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Home › Articles › Safety › One Day at a Time

One Day at a Time

How to Choose a Day Camp

By Gregory Keer

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Go see the camp, preferably with your child. Ask the guide (hopefully it's the camp director or assistant director) what the philosophy of the camp is. Ask about the organization of the camp, the costs, how long it's been in business, the camper return rate and the activities. Pay attention to how your child is reacting to the campus. If they seem miserable, that might tell you something. If they seem thrilled, you've got something. Go ahead and ask your child what they like or dislike even before you leave the tour, so you can get questions answered.

Ask About the Staff
Whether you do the tour or not, there are a couple of vital areas of information you need. One is about the staff, including what the staff training is, what the counselor-to-camper ratio is and what the counselor return rate is. Regarding the ratio, generally, for younger children, it should be five to eight kids for every counselor, and for kids over 9, it should be eight to 10 kids for every counselor. Also, find out how old the counselors are. A camp with mostly high-school-age counselors will offer a different experience than one with college-age counselors. Also, if you want to get really informed, ask what the criteria are for choosing the counselors.

Decide on Number of Days

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