Hey, Camp Folks!
It’s the end of July and the camp season is winding down. Most campers are likely either returned or still away for their stay. For some of you the rush of the camp season is already over. Others just need to pick up their kid on closing day. Time to unpack and take a year-long break from all the planning and prepping and thinking about summer camp. Right?
That’s an option, sure. However, if you push yourself to go the extra mile in putting away your gear now, the work for next season could already be done for you. Do it now while it’s fresh in your kid’s mind!
Listen to your kid’s stories and answers to your questions. You may learn that the raincoat didn’t fit or that the sandals hurt their feet. Ask them if their Duffel Bag was spacious enough for them to conveniently live out of or was it cramped and limiting—things like that.
As you go through your child’s gear to put everything away, ask your camper what worked well and didn’t. Should you discover a giant tear in their laundry bag, don’t just put it away and leave the problem for yourself to deal with next season. Instead, set it aside to throw away or cut up for dust cloths. Make a note to replace the laundry bag and do the same for any cracked water bottles or fans.
A more in-depth guide can be found right here on a previous post.
And, of course, listen to your child and ask them about the non-material aspects of summer camp. Was it lots of fun? Were they comfortable enough being away from home? How did they do at making friends?
Solutions to any problems your kid may have encountered at summer camp can be found by scrolling through our advice posts here on the Blog or in the invaluable guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook‘ from camp experts Dr. 
Christopher Thurber and Dr. Jon Malinowski. Check out this great book when you click here and browse our site for any other camping gear or summer camp supplies would have made things easier this year.
We sincerely hope you all had the best camp stay possible this summer. Enjoy the rest of the summer season and, as always, thanks for reading.
- John