The Ten Commandments of overnight camp for parents:

1. Honour thy camp staff. They aren’t you but are doing their hardest to give your child the best summer possible. Give them the benefit of the doubt (and leave them alone as much as you can!).

2. Honour thy child. Don’t micromanage them from afar. Calling camp for anything other than something urgent is counter productive.

3. Thou shalt not check the camp website every 10 minutes looking for updated pictures (thou shalt not contact camp inquiring where those pictures are).

4. Thou shalt not take said pictures out of context. Worrying about who your child is standing next to or wondering why they aren’t smiling is pointless. Don’t create a narrative where it doesn’t exist.

5. Thou shall give your child space at camp. When corresponding with them, do not mention anything that you see in online posted pictures. It makes children feel like they are in a fishbowl.

6. Thou shalt not try and socially manipulate  your child while at camp. Many factors are taken into consideration when making cabins. Sometimes your child will be with their current group of friends, sometimes not. They are resilient and will do well regardless. Unless there is some dire reason to get involved in this, DON’T.

7. Thou shalt not send your child to camp with something valuable and then be annoyed or surprised when it is lost or broken.

8. Thou shall be thoughtful when sending packages. For the most part they are unnecessary and cause a lot of drama within a cabin.  Packages are not the remedy to homesickness or making your child fit in better or showing them that you miss them.

9. Thou shall follow the rules about sending junk food to camp. Allergies, insects, animals, drama … so many reasons for why this is in place.

10. Thou shall take this time while your child is away to decompress and enjoy – and without guilt. Your child is well taken care of and having a blast. It is such a privilege for our kids to get to go to camp.  Have a great summer!