Hey, Camp Preppers!
As we’ve moved through April, I’ve been posting a series of Tips and Advice every Monday about involving your soon-to-be-camper in the planning stages of summer camp.
I introduced the topic on April 6, explaining the importance of including your child. The week after that, I talked about solidifying the length of your camper’s camp stay in your their mind. And last week, was about things to avoid (if at all possible), like moving homes or any upsetting separations directly before or during your kid’s camp stay.
Today concludes this series with probably the most important part of your kid’s involvement in summer camp planning: Keeping Your Doubts to Yourself!
Noted in the excellent preparatory guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook,’ Doctors Chris Thurber and Jon Malinowski discuss the proper way to reveal your attitude concerning your kid’s camp stay in front of your kid. In their book, they discuss the importance of creating an optimistic and fun approach to camp. After all, your demeanor has more effect over your child’s demeanor than you may realize.
For instance, saying something like:
“I love you so much! You know I’ll miss you, but once you get to camp, you’re going to have so much fun; you won’t even have time to be homesick!”
…is better than…
“I have no idea what I’ll do without you while you’re off at camp. I’m going to miss you so much!—I don’t know how I’ll get through those two weeks.”
…which is Not so Good!
It’s also smart to give kids a few examples of your plans during their camp stay. Let them know that you’ll be keeping yourself occupied while they’re away.
Though doubts may seep into your mind from time to time, you know your kid’s going to have a blast at camp. Give them your support and remind them of a couple things—how proud they make you and that they played a hand in the decision to go to camp.
With encouragement like that, your kid shouldn’t have any worries about the approaching camp season. Enjoy the time leading up to camp and, as always, thanks for reading.
- John