The First Camp Experience: How To Sell Your Kids On The Great Outdoors
By Donna Gordon Blankinship
Encouraging a 7- or 8-year old to spend two weeks away from home at summer camp can be a difficult sales job for a parent. But camp directors and parents say your child's experience will be worth the effort.
"Camp is a good way for kids to be in a safe environment and yet feel that they're doing something independent from their families, which is a good feeling for a kid," says Breck Longstreth, a Mercer Island mother of three experienced campers.
Sending the first child off to camp is the most difficult project and the younger siblings ten to follow the leader. "In our family the oldest child loved it so much we didn't have to do a lot of convincing," Longstreth says. "They were very eager to try it themselves when their turns came."
Seven is the youngest age recommended by area camp directors for the first sleep-away camp experience. If children are comfortable spending a night away at a friend's or grandparent's house they are ready to try a week or two at camp, according to Tom Nielsen, executive director of Camp Burton on Vashon Island and the local section president of the American Camping Association.
Nielsen says the other factors to consider are a child's maturity and independence and whether they are able to handle their own physical needs.
"It's almost a question of whether the parents are ready to send their kids to camp. It's not for everybody. Occasionally the parent isn't ready to have the child be away," he says.
Bob McKinlay, executive director of Hidden Valley Camp in Granite Falls, Wash., recommends starting kids at camp at age 7 or 8 but the first experience should only be for a week or two. Hidden Valley offers 2-, 3-, and 4-week sessions.
"Some kids do seem to become ready sooner than others," McKinlay says. Parents can encourage children to go by discussing their own camp experiences and by talking about the fun activities at camp.
"I would certainly advise parents to be very encouraging but not to force" their children to go if they don't want to, McKinlay says.
Glory Blackburn, retired director of the Flying Horseshoe Ranch in Cle Elum, Wash., says a parent's attitude about camp will be the deciding factor in a child's attitude. "If parents don't say 'We're going to miss you' with anxiety in their voices," children will not be afraid of the camp experience, Blackburn says.
"It's a matter of conditioning them about the good times they'll have," she adds. The Flying Horseshoe Ranch sends parents a letter suggesting ways to talk about camp the winter before and how to explain that the experience is an important and exciting part of growing up.
Even with the best preparation, however, homesickness is still common for first-time campers. Nielsen says keeping children involved in the decision-making process will help make the transition smoother. He recommends visiting the camp together before making a decision together.
Parents should ask the director enough questions to discover how sensitive the camp is to a child's needs. "How a camp deals with issues like bed wetting says a lot about how comfortable a child will be staying in camp," Nielsen says.
When a 7-year-old goes away to camp for the first time, you should expect some homesickness, he says.
"I wouldn't force a kid to go, but once a child is there I'd work with the camp people before I gave them permission to come back home," Nielsen says.
Another way to prevent separation difficulties is to talk to your children about going to camp long before you decide they are old enough to go, according to Barby Cohen of Mercer Island, who has sent both of her children to a camp in Wisconsin for many years.
"From the day that they were born they heard about camp because we talked about it a lot. We both feel really strongly about the experience of summer camp for kids," says Cohen, who met her husband while at camp in Wisconsin.
Cohen waited until Amy was 11 and Lori was 10 before sending them to Wisconsin for 8-weeks of camp. The summer before each of their first long-term experiences, Amy went to a camp near Seattle for two weeks and Lori went for three.
Cohen says her first camp experience was at age 10 and her husband first went at age 8, but they decided 10 was young enough for their daughters to spend eight weeks away.
When Amy went away to college last fall, she was not homesick at all. Cohen credits her camp experiences for getting them all ready for a long-term separation.
"We were prepared too. I'm not saying it was easy. It was OK. We were used to having her gone, but not for four months at a time," she says.
Cohen agrees with Nielsen in saying that it's more a factor of when parents are ready for camp than the children.
"Sometimes you're not ready but you need to anyway."
For more information:
Send a No. 10 self addressed stamped envelope to American Camping Association, 5000 State Road 67 North, Martinville, IN 46151-7902 and ask for the free brochure, "How to Choose a Camp for Your Child."
An American Camping Association book, "The Guide to Accredited Camps," contains a camp directory and information about choosing a camp. It is available for $12.95 by calling the ACA bookstore at 1-800-428-2267. The directory also is on the shelf at the Seattle Public Library.