Camp Life

Are you considering sending your child to overnight camp and having trouble with the transition? It's a situation many parents struggle with every year when looking at summertime options. Day camp or overnight camp? A very difficult question, especially since both have amazing benefits. Day camps allow children to have all the fun of camp but still sleep in their own beds at night, which is good for both the child and the parent. However, a week away can be a great experience for a child, with many excellent benefits.

If your child is still having trouble with leaving home for one or more weeks at a time, consider the day camp option that allows children to experience sleeping in tents or under the stars, cooking over a fire and playing night games. Many traditional days camps offer a one-night camp-out experience that allows children just this opportunity. It is a great way for children to transition to the full overnight camp experience. At a day camp sleep-out, children generally camp out at a place close to home so if homesickness wins out, the child can still come home for the night and catch up with the group early the next morning. This option will ease parents' minds and help the child know it is safe and mom and dad are still close by.

If you'd like your child to attend overnight camp in the future, search out day camps that have this option available. It is an excellent transition, but also develops a bond with a day camp so that once your child attends overnight camp for a week or two, he or she still feels at home returning to day camp for the rest of the summer. Let's face it, parents--it is hard to send a child away, but we all know how beneficial it will be for them. Camps of any type build strong, caring, well-adjusted children who become strong leaders in the future.

Explore the day and overnight camping adventures at YMCA of Oakville