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Choosing the Right Overnight Camp

There are thousands of camps! How do you find one that’s suited to your child’s age, personality, and interests, and manageable for your family’s schedule and budget? Here are sources and questions to get you started.



by Christina DiMartino

Choosing the first overnight camp for your child can be one of the most befuddling decisions of parenting children. There are so many camps!

You may have collected brochures, spoken to friends and family members who have sent their kids to camp, and sought advice from school counselors or other professionals. You want your child in a camp that is best suited to his personality and interests. It’s important that he is in an environment that not only provides comfort and safety, but will add to his character, skills, and healthy living, and leave him with fond memories.

Finding one camp that fits all those requirements might be daunting, but it is doable. Here are some steps to get you started.

Camp organizations offer guidance and referral 

The American Camp Association (ACA) is a community of camp professionals who have joined together to share knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. Founded nearly 100 years ago, the ACA has a diverse membership of more than 7,000 camps. 

The ACA’s website has a section specifically to help parents find the right camp out of these accredited camps. You can narrow down your search by choosing the types of activities, ages of campers, cost, location, length of session, and many other parameters.  

The National Camp Association (NCA), an organization dedicated to helping parents find the right camp for their children, offers a public guidance and referral service to summer camps throughout the U.S. and abroad.  

Sources, sources!

  • KidsCamps.com is a premier summer camp directory. It offers a full range of summer camp programs in North America and abroad. Categories include sports, academic, adventure, art, special interest, special needs and religious camps. 
  • PLeisure.info offers advice on choosing the right summer camps for teenagers. 

Choices, choices! 

After checking out the sources we've listed above and asking around fellow parents, make a list of possible camps. Then interview the director, ideally in person, or if the camp is too far away, by phone.

Ask questions. In their article for the NCA, “Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo—To Which Camp Should My Child Go?” Jeffrey Solomon and Michele Klein offer useful advice to selecting an overnight camp. There's plenty to know about any given camp, and you should feel comfortable finding it out. So ask...

  1. How long has the director held the job? Look for someone who has been in that position for a minimum of four years.  
  2.  What percentage of campers return each year? If most kids are not coming back, there’s a reason for it. 
  3. Who are the staff members? How are they hired? Does the same staff return year after year? Even though most staffers are students, a high turnover indicates a high degree of dissatisfaction. 
  4. What is the counselor-camper ratio? One staff member for every four children is a good ratio and the accepted norm. 
  5. What facilities are available?  
  6. What is the schedule like? Is it a structured program or one that emphasizes choice?  
  7. What is the camp philosophy? Does it focus more on sports or arts? Is it a diverse program?  
  8. What is the camp’s attitude pertaining to competitiveness?  
  9. Is the camp accredited by an overseeing organization or by the state? An accredited camp will have stringent standards pertaining to health, safety and general programming, and it will be inspected on a regular basis.  
  10. What are the sleeping arrangements and toilet/shower facilities like?  
  11. What medical staff and facilities are available?  
  12. What is the ethnic and religious makeup of the camp? 

It’s worth the work

The NCA stresses that because an overnight camp experience may have a significant impact on your child’s life, it is important for you to learn how to make a well considered decision when choosing a camp.

And all that research is well worth it. As Peg L. Smith, the ACA’s chief executive officer, says, “Camp is a place where kids can practice growing up by stretching their social, emotional, physical and cognitive muscles outside the context of their immediate family. This is what childhood is supposed to provide.”

 

Christina DiMartino has been a freelance and assignment writer since 1985. She is a researcher, interviewer, writer, editor, and manuscript collaborator with a repertoire of clients from around the world.

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Inspire Your Kids to Cook

 

by Christina DiMartino

 

Your kids—boys and girls alike—express a desire to cook from a very early age, likely without your even realizing it. They make mud pies in the sandbox, play with child-sized cooking sets, and organize kitchens in doll houses or play areas, and they probably inquire about what you’re cooking from the time they begin to communicate.

 

Kids Cooking Activities offers up reasons why you should encourage cooking activities with your kids. (Set up link at underlining to http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com)

 

* Cooking with your children helps them to learn about nutrition and healthy eating. 

* Cooking in the kitchen will give children a boost of self confidence. They are accomplishing a task, learning something important, and contributing to the family.

* Taking time to cook with your kids will give them lasting memories. They will pass the traditions on when they are grown and have their own families.

* In the enthusiasm of creating something themselves, your children will be more likely to eat what they had a hand in making.

* Kids learn real lessons in science, language, math, and creativity in the kitchen. Cooking will help reinforce all these subjects.

* Cooking is a great way to learn life skills. This is especially helpful when children are older and more independent. They won't have to rely on fast food and junk food to sustain them.

* Working together in the kitchen teaches your child teamwork.

* Cooking teaches children planning and making choices skills.

* Kids practice creativity and imagination in the kitchen. Cooking activities are a great way for kids to express themselves and enjoy their creations.  

 

It may take longer to get the meal or snack done, but the moments with your children will be priceless. Remember to have patience. Don't worry about flour on the floor or spilled milk.

 

A role model for cooking with kids

 

Cooking With Kids, a series of 90-second videos, is hosted by James Beard Award-winning chef John Sarich. Development of the program was inspired by the reality of childhood obesity, anorexia and other eating disorders, Type II Diabetes, and low bone density, which have all become national issues. Cooking With Kids encourages parents and children to spend time in the kitchen together preparing healthy meals in ways that improve communication and help children develop healthy nutritional habits. (Set up link at underlining to http://www.cookingwithkids.org/fact.html)

 

The program shows how easy it is for kids to prepare snacks and meals that taste good and that are good for them. It uses the five food groups as a platform for nutrition messages. You can watch the videos with your children through the website, then print out the recipe and go try it yourselves.

 

The recipes that Sarich prepares with kids on the segments teach them which categories on the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Pyramid are included in the recipe. He explains how vegetable burritos, for example, include foods that have protein, fiber and dairy, and that the burritos are low in fat.

 

Good cooking habits

 

Spatulatta provides 350 step-by-step videos that teach kids good cooking habits, and offers advice for moms, dads and kids on numerous issues related to cooking with kids. It emphasizes topics like teaching kids to wash their hands properly before handling food.  (Set up link at underlining to http://www.spatulatta.com)

 

When it comes to working in the kitchen, you know your children. You know what abilities they have and how fine their motor skills are. Some children are ready to handle a certain kitchen utensil or work at the stove earlier than others. It’s up to you to make that determination.

 

You set the rules in your kitchen, such as you will always light the burners and oven for your children.

 

Go over the workings of every electrical appliance with your child. Explain that the beaters, for example, should be inserted into a hand mixer before the mixer is plugged in.

 

Safety and courtesy are behaviors that need to be re-enforced and modeled.

 

Once you've explained how to handle an item safely, try asking your child to tell you how to do it the next time the task is required when making a recipe. We all learn best when we try to teach.

 

 

CREDIT:

Christina DiMartino has been a freelance and assignment writer since 1985. She is a researcher, interviewer, writer, editor, and manuscript collaborator with a repertoire of clients from around the world.

 

 

PHOTO / ILLUSTRATION RECOMMENDATIONS:

Go to http://www.cookingwithkids.org

 

 

TEASER: 

Cooking with your kids does much more than produce tasty treats! It teaches teamwork, safety, courtesy, math, science, and more, and encourages creativity and imagination. And there are some terrific online videos that will help you get started.

 

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