Reply To: Ten Things Your Child's Counselor Wishes You Knew

Setting aside Casablanca….

ultimateskier’s thread (thanks for the shoutout! 🙂 ) brought something interesting up that I hadn’t really thought about. I’m not sure how much people do this, as I don’t have very young siblings and I don’t really remember being a little kid :), but be careful how you prepare your (toddler) kid for camp. One of my best-adjusted campers last year was introduced to me the day before by her mother and we played on the playground a bit (bungalow colony- you can do this kind of stuff)- one of my worst-adjusted obviously had no idea what was going on.

If you can, maybe bring your kid over to the camp early to feel around and get used to it. If you know your kid’s counselor or even another counselor in the camp who’s within easy access and can help you out, maybe get him/her to have a chat with your kid before to show that camp’s not so scary and that the kid will know someone there. Most of all, be really excited- not just that you’ll have your kid out of the house, but that your kid will have such a fun time, etc.

Also, if you can, on the first day, you’ll never find a camp director to say this, but I recommend you pick your kid up on the earlier side- stamina kind of increases with time and the first day is the hardest (the first week, really, actually, but still).

Also, if you can do ANYTHING to avoid it AT ALL, NEVER be late to pick your kid up. The morahs want to go home just as much as your kid does, and yes, we’re tired at the end of the day. Your kid and his/her morahs will all be much happier when you arrive punctually.