Making Decisions about Our Child’s Education

When your kids are finally old enough to try sleeping at an overnight youth summer camp, you might still be a little nervous about sending them. Luckily, preparation and good questions will enable you to select a camp that's safe, age appropriate and fun. Asking these questions of any possible choice will provide helpful decision-making details.

How Do You Staff Your Facility?

It's smart to know information about the counselors, usually young adults, who will be with your children all day. How are they chosen? Are they college students? Must they have experience with children? Look for camps which seem to have a thorough background check and hire counselors with experience.

It's not enough to ask about counselors, either. Kitchen staff, maintenance staff and year-round office staff may interact with your children on a daily basis too. Try to get as many details about their overall hiring process as you can.

What's the Shower and Bathroom Situation?

The days of walking to a single blockhouse for showers and toilets isn't completely gone, but during your camp search you should know what the bathroom situation is like. Some camps provide in-cabin complete bathrooms for younger campers, while some provide bathrooms or blockhouses for all campers. Talk with your child about what they may be willing to deal with.

How Often Will Children Interact with Other Ages?

Young children going to camp for the first time will learn from other children, and a concern for you might be that they will be with older campers who might intimidate them or talk about topics which aren't appropriate for your own children. Most of the time your kids will sleep in a single cabin with others their age, but ask about times when they'll interact with older children and what kind of supervision will be in place.

If there are many activities which involve the entire camp, that doesn't mean you need to worry. Often, younger kids can encourage older campers to take on mentor roles, and the older kids can show younger campers the right way to act or play.

What are The Phone Rules?

It comes as a surprise to lots of parents that they're encouraged not to call their children's cell phones or the camp office asking to speak to them. While letters are great, phone calls can be distracting and even upsetting to the camp body; sometimes an entire cabin will start asking to speak to their moms and dads if even one child has the opportunity. Ask about phone rules now so that you and your child can plan contact.

Youth summer camps, like Startup Wonder, can provide deeply treasured childhood memories. With these questions, your entire family should be pleased and happy with the camp that's chosen.