Welcome Back Home, Campers!
With the camp season starting to close, now is a good time to assess how the season went. Take some time to ask your child and reflect on the camp stay. Did your child meet the main goals of summer camp? They almost certainly had fun, but can you notice any athletic, artistic, intelligent, or personal growth? What about their social skills? Did they learn from a positive role model?
Gear
Go through the gear your child brought back from camp. Now is a great time to check over gear while your kid’s stay is still fresh in their head. Ask them what worked and what didn’t… Did anything break? Does anything need its batteries replaced? Does anything need to be repaired? Did your kid understand how to use everything? Did they have everything they needed?
Guidelines
Do your best to gauge how certain arrangements worked out for everyone. Was the stay too long? Too short? Was the camp too far from home? Too close? Did the travel go smoothly? Did your child attend a coed camp or all single gender camp? Was it the best fit for them? Did your child have the opportunity to do the activities they really wanted to do? Was going to camp with a friend a good idea or not?
Go Again
Did the summer camp season leave you disappointed and unimpressed? While this certainly isn’t the norm, it’s not unheard of for children to have an unpleasant summer camp experience. However, I cannot stress this next point enough—just because your kid didn’t like their summer camp, doesn’t mean that they don’t like SUMMER CAMP.
If you didn’t pick the right camp for your kid, there’s still hope to find a different one that your kid will enjoy next year. Finding a dud camp stinks for that summer visit, but it doesn’t have to ruin summer camp for the remainder of a childhood.
Be sure to put in further preparation and research on a camp before settling on the right one! Check out ‘The Summer Camp Handbook’ for better guidance on finding a great summer camp. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!
- John
