Fishing Frenzy

If you want your child to experience the fun and excitement of attending a Overnight Summer Camps, start your search for the best camp early.

At overnight summer camps children stay in cabins on the grounds for a period of time from two to eight weeks without going home. Campers communicate with their families and friends through letters and limited phone calls and visitations are usually allowed at specific times during the kids' stay at the camp.

Part of the fun of camp is that kids get to stay in an area all their own and sleep among other kids with adult counselors always present. It makes a young camper feel grown up and it also brings chances to learn independence. As a parent, it will be your task to find the camp where your child can stay for right length of time during the summer. Consider the following tips as you begin to look for the perfect overnight camp.

There is an excellent free website, www.summercampadvice.com , with guide questions and information that has been assembled to help prospective campers and their parents to choose the best summer camp. This site is a great place to start your search or to give your ongoing search more direction.

It is reasonable to start by ensuring that the camp facilities appear to be safe and comfortable. The cabins, bunks and clothes lockers should be clean and in good repair. The exteriors should be well-maintained and everything should be in good condition. Bathroom facilities should be clean and accessible. The physical facilities of a camp needn't be new or fancy, and they will not determine the ultimate quality of the experience a camper has by themselves. They can offer hints about the overall attitude and attention to detail on the part of the directors, but the heart of the summer camp experience will always be human interaction and connection.

Much more important to the experience a camper is likely to have at camp is the quality of ongoing individual attention he or she is likely to receive from counselors and from the staff members in charge of various camp activities. At least one camp counselor should sleep in each cabin. The ratio of staff to campers is the starting point for assessing this all important factor, but ultimately the best way to determine this quality will be in meeting and talking with a camp's directors and counselors, and the camp you choose should be willing to provide access and a means of doing this.

The most important factor to consider when searching for a sleep away camp is safety. A good summer camp will offer very thorough information about all matters having to do with camper safety. Ask about how the camp staff would handle emergencies. The camp should have a clinic with its own nurse. If your child needs special attention or has a special set of medical needs, you should discuss this in detail with the camp administrator. You should inform the directors about your child's allergies or other health conditions and make sure that the camp will accommodate your child's particular needs in those areas.

Here are a few tips to begin with; a complete reference guide for camp safety issues can be found at Overnight Camps