If your child is going to their first sleep-away camp this year, here are the vital steps you should take as a parent to make sure the experience is fun and rewarding.
Conduct Practice Sleepovers
Try to create the environment your child will experience while away at camp. You will want to make it seem as if they are away from home. Request that a family friend or relative visit, or send your child away to a friend’s house for a sleepover.
Visit the Camp
Take a trip with your child to the summer camp. Have them familiarize themselves with the environment they’ll be staying in. Walk around and locate important points, including the mess hall, the bunk and the bathrooms. You can even ask your child what is important to them in a camp. After you have analyzed the major points of each camp, choose the top 3 sleep away camps you like, then have your child help make the final decision as to where they would like to go. This empowers your child, while also adding to their positive camp experience.
Get in Contact with the Camp Director
Good camp directors make themselves available to potential camp goers and their parents. Most likely, if you want, you can speak with the director with your child to go over any question or concerns.
Reassure your Child
Be sure to always shower your child with positive statements and reassurances. Your praise and positive words will help them look forward to this experience away from home. You can talk with them about all the different things they will do while away at camp, and highlight the memorable experiences they should look forward to. While your child is a way, try your hardest not to contact them to see how they are doing. This will allow them to develop their coping skills, and also give peers around them a chance to be a new source of comfort and advice.
After your child returns, ask a lot questions about how their experience went. What was the most enjoyable part of camp? Who did they meet? Did they make any friends they would like to stay n contact with? At the end, encourage your child to return to camp again next year.
Advice for Parents
As parents, we all worry about things such as bullying or potentially harmful social situations that our child may not even consider. We may even worry about small things, such as how good the food will be, how well their sleeping bags will hold up, or if they will be afraid in the cabins. Try your best to hide you anxiety from your children, while still giving them the advice they need to be aware of their surroundings. Tell them how ways that they can overcome their fears and homesickness. Be assured that sleep-away camps have far more benefits than other settings you may be thinking of sending them to this summer. With the right planning and research, you can set your mind and your child’s mind at ease.
A published freelance journalist from print to on-line, Florin A. passion is honest authentic writing. From the mundane knowledge to an incredible remark, F. Aldea usually discovers a method to voice what he sees.