John Dockendorf Shares 20 Tips You Probably Never Considered When Choosing the Right Summer Camp for Your Child

There are many outstanding summer camps in the U.S. Choosing the right summer camp can be overwhelming as increasingly flashy websites with glossy videos make every camp feel like the perfect fit. A great summer camp experience, even in a session as short as two weeks, may be a defining and formative experience in a young life. It’s a chance to build confidence and independence, discover new activities, learn from counselor role models and perhaps most importantly, make friends that can last a lifetime.

Not all summer camps are created equal. A poor experience can stunt social development, harm independence and discourage trying future outdoor activities or taking reasonable risks. Camps are far from generic choices as each camp has its own identity, philosophy, culture and different strengths and weaknesses.

Before doing a massive web search and soliciting opinions from friends and various forums, go through this screening to narrow down your search

Location Parameters if any. Fly vs. Drive. Nearby vs far away

Religious or Secular?

Co- ed, Single Gender or Brother / Sister?

Competitive or Non-Competitive?

Growth Oriented or Fun Focused?

Activity Focused or Community Focused?

Specialized Activity Camp vs Multiple General Camp Activities?

Scheduled vs Free Choice Programming?

I hate to say this, but once you have chosen your parameters and locations, put these parameters into Chat GPT to get a list of camps that may be matches. Run this against a directory of state or regional camps you can pull up on google as Chat GPT usually will list only four or five camps and may often miss several of the best camps. America camping Association Accreditation is also a good screen to begin your search. If the camp is accredited, it has gone through a rigorous process of meeting general operational, health and safety standards. Some great camps are not accredited, but an accredited camp is always a good place to start as you know it should be professionally managed.

Now it’s time to take your screening further, including calling directors and studying websites and videos. It’s worth the time to do it right! Here are some tips to help.

Tip 1 – All kids are different and so are all camps! The camp that is great for your oldest child may not be the best camp for your middle child. Try to match the kid to the camp. I know families who have sent their four children to four different camps so they all would get their own experience, effectively matching the camper and her interests to a specific camp.

Tip 2 – Just because your child’s friends go to a particular camp is not a reason to select it. In fact it’s probably best to choose a great camp that your friends do not attend! Going away to camp without friends from home enhances independence and creates the chance to form an entirely new peer group. Making new friends with different perspectives, backgrounds and geography supplements friendships from home, increasing social confidence. While there may be justification in terms of emotional security for going away to camp with a single friend from home, try to limit it to no more than one friend. When six kids from the same school or soccer team all go off to camp together –they are bringing the school culture to camp rather than benefiting from immersion in a different culture and friend group.

Tip 3 - The longer the session the better! The power of the camp experience can be exponential as session length increases. Unless you are age nine or under and doing a first time sampler session, do not go to an overnight camp that is less than two weeks. Success and growth happen when time at camp feels long enough for it to feel like a second home, not a brief vacation. Time immersed in the camp culture is important in order to develop relationships with counselors and build friendships with peers. It’s also important for campers to be able to absorb the norms and traditions of the camp and feel like they truly belong rather than are simply visiting.

Tip 4 – Decide what your priorities are for your child’s camp experience. Do you want social development? Role models? A new friend group? A chance to develop specific skills in activities like rock climbing that may not be accessible at home? Or simply a focus on healthy outdoor fun after a busy school year? It’s rare that you can achieve all these goals in a short session, so try to match your goals to a camp which focuses with intention on the same priorities.

Tip 5 – Try to have a conversation with the camp director, as the director truly sets the tone for the camp. Ascertain their experience, passion, safety mindset and philosophy. Let them explain what their camp does best, what they prioritize and what makes their camp unique. Generally, you want a hands-on director who has a strong presence rather than one who pushes paper in an office. Wait to describe what makes your child unique until you have learned from the director the specific attributes of the camp she prioritizes. Then, mutually determine if the camp is a solid fit.

Tip 6 – When interviewing a camp director, it is unreasonable to expect that they will have a lot of time for you from early May until the end of the summer, unless you are an enrolled family with an urgent situation. Plan your conversation in winter, spring or fall when the director has adequate time to fully address your questions.

Tip 7 – Staffing is everything! How new counselors are hired, trained, managed and led is the most important part of the summer camp experience. If staff morale is low, because they are poorly led, your child’s experience will definitely be affected. Essentially opening a camp is similar to opening up a new business each summer. Somehow a director has to come up with 100 counselors, a kitchen staff, a facilities team and a nursing team. Not every hire will be perfect, but you want a director with a proactive and intelligent hiring, mentoring and training strategy.

Tip 8 – Return rate is crucial. It’s all about passing on institutional knowledge. A sign of a successful summer camp is one where many former campers return as counselors, and at least 50% of counselors come back for a second and even a third year. While a staff comprised of 10 to 20% international counselors can truly enhance a camp experience, camps that operate with above a 50% international staffing level should be approached cautiously. Try to ascertain what might be the reason former campers aren’t returning as counselors so that the camp must fill staff position with J-9 visa employees.

Tip 9 - Ascertain the depth of the leadership team (Counselors in senior roles leading age groups and activities) Do they have years of previous experience at that camp or were they hired fresh for the season, taking on a leadership role solely because they are older or have experience at other camps (not always bad) .

Tip 10 - Ascertain that at minimum, all cabin counselors are at least 18 years old with a year of college experience. The important role of a cabin counselor at an excellent camp is never delegated to high school students. Ascertain that for any type of wilderness trips, the leaders are at least 21 and are trained medically as a wilderness first responder. Ascertain that all drivers are at least 21 years old and vehicles are new and well maintained and there is a strong driving training program.

Tip 11 – Camps that specialize in specific skills (soccer, skateboarding, music) tend to be strong on skill development but less so on building the community, role modeling, building friendships, and group bonding typical in a more generalized summer camp. You may learn to be a better water skier, or computer programmer but there may not be anybody facilitating friendships and community in the evenings. Likewise camps with strong communities may not be as strong at teaching specific activity skills. Few do both well and you may have to prioritize.

Tip 12 -Size is everything – I believe the perfect size for a camp is 180 to 200 campers per session, small enough to be personal but large enough to have a multitude of friendship opportunities. Let the director make the counter argument as to why their smaller or larger camp is the best fit for your child.

Tip 13 –In what part of the country do you want to spend your summer? Texas has some excellent camps but unless Texas is convenient to home, there is little reason to spend a summer in Texas, or for that matter Arizona, Alabama or Florida heat – There are great camps in all regions and certain months have certain advantages. For example, lake water in Maine can still be frigid in early June and August can be quite hot in most parts of the country compared to June. Hint Western North Carolina and Maine have a rich history of summer camps, and while there are some excellent camps on the west coast – there just isn’t the same camping tradition there as in the eastern states.

Tip 14- Check the length of all the camp sessions the camp offers – if you want a two-week camp, then you re usually better to choose a camp that offers a multitude of two week sessions and gets two weeks right rather than a camp that has a five week camp , a three week camp and a two week camp. Each session will have a different flow and generally the counselors will favor the kids who choose the longer sessions. This set up works only if you expect to transition your camper to the longest session as they get older.

Tip 15 – Be wary of sessions within a session. Camp is best when the entire roster of campers arrives and departs on the same date. If some campers stay for only one week of a two week session, or four weeks of an eight week session, you lose the continuity of the camp community.

Tip 16 – When choosing what part of the summer you want to attend camp, staff morale should be considered in addition to climate, geography and your summer vacation schedule. In the first session of camp, the new staff are green and learning as they go. The first session is generally high on enthusiasm and energy but low on experience. (unless the staff return rate is greater than 50%) Later in the summer, the weather is hotter. Staff know the ropes and are better at handling issues and have developed teaching skills, but they may be tired and burned out. The question comes down to whether the leadership team can pace the team and motivate the staff to finish strong and make the last session the best session. Or does quality usually peak mid-summer when the rising experience curve intersects the declining enthusiasm and energy curve?

Tip 17– Many of the best camps fill as early as September of the year before. Don’t wait until April or May to choose your camp as your choices may be limited. It’s probably better to wait a year to get into the best fit summer camp than to sign up for the only camp that still has space in May. If the camp isn’t filled by spring, there is probably a reason.

Tip 18 – Be skeptical about Camp Reps. Camp Reps are like travel agents for camps. They get a commission from the camp. Many of the best camps won’t work with camp reps because they fill quickly on their own and don’t need the extra push or want to pay the commission. Most camp reps do have expertise and truly care about finding the best match but they may not have access to all of the best camps. Worse, there are some camp reps who extract different commission structures from each camp and push campers towards the camps that pay the highest commissions (sometimes up to 30%) rather than prioritizing finding the best fit for your child.

Tip 19 - Try to avoid camps that make you commit to your activity schedule prior to arrival without at least an add/ drop flexibility. The problem here is that your child, if new to camp, probably doesn’t know what new activities she prefers until she has had the chance to try them all out. Many kids may even gravitate to certain activities because they like the counselors there more than the activity itself. Free choice has advantages but sometimes campers may fall through the cracks. Discuss how activity scheduling works with the director to make sure your child will have the opportunity to make the most out of the activities.

Tip 20 – As I have said before, it’s worth the work to choose the right summer camp for your child. If you have the time visiting a camp in the off season is a great way to get your child about the summer ahead and take away some of the nervousness and stress of opening day. It’s a great way to meet some of the staff at a time when they are distracted with hundreds of other children.