…but here are six pillars of good camp health.

 Rotavirus, whooping cough, chicken pox and the H1N1 flu have all swept through summer camps at various times. Much more common are: Indigestion from eating too many s’mores, headaches from dehydration and various bumps and bruises from, well, being an active kid at camp. Big or small, illnesses and injuries are no fun to have at camp, especially when everyone else is out having fun.

That said, most camp health centers are well-equipped to handle routine maladies. Nurses and doctors also know when to refer more serious ailments to the local hospital. And rest assured: If your son or daughter experiences any serious affliction, the camp nurse or doctor will be giving you a call. Remember: No news is good news. You can, however, help your child—and the rest of the young people at camp—stay healthy. Here’s how:

(1) Complete the camp’s health form thoroughly. Whatever information you omit handicaps the camp health care staff. By being candid and complete, you put the staff in the best possible position to support your child. Fully disclose your son or daughter’s current diagnoses, allergies and medications, as well as any recent injuries and illnesses.

(2) Be sure your child’s immunizations are up-to-date. Choosing not to immunize your child or letting his or her immunizations lapse places an unfair health burden on the rest of the camp community. Parents who choose not to immunize are relying on “herd immunity”—the hope that their child will not get ill because everyone else is immunized. Naturally, if everyone adopts this attitude, no one is immune. Do your part and complete your child’s immunizations.

(3) Review elements of good personal hygiene with your child. This includes the basics, such as proper hand washing technique and the practice of coughing and sneezing in one’s elbow. It also includes proper bathing technique (using soap and warm water everywhere), daily flossing and keeping fingernails and toenails clean and neatly trimmed.

(4) Review healthy table manners with your child, including the use of serving utensils to dish out food; the use of napkins to wipe hands and mouth; and observing the rule of “you touch it, you take it.” You should also remind your son or daughter not to share towels or pillows with camp friends. One of the best ways to acquire germs is to put your face on a surface where someone else has wiped their own face.

(5) Review any daily or prophylactic medications with your child. Be sure he or she knows how to self-administer any rescue medications, including inhalers and EpiPens. Send your child to camp with two of every rescue medication, each clearly labeled with his or her name. (One stays in the health center; the other is for your child to keep with him.)

(6) Be sure your child is healthy in the days leading up to camp. Viruses and bacterial illnesses do not spring up spontaneously at camp. Bugs are brought to camp by children whose parents think their child is no longer contagious, who ignore signs of serious illness or who brush them off as pre-camp jitters. Rather than rolling the dice and risk infecting the entire camp community, keep your child home until a qualified medical professional has given him or her a clean bill of health.

Parents share the responsibility to keep their child—and all of the other children at camp—healthy. Your commitment to preparation makes an invaluable contribution to the overall health of the summer camp community. And, of course, healthy kids are happy kids. Following the six steps above ensures that your camp tuition dollars are spent on cool activities rather than convalescence.

Enjoy the summer!

Dr. Christopher Thurber

Append Your Camper’s Health Form...

It’s not as bad as your income tax form, but most summer camp health forms are pretty detailed. Beyond the basic demographics, there’s immunization and illness history, allergies, medications, permission to treat, and data from your son or daughter’s most recent physical. And now I’m suggestion you add a sheet of information? That’s right. You know your child better than anyone. Indeed, there are things about him or her that have taken you (and maybe a pediatrician, nurse, or psychiatrist) years to figure out. Without your help, your child’s surrogate caregivers—his counselors or cabin leaders—don’t stand a chance at figuring all that out in just a few weeks.

“But wait,” you protest, “I don’t want my child to be labeled. I don’t want him known throughout camp as The ADD Kid or The IEP Kid or The Prozac Kid.” These are valid concerns. If the camp’s staff isn’t properly trained on parameters of confidentiality and child development, there’s a chance the information you provide on the health form will be disrespected, over-shared, or communicated out of context. Thankfully, more and more staff receive proper training on handling children’s private health information. If the camp doesn’t tell you how they’ll treat confidential information, be sure to ask.

Once assured the camp will respect your son or daughter’s privacy, your next objection might be, “Isn’t camp a purely recreational experience? Why would my child need to continue taking medication at a place that’s just about fun?” The simplest answer to that question is: If the medication is helpful in one setting, it’s likely to be helpful in another. Yes, camp is fun, but it’s also socially, emotionally, behaviorally, and cognitively demanding. In good ways. Camp is a powerful accelerator of positive youth development. And that development is a byproduct of all kinds of healthy risks and challenges, each of which depend on young people’s social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive functioning.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children not take medication holidays while at camp. However, if you’re considering that option, be sure to discuss it with your child’s prescribing physician and your camp. Keeping camp in the dark about recent medication changes is both unethical and unfair—to your child, her new caregivers, and the camp’s health care team.

So you see, it’s important to complete the camp’s health form honestly and thoroughly. Simply put, your candor and completeness put the camp staff in the best possible position to care for your child. But the health form is generic; your child is a custom entity. For that reason, I urge you to type a paragraph or two describing your son or daughter. Share details about his or her temperament, routines, personal strengths and weaknesses, and social, learning, and coping styles.

The more camp staff understand about what makes your child tick, the better they can meet your child’s needs…and the better experience your child is likely to have. Camp health care professionals and front-line staff are tremendously grateful to read parents’ insightful reflections on the nature of their child. It’s the perfect prerequisite to putting your child in nature.

Enjoy the summer!

Dr. Christopher Thurber

For additional parent resources, visit: SummerCampHandbook.com

Hey, Camp Enthusiasts!

Parents, today I’m discussing a very important topic about summer camp: knowing whether your kid is ready for it or not. This can be a little tricky to figure out since there isn’t any exact answer or age I can give you for your camper. Everyone’s different. What I can give you is some pointers to figuring out if your kid is ready or not.SummerCampHandbook.com thinks that seven is a good age to start, so long as your child feels comfortable with it by that point. Maybe your child is an early bloomer and was ready for it just before turning seven. Maybe your child won’t be ready until middle-school. How do you know?

Usually it’s best to leave it up to your kid to mention any interest in summer camp. Kids know what’s fun and that camp is cool.

If you think summer camp would be a good idea, yet your kid hasn’t brought it up freely, see if there’s a reason that they aren’t interested. Whether the reason be related to anxieties about making friends at camp or concerns over leaving home, make sure to address your child’s issue and not simply encourage him or her to go. Camp can be your idea, but it’s got to be your kid’s decision.

Try having your kid talk to a friend who’s already been to camp or get permission to visit a camp while in session. Both are very effective methods of easing your child’s mind about a stay at camp.

If you’re concerned about homesickness settling in, a care package is always a great way to lift your kid’s spirit. Also, remember to write! Everything Summer Camp has stationery for kids and stationery for you to make writing letters home and to camp easy and convenient.

You can also get cool and colorful name labels at Everything Summer Camp that were featured in the News recently by Nola Baby. Every camp wants everything to be labeled so that what gets brought to camp returns home. It also helps the camps that provide a laundry service to make sure the right clothing goes to the right camper.

Once your kid has decided to go to summer camp, then you just have to know how long of a stay it should be. Luckily, your kid should have a big say on this one too.

As Chris Thurber recently wrote in his March 13 post on this blog about figuring out how long to stay at camp, it “should be largely up to your child. Ownership over the decision about how many weeks to attend camp goes a long way toward promoting good adjustment to the separation from home.”

That’s all for today. Good luck, Parents. As always, thanks for reading.

- John

How Kids Answer this Perennial Question Might Surprise You

Let’s reveal the most surprising fact first: Having a friend from home at camp does nothing to diminish the intensity of homesickness. Although everyone experiences feelings of missing home, only 20% of boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 16 are bothered by these feelings. Surprisingly, having a friend from home attend camp at the same time does not determine whether a child is in the mild or moderate homesickness group.

There are probably several reasons for this. First, if a child is intensely homesick, he or she is likely missing his parents most of all. The friend from home is not an adequate substitute. Fun, yes, but simply not mom or dad.

Second, if a child his having a tough time with the adjustment to summer camp, he or she is likely to be struggling socially. At camp, that boils down to making new friends. Having an established friendship from home may be a temporary comfort, but it’s the rare friend who takes an active role in garnering new connections for a lonely peer.

Third, if a child is struggling to fit in, he or she may not be much fun to play with. Children are most attracted to happy peers, not dour ones. Moreover, it’s a tall order to say to one child, “Your pal is feeling sad and left out. Stop having fun and do what you can to connect him with the rest of the group.” Some mature and astute children can do this kind of social engineering; most can’t.

All of this is simply to say that signing up for camp with a friend from home does nothing to stave off feelings of homesickness and may do little to promote social adjustment. However, for those children whose adjustment to camp is generally smooth, it may be lots of fun to share camp with an established chum. It may also be wonderful to share memories of camp with a local buddy. In sum, a friend from home may be a pleasant addition to a camp experience, but it’s not an antidote to anything.

Finally, when it comes to attending camp with a friend, parents should involve their child in the decision. Like so many other big and small choices, giving children some ownership over the parameters of their experience promotes good adjustment.

Curiously, the number-one thing that children say they love about camp is not the friends or the activities. Those are the number two and number three assets, respectively. What young people say they love most is that at camp they get to be themselves. In part, this means young people get to shed the reputation they have at school and in the neighborhood—maybe even at home, too—and let more of their authentic personality shine.

Sometimes, shedding an old reputation and donning a new personality is hampered by reminders and trappings of home, including the presence of an established friend. For this reason, many young people prefer to attend a camp where no one else from their grade or school is present. Talk with your son or daughter to get a sense of where they stand on the issue. Their answer may surprise you...

Of course, if the staff are doing their job, every child will have some new friends within a few hours of arriving. And if your child’s experience is typical, some of those new friendships will last a lifetime.

Enjoy the summer!

Dr. Christopher Thurber

What Goldilocks Can Teach Us about How Long to Stay at Camp?

Goldilocks did three things right when selecting her preferred chair, porridge and bed: She kept an open mind, she experimented and she was involved in making her own choices. Wise parents adopt the Goldilocks model when deciding on session length. Let’s talk through each of these three factors.

First, you and your child should keep an open mind. Some eight-year-olds are ready for a seven-week stay; some 14-year-olds will struggle with a two-week stay. Generally speaking, younger children and first-year campers begin with shorter session lengths (one or two-weeks) and build up to a month or more. However, there are plenty of exceptions. Ultimately, you’re trying match the camp and session length to your child’s interests, abilities and developmental level, rather than link any parameter of his or her stay to chronological age.

Second, experiment a bit. Arrange for your child to spend a few overnights and long weekends with friends or relatives. Let them get a sense of what they miss. (Everyone misses something.) Talk with them after this practice time away from home about how they coped with their normal pangs of homesickness. Coach them on the best ways to adjust to the separation from home. If they claim to have sailed through the separation with nary a thought of home, they are probably lying but still showing healthy confidence.

(Note: Most parents are committed to preventing severe homesickness. That’s why the American Camp Association created a 25-minute homesickness prevention DVD. The Secret Ingredients of Summer Camp Success is actually a DVD-CD set that lowers the intensity of first-year campers’ homesickness by 50%, on average. Consider making this $10 investment in your child’s happiness. The set is for sale on EverythingSummerCamp.com or by calling (800) 535-2057.)

Third, involve your son or daughter in the decision about how long to stay at camp. Some of the choice will be dictated by family finances, of course. Whatever flexibility is left should be largely up to your child. Ownership over the decision about how many weeks to attend camp goes a long way toward promoting good adjustment to the separation from home. Said differently, children who feel forced to spend a certain amount of time away from home are more likely to become intensely homesick.

Of course, Goldilocks didn’t get it all right. After all, she broke into someone else’s house without permission, a fact not taken lightly by the three bears. Camp has an entirely different premise. Not only are the chairs, meals and beds perfect for kids of all shapes and sizes, the staff will welcome their presence and work diligently to help them feel part of the family.

Enjoy the summer!

Dr. Christopher Thurber