At every stage in child-rearing, parents have to decide what’s best for their children: Do we bottle-feed or breastfeed? Cloth diapers or disposable? Day care or stay-at-home parenting? And the decisions don't get any easier as children grow older: Public school or private? What about home schooling? Should we give an allowance? What is an appropriate curfew? Selecting a summer camp is yet another decision that parents must face, and while this seems like it should be a fun and easy one, with approximately 12,000 camps throughout the U.S. to choose from (according to The American Camping Association’s current estimates), finding the right summer camp can be daunting. Luckily, a few right steps can put you on the path to a happy camp experience.
Richard C. Kennedy and Michael Kimball, authors of Choosing the Right Summer Camp: The Complete Guide to the Best Summer Camp for Your Child (Random House, 1994) strongly advocate making the summer camp decision a family one. "Choosing a camp should be something the potential camper and parents actively and energetically do together. Parents should be carefully fitting the camp to their child. You are planning an important and sometimes expensive adventure for your child. If you do a haphazard job, this potentially wonderful experience runs the risk of turning into an unhappy and possibly traumatic separation." Their advice, in a nutshell, is to determine, as a family, the characteristics you are looking for in a camp and then research the available options thoroughly. Your goals, according to Kennedy and Kimball, are to "feel confident about your choice and eager for the new adventure to begin."

The "Perfect" Camp?
Young people are individuals. Their ages, personalities, talents, likes and dislikes must all be taken into account as you help organize their summer schedules. Just as you plan continuing education that furthers your career or draws on your personal interests, you should find summer camps that develop and nurture your child's skills and interests, as well as those that shore up weak areas. Many parents don't spend enough time researching summer options. Some select programs based solely on session dates. Others think they know what program is right for their children without involving the kids in the decision. Whatever the reason, in any given session of camp, there are always a handful of kids who answer the question, "Why did you choose to attend this camp?" with a brutally honest, "I didn't. My parents made me come."
Linda Nettles is a former program director of Continuing Education and Summer Session Youth Programs at a major university. While she believes it is possible for a child who didn't want to attend a particular camp to still have a positive experience, she knows that "some of the kids who are the most miserable are [those] whose parents chose a program that meets what they want for their child and not what their child needs in terms of supervision, level of activity, social interaction, and so on." Nettles urges parents to discuss camp options with their children; if the children voice a number of concerns or respond negatively, she says, it is possible that this is not the right time or simply not the right program.
Clear communication at this early stage of summer planning may help you avoid having an unhappy camper during the summer. For example, if you want your son to attend an educational program to improve his math skills, but he wants desperately to go with his friends to a cool rock-climbing camp, he will, most likely, be unhappy if you send him to math camp without any discussion. A compromise may be in order. If finances allow, send him to both programs, but only if he promises to work hard at the math camp; if money is tight, check into local day camp opportunities. A community college or educational service might offer an affordable summer enrichment program, or maybe a local YMCA runs a summer clinic in rock-climbing. At the very least, make sure that the math camp offers extensive recreational activities during out-of-class time. The efforts you make to compromise now will pay off this summer. Not sure what you want? Check out our section, entitled, “What’s Your Dream Camp?” And start planning for a summer adventure your child will want to remember always.

Camp Q & A
Once you have a basic picture of the kind of camp experience you are looking for, it’s important to invest some time and energy in researching your options. Even seemingly easy questions should be answered thoroughly. It’s great to find out the subject taught at a camp, but it’s just as important to discover how it’s taught. Nettles explains: "Take, for instance, a science program. Is it lecture-based? Is there extensive lab work? Do the campers spend much of their time outside, performing experiments in the field?" No matter how much a child enjoys science, she warns, if they don't like being outdoors in the summertime with the bugs and the sun, they won't enjoy a program whose focus is outdoor experimentation.
As Kennedy and Kimball write, "Going away to camp should be fun, instructive, and constructive. And so should the process of selecting a camp. The choice is, however, a critical one." You must invest time and energy researching your options and selecting your programs. And by all means, keep asking questions until you find a program that meets your comfort level as parents, as campers, and as a family.

For a list of questions you’ll want answered before picking a camp, check out our bonus online editorial feature, “Camp Q & A,” a guide to what to ask and where to look for answers.


Cathy Ashby is a former camp director and counselor. She is currently the editor of Carolina Parent magazine.

What’s Your Dream Camp?
By Cathy Ashby

Having a clearer picture of what you’re looking for in a summer camp can help you find a match more quickly and easily, so…
What would your ideal camp be like?

Location: How far from home would you like to go?
same country
same state
same region
within 100 miles
anywhere is fine

Physical Surroundings: What kind of setting would you like?
country
suburbs
city
lakeside
oceanside
mountains
desert
anywhere

Size:
small
medium
large
any size

Gender:
all boys
all girls
both boys and girls

Age: How old do you want the other campers to be?
same age
two-year spread
five-year spread
any age is fine

Geographical Representation: Would you like a camp that has geographical diversity, or would you rather have more people from your part of the world? Where should they come from?
my town
my state
several states
several regions
several countries

Duration: How long do you want to be able to stay?
about one week
about two weeks
about four weeks
more than four weeks

Cost:
How much do we want to spend?
How much are we able to spend?

Goals and Values
Do we want a camp that is…
primarily recreational, or
carefully designed to meet certain goals? (If so, which goals are important to you?)

Program
Do we want a camp with…
lots of structured activities?
lots of free time?
In order of importance, list the activities you would want.

Other Features: What other facilities and features do you want the camp to have?

The information is excerpted from Choosing the Right Camp: The Complete Guide to the Best Summer Camp for Your Child, 1995-96 Edition. Richard C. Kennedy and Michael Kimball, Times Books: Random House, 1994.