Grandparents, godparents, uncles and aunts, neighbors, mentors, and all the faithful people who love and support the children and youth in your lives,

In this season of giving, consider a gift with clear, lasting, life-long benefits – send them to camp!

Why send them to camp?

For the Smiles & Laughter

Camp is fun! In our surveys of more than 12,000 camper parents over the past 10 years, more than 97% agreed that their child had fun at camp. If you love a child, you know how your own heart leaps for joy when they are enjoying themselves. Camp is filled with friends, activities, novelty, and perhaps most importantly, lots of play. Many (even most?) parts of kids’ lives are goal-oriented, pressure driven, graded, and highly scheduled. Let them play. 

Why send them to camp?

To Unplug

Camps are unplugged in two ways. First, campers unplug from technology and get outside more than typical day-to-day life allows. Camp gives campers a chance to hike, swim outdoors, sit around a campfire, listen to frogs, gaze at the stars, and enjoy the wonder of God’s creation. We recommend you choose a camp that doesn’t allow campers or staff to have cell phones at hand, and instead invests time and attention into face-to-face relationships and disconnecting from the mediated and often artificially constructed world of social media. And while they might protest about leaving the phone with parents or in a locker, in focus groups, the campers consistently tell us that they appreciate being away from the phones.

“I think I have a little bit of an addiction to my technology, but here I don’t want to use it because I get to do so many other things!”

Why send them to camp?

To Grow in Character

Camp also unplugs campers from their home environments and plugs them into a different context. In this new camp context, they are given permission to explore who they are. They set aside words that define them at home (jock, musician, shy, loud, little sibling, difficult…) and try on new self-conceptions (leader, friend, helpful, courageous, kind, thoughtful…) and new ways of interacting with the world. Camp provides them with this self-exploratory setting, while surrounding them with safe activities that gently challenge them, faithful young adult camp staff, daily worship, Bible study, and space to have the deep conversations that help humans make meaning of the world. Did you know: 85% of parents say that their child grew in self-confidence during their camp experience.

Camp is not just play. It is play with a purpose.

The Challenge for Many Families

The truth is, even when we know of the deep benefits, sometimes there can be challenges in getting to camp.

It can be expensive!
This is why we are asking grandparents, godparents, and caring adults of all kinds to help out and not put the entire financial burden of summer camp onto parents who have many other financial responsibilities. Your local congregation may have scholarships and fundraising opportunities. Ask for a payment plan. Check if the camp has a campership fund. As communities of faith, we can find ways to gather our resources to support our children’s spiritual growth. (Check out what one congregation is doing to make this happen: FaithWebs!

Schedules are full!
As a congregational pastor, I wonder, “Why are you letting the baseball coach determine what spiritual growth opportunities your child can receive?” Ok, that is a bit snarky, but it is a question of both proportion and priority. Can an eight or ten week sports season or part time summer job be set aside for one week to give a young person an opportunity to grow in life and faith? To my way of thinking, it is emphatically worth it.

Many kids worried about being away from home.
This is a big one, and many children are anxious about being away from home. Missing home is an opportunity for growth. Camper comments like, “I was sad the first night, but I made it!” are an incredible confidence booster and grow a sense of independence.

Missing home is a common experience at camp, and camp staff are trained to address it. You can review the camp’s policy on how they deal with campers who are sad or fearful about being away from home, and you can equip your child with coping strategies before they go. One of my favorite ideas is giving the child a pillow case with words of encouragement written on it from loving people in their lives – then they actually take the support of their home community to bed with them. Still not quite there? Try a family camp experience!

This is Where You Come In

There are so many positive reasons to send a child you care about to camp! These just scratch the surface of the benefits of a camp experience. This season, as we approach the manger with gratitude, give a child you care about the opportunity to experience the unique joy that camp brings.

As you give this gift, tell the child in your family or community the story of how camp has impacted you, and why you think this experience will make a positive difference in their lives. How is your family, congregation, or community helping overcome some of these barriers of campers getting to camp? Need help finding the best camp for your loved on? Send us a message, and we’ll connect you with a camp and leader in the midst of preparing a place for a camper like yours.