Worried about sending your child off to a Summer Youth Camp without knowing enough about that camp? Take a journey to your child's summer camp while it is in session. You will learn enough through direct observation and conversations to make you feel more comfortable, especially if you have reviewed the information about the camp and arrive prepared to ask questions.
Picking the right day is important. Call ahead for an appointment to make sure that you can visit on a day when you can see the summer camp program in action. The director may ask you to come a different day than you request. Your first choice may fall on a day when too many campers would be off camp property, or it might be during visiting day or between sessions when no campers are present.
Plan on taking at least three hours at the camp so that you will have time to observe activities at length and chat with campers and staff. The settings, facilities and activities matter, but more important to your child's experience will be how the administration and the staff behave in action. Watch how the camp's counselors juggle the demands of campers. Of course, be sure to observe that safety precautions are consistently being taken.
Take your child with you on the tour and pay attention to how the guide relates with your child. The way the guide interacts with your child will tell you volumes about the camp's attitude towards the children it should be there to serve.
The camp director may or may not be the tour guide, but you should make sure to meet him or her before you leave. You need to know if the director is someone that you can trust to take care of your child for the summer. Is the director a hands-on administrator, or does he or she appear to spend more time in the office with paper work than with the staff and campers? Does the director know the names of most of the children that you meet? Where is the director's on-camp residence?
Watch the counselors' interaction with the campers in their care. If they aren't kind, caring, sensitive, imaginative, patient and skilled, then nothing else will matter. Who is responsible for making sure your child has a safe and fun summer? Counselors. Watch the counselors during activities: counselors should be supervising and interacting with the kids rather than talking with other staff. Be sure counselors praise all campers in activities, not just the the best children. Counselors who teach a specialty should not just show their own skills but also show enthusiasm to the campers.
If you feel parental concern about sending your child to a summer camp this year, be sure to take the time and visit that camp. It will help you feel more comfortable about your wise choice for sending your child to a summer of great fun.
For additional information visit Summer Camp Advisor, a FREE Summer Camp website filled with information to help parent select the best summer camp for their child
Picking the right day is important. Call ahead for an appointment to make sure that you can visit on a day when you can see the summer camp program in action. The director may ask you to come a different day than you request. Your first choice may fall on a day when too many campers would be off camp property, or it might be during visiting day or between sessions when no campers are present.
Plan on taking at least three hours at the camp so that you will have time to observe activities at length and chat with campers and staff. The settings, facilities and activities matter, but more important to your child's experience will be how the administration and the staff behave in action. Watch how the camp's counselors juggle the demands of campers. Of course, be sure to observe that safety precautions are consistently being taken.
Take your child with you on the tour and pay attention to how the guide relates with your child. The way the guide interacts with your child will tell you volumes about the camp's attitude towards the children it should be there to serve.
The camp director may or may not be the tour guide, but you should make sure to meet him or her before you leave. You need to know if the director is someone that you can trust to take care of your child for the summer. Is the director a hands-on administrator, or does he or she appear to spend more time in the office with paper work than with the staff and campers? Does the director know the names of most of the children that you meet? Where is the director's on-camp residence?
Watch the counselors' interaction with the campers in their care. If they aren't kind, caring, sensitive, imaginative, patient and skilled, then nothing else will matter. Who is responsible for making sure your child has a safe and fun summer? Counselors. Watch the counselors during activities: counselors should be supervising and interacting with the kids rather than talking with other staff. Be sure counselors praise all campers in activities, not just the the best children. Counselors who teach a specialty should not just show their own skills but also show enthusiasm to the campers.
If you feel parental concern about sending your child to a summer camp this year, be sure to take the time and visit that camp. It will help you feel more comfortable about your wise choice for sending your child to a summer of great fun.
For additional information visit Summer Camp Advisor, a FREE Summer Camp website filled with information to help parent select the best summer camp for their child
About the Author:
Swift Nature Camp is an Coed camp for Boys and Girls Ages 6-15. Our programs blend traditional camp activities with Animal Summer Camps.
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