Earlier I wrote a piece about summer camp. In this piece I would like to address what you need to know about your summer camp before you let your most precious child attend. We will discuss also what to bring and what not to bring to camp. Let’s talk a bit about homesickness and what you can do to help prevent this or at least lessen its affects.

Check out the summer camp for the following:
• Ask for a list of references from the camp administration.
• Check out locally if any of your friends or acquaintances have sent their sons to the camp. Weigh their opinion with opinions of others to get a correct idea of the camp.
• Request information about their medical facilities. Are there licensed medical personnel at camp 24 hours a day and what are their credentials. How far it is to the hospital and what is their communication with the hospital, local law enforcement, and EMTs. (This is not to alarm you. Nothing is going to happen to your son, but wouldn’t you like to know that he is protected?)
• Request information about the camp personnel. Does the camp do a background check on their instructors and counselors concerning child abuse, sexual molesters, etc.?
• What about the swimming area? If there is a pool, how often is the pool cleaned? If they are boating and swimming in the lake, has it been checked for amoeba contamination?
• Have the woods or camping area been sprayed for heavy mosquito population? (Know that most camping areas like to keep things as natural as possible. If the camp is built in a swampland then it might be sprayed, if it is in a natural forest, then most likely not. And that is fine as well.)
• What are the meals like? Are they nutritious? Does the camp have a snack store for between mean treats?
What to bring to summer camp and what to leave at home.
• Do NOT let your son bring anything that is near and dear to him or that is expensive. Leave all iPods, electric hand held games, cell phones, expensive baseball caps at home! Tents and cabins are not locked. The boys are usually away from their living quarters for most of the day. Anyone can get in there. Don’t set your son up for heartbreak.
• Do NOT let him bring a ton of cash. Most likely there will be a store there that he can buy snacks and trinkets. That’s fine. But advise him not to let anyone know how much money he has brought with him and find a secret place to stash the cash.
• No matter how hot it is outside, the evenings still seem to be cool. A lightweight jacket or hoodie should do the trick.
• Make sure he has two pair of sneakers. It will probably rain at least one day he is there. There is nothing worse than walking around in wet sneakers and it is very unhealthy for feet and can cause infections.
• Pack light weight clothes but throw in a couple pair of jeans in case it gets real cold at night.
• Now it is obvious that he will pack a pair of underwear for each day he is there. But your job is to remind him to change them every day! I know this sounds odd to some parents, but trust me when I tell you that boys always don’t think about these things when they are away from home.
• Don’t forget a bath towel as well as a beach towel. His beach towel will be soaked and won’t be dry by time he needs to take a shower.
• The basics, toiletries, shampoo, deodorant if your son is using it yet, toothpaste and toothbrush, a comb, and body wash ( preferably the type in a bottle, not bar soap). Remind him about showering and brushing his teeth. No one wants to camp and play with a smelly boy. There should be privacy in the showers so he shouldn’t have to worry about that.
• Follow the list of required things to bring that the camp will send to you once you have signed your son up for the summer. Each climate has their own list of what and what not to bring. Follow their suggestions.
Homesickness
• This is the main reason I say not to allow your sons to bring cell phones. They will be calling you all the time and each time they hear your voice it will get worse for both you and your son.
• Pack some prepaid postcards for him so that he can write to you and let you know how he is. If he is only gone for a week, you will probably get most of them when he gets home. But it is an outlet for him to “talk” to mom and dad daily.
• Parent’s night. Ugggghhhh. I remember as a little girl at camp seeing my parents at Parent’s Night. When they left I thought I would die. It hurt to see them walk away. Oh I lived, but it was terrible for awhile. If this is your son’s first time away from home it can be the same way for him. Under no circumstances let him go home with you that night. Make him stick it out. In the long run it will be better for both you and him. As an Asst. Scoutmaster at Boy Scout camp, I watched as boys would be having a great time when we got past that first day. As soon as they saw their parent’s in the middle of the week, we had to start all over again to get rid of the homesickness with a few of them. The rest of the boys were fine 15 minutes after their parents were gone.

Be Blessed