Preparing Your Camper(s)

We strongly encourage parents to help prepare their campers for their week of camp.  Drop off time is not the time or place to prepare your child. Anticipate the new things that your camper might experience and be ready to help nurture any personal growth changes and maturing that may have resulted from their time at camp when they return home.

If they are unaccustomed to a lot of physical activity, prepare them for camp activities and adventures by slowly increasing their activities in the weeks leading up to camp and make sure they have had plenty of sleep before coming to camp.

It’s also possible that there are fears within both you and your child about their week away. By preparing early you can help dispel those fears. Here are a few creative ways you can prepare your camper for the impact their week of camp is likely to have on them.

• If your son or daughter has never been away from home overnight without you, plan a weekend stay beforehand with a friend to give them a small taste of what it’s like.
• Acknowledge their fears and be overly reassuring that everything will be okay and that they will have a blast.
• Register for camp with a friend or relative and regularly have them over to talk about camp and allow the two to begin forming a bond and anticipate camp.
• Share stories about how much fun you had at summer camp as kid and how they are certain to be in for the time of their life.
• Build a general excitement about the week by regularly talking about it and telling friends and family about the exciting week your son or daughter has ahead of them this summer! Speak of it as though it is an accomplishment.

The ideas are endless, and you as a creative and concerned parent, will know how best to prepare your child for what could be one of the most memorable experiences of their childhood.