.

Hope that helps, feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. And if you want to send you kid to camp you had better hurry because this is getting close to many camps cut-off date for accepting campers.

Trina

thx1138, thanks. Very helpful and informative. I actually did all that and then some before my son went to Nature's Classroom.

Do people really send their kids to summer camp for 4-6 weeks?! That's basically the entire summer. I'm a SAHM, and couldn't imagine sending my kids away for that long. If they wanted to go to camp for a week, *maybe* 2, I would look into it, but certainly not for anything longer. Summer is a special time for us. We usually take a family vacation, spend a lot of time outdoors at the pool, beach, etc. and go on several day trips visiting amusement parks, museums, and so on.

Claire64

Thanks so much for all your advice thx1138!

I think if the boys go to a camp, it will only be for 1, maybe 2 weeks, so I'm not too worried about them being homesick. They've traveled without me before, so they should be fine in that respect.

I am a little bit worried about them not enjoying themselves and getting bored with camp. Sean is 12 and has a bit of an attitude, so I can see him getting really bored at a traditional summer camp. I think he'd be better at surf camp, especially if the other kids are older than him.

Landon does have asthma, and has to wear a wrist brace when he plays sports, so I would definitely have to talk to his counselor to make sure he's taking his medications and wearing his brace.


We live in California and the camps that we're looking into are about an hour or two away, so I would drop them off and pick them up.

I don't think any of their friends are going to camp, except for one who is going to camp for the whole summer in New Jersey. Should the boys ask their friends to go to camp with them?

thx1138

The average length of most summer camps that I know of seems to be 3-4 weeks. There are 2 week camps and even one week camps, but with those sorts of programs I just don't think you are getting the full benefits of sending your child to camp. With one week camps especially your kid gets there and really doesn't do much the day you drop him off, gets used to the routine the first day or two that he is there and then spends that last two days thinking about the end of camp. And if there is bad weather a week of summer camp fun can quickly turn into three days spent in cabins bored. I really think two weeks is almost the minimum for the real summer camp experience. As far as the longer term summer camps that go past 4 weeks sometimes up to 8, I agree I think spending any more than a month away from mom and dad is just too much. I'm glad that where I work caps it off at 4 weeks.

Ms. Claire, as far as kids getting bored at traditional summer camps, that isn't my experience. They are doing such a wide range of activities (mountain biking, archery, marksmanship, climbing walls, high ropes, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, sports, etc) that they never really spend enough time on any one thing to actually get bored with it. That is part of the reason that traditional summer camps can run longer. Specific camps that deal with one issue or sport like wrestling camps, football camps, and I'd guess surfing camps though I have 0 experience with them tend to be shorter because after two weeks of doing the same activity all day kids will be bored with it. Also since both your boys would be first time campers 2 weeks is plenty long enough in my opinion.

As far as asking a friend to go, I've seen that work and I've seen it not work. Sometimes when you have two kids together that know each other but nobody else all that happens is they cling to each other and spend the summer lonely except for that one friend. I've also seen it where two friends would talk to each other, be glad to see each other and then go their separate ways during the day and make a whole different group of friends. I have even seen 2 kids show up friends and get in a fist fight at week 3. So I can't really recommend it one way or another. When one of the kids is already familiar with camp is in my experience when it works best, the kid that has been there before helps the new guy get to know some people and what to do and they go from there.

You said that your DS had a bit of an attitude, I wouldn't really worry about that. Some of the best behaved kids at camp who are just great the whole summer come to us with warnings about how they get in fights at school and have attitude problems. When a parent tells us something like that I've learned to take it with a grain of salt because alot of kids just act completely different at camp.

Claire64

Thanks again thx1138.

I'll talk to the boys about it tonight, but it I'm starting to think that it will be a good idea for them to go for 2 weeks this summer. I've looked at a lot of different camps and I found a couple that I think they will love. They're not the traditional summer camp, because I know that Sean thinks he's to old for that kind of thing. Could you take a look at this and tell me what you think?

I think the boys would like either the Hollywood Stunt Camp, or the Secret Agent Camp.

Thanks again!

thx1138

Both of those camps are owned and operated as part of Pali adventures. Watched the video and looked around online I find it curious just how little information their website actually gives. Couple things to take note of;

-They have a very high turnover rate for their kids only keeping them there for a week. The two and four week sessions are really just keeping kids there for multiple one week sessions.

-It is coed, not neccessarily a plus or a minus but it is coed.

-Both camps you looked at are really the same camp. The way Pali works is that campers (about 280 of them) get up, from their cabins, go eat, then go to their special activity. The special activity being the secret agent camp, stunt man camp, or whatever. After that they go to lunch and from there on they do activities that are not actually divided by whatever specialty camp they are in. Good example of this is both camps videos show kids on the same ropes courses.

-There is no real mention of how the organize the kids by age. This means there is a possibility that your sons might actually be in the same classes, if you put them both in the same morning activity they will almost certainly be seeing alot of each other.

-For all I can tell they don't even break the cabins down by age though I suspect they do. You might want to confirm this because having older kids and younger kids together isn't a good idea in my oppinion.

-They are associated with the ACA. The ACA despite what it tries to put out is merely a company, they aren't any sort of governing body for all camps. Not good or bad just something.

-There wasn't a single reference on their site that I could find as to the medical staff. They just said all counselors are CPR and first aid certified which is actually required by law.

Now my actual concerns regard the camps are that the stuntman camp appears overly dangerous. Keep in mind I am extremely active, I am a high ropes and rock wall facilitator, and overall have participated in alot of activities that most people would consider pretty extreme so this isn't coming from the faint of heart. Doing one of the falls they show can easily result in whiplash or worse if a kid lands wrong. They showed kids standing on top of and jumping from moving vehicles with 0 safety equipment. Also all of the fake fighting stuff could result in somebody getting kneed in the face on accident, and could result in trouble outside of camp (I am a blackbelt and actually competed nationally in full contact tournaments I know what I'm talking about). In my book that is reckless. The spy camp on the other hand actually had very little of the camp shown, most of the video was paintball which any kid going to any of their camps can take, so I wonder about just how much substance their curriculum has. Even then though It is more than a little irresponsible to be having kids playing paintball in short sleaves.

The camp is pretty pricey for it's duration. One other thing that was a little off was the counselor hiring page, there was no listed salary. I called and it was 250 a week which is about average, and they have about a sixty percent return rate for counselors which is low. About half of their campers come back each year, and they are only ten minutes from a hospital. What really concerns me is that only half of their campers come back each year, that tells me that something is wrong. Kids should want to come back to camp. That is probably the biggest red flag to me. I would look elsewhere, because this place seems a little more like a puppy mill than a quality enviroment.

Claire64

Thank you thx1138!

Sorry, I actually forgot the link, thanks for looking into the camp!

You brought up a lot of things that I never would have thought of. I wasn't sure about whether the camps were separate or not, thanks for clearing that up.

I guess I'll have to keep looking!