If you’re searching for a summer camp for your child, whether they will be a first-time camper or will be switching overnight camps, chances are you have some idea of what you’re looking for. Perhaps you want a structured program, and a large camp with lots of sports. Maybe you see your child in a co-ed environment, at a half-session only camp, and attending a camp that is only a few hours from your home. The fact is, every parent should have some sense of what they want in a camp when beginning the camp search process.
However, in most situations you will have to prioritize certain elements. Selecting a summer camp is like buying a home – you may envision a large kitchen island, an open floorplan, and a master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. But when you start attending open houses, you have to confront the reality of what’s available and meets your top needs, and then decide what items on your list are the priorities that will define your search. So, what factors should parents consider when discerning between “needs” and “wants”?
The Culture is Key
When we advise Everything Summer camp families, we ask targeted questions to establish and define the kind of camp culture a family wants – and perhaps more importantly, the kind of environment a child needs to be successful. A camp’s culture will permeate and impact every aspect of camp life. Camp culture will affect the staffing, the bunk life, and the activities at a camp, and can be felt from the dining hall to out-of-camp trips. We believe this camp culture – which can oftentimes be conveyed through the kinds of families the camp attracts and the personality of the director – is the most important aspect of determining fit. Of course, it’s also one of the hardest to assess – it’s easy to find out how often kids have instructional swim, but much harder to learn how inclusive kids are towards new campers. By prioritizing and understanding the kind of camp you want your child to attend, you’ll be able to better identify the camps that fit this mold. When working with Everything Summer families, we rely on our professional relationships with camps, and extensive knowledge of their environments, to understand which camp cultures might be a match for a specific family – and then we do our research and due diligence to thoroughly assess fit.
Thinking Beyond Trapeze
Years ago, Everything Summer worked with a 6th grader who was switching camps. One of the parameters that was very important to the family was trapeze – their child had enjoyed the trapeze activity at their previous camp, and as this had been one of the few positives of their experience, they wanted to identify another camp that would offer this same activity.
As we guided the family, we tried to impress the importance of the camp environment over any specific activities. When children are having a tough camp experience, their favorite activities can oftentimes become periods of respite – and for this child, trapeze was one of the only positive parts of their summer. However, a child’s camp experience should not consist of moments of salvation in an otherwise challenging summer. If a child is looking forward to an activity because they are not enjoying the rest of their experience, this indicates that the experience as a whole is not an appropriate fit. Based on our recommendations, this family ultimately chose a camp that did not offer trapeze, but was a good fit otherwise – the camper had an incredibly successful summer, and for the first time knew what it was like to really enjoy camp.
This philosophy also holds true for activities kids don’t like. If a child is in the right environment and they are having fun and making friends, then they’ll learn to deal with instructional swim. A successful camp experience is much more than a series of 45-minute activity blocks – if your child is in the right environment, everything else will fall into place.
Hand in Hand
When thinking about different summer camp search parameters, it’s important to understand that certain aspects of camp will impact others. A smaller camp might be able to provide more individualized, nurturing attention, but smaller activity groups might mean there aren’t as many opportunities to play team sports. If you have a child who is really interested in the performing arts, it might make sense to consider a co-ed camp, or at least to thoroughly vet the theatre programs at single-sex options. If you really want your child to have a summer camp experience that’s entirely separate from their school year experience, you may want to consider camps a little further from home or those with fewer campers from your community and school. Brand new, high-end facilities can be a major plus at camp; but it’s also worth considering that rustic camps tend to attract low-key, down to earth families (though of course, there are grounded families with strong values at all kinds of camps). A heated swimming pool may have been built because a camp’s lake isn’t as large as some others. It’s important to understand how different elements of camp impact one another – this can also provide clarity to parents seeking to understand what their priorities are when deciding between camps.
Sending a child to the right summer camp has a major impact on their development. Identifying what makes a camp the “right” one can be very challenging for families, and many of our clients turn to us because they feel overwhelmed by the process and seek professional guidance. By thinking clearly about what matters most in a camp-search process, parents can set their children up to have successful summers, and reap the benefits of camp for years to come.