Preventing Homesickness: Useful Tips from the Camp Wise Professionals

Camp is wonderful, but it doesn’t always feel that way instantly. Homesickness is totally normal. It happens to young children and older ones too, and not only to first-time campers. To a homesick child, it’s important that we acknowledge the reality of their feelings, and take positive steps to help them get through that stage.

What Can Parents Do To Help Before Camp?

• Speak openly about homesickness. It can happen to anyone. If your child knows that, it causes less anxiety.

• Don’t say, “If you don’t like camp you can come home.” Children who are having difficulty adjusting to camp will then compound the problem by not giving it a fair chance. They may close their mind to adapting to camp, and focus instead on going home, since you offered that option.

• Build your child’s interest: point out the fun of camp, be positive about how you felt going away from home for the first time.

• AVOID statements like: “I’m going to miss you terribly,” and “How am I going to get through the next week without you.” You don’t want to make your child feel awful about leaving you. They need to feel loved, but not afraid that you’ll be desolate in their absence.

• While painting a great picture of camp, mention the not-so-great realities too. There should be no surprises when a child discovers that you have to make your own bed and sweep the cabin, or that you have to help clear the table after meals.

• Give new campers information. Useful information about camp can be found on our website, www.campwise.org.

• Explain that there won’t be any phone calls to or from home. Boost your camper’s “emotional readiness” for camp by making it clear that at camp the strategy for getting help and support is to turn to our counselors or our friends in our cabin rather than picking up the telephone. Share the policy regarding phone calls with your child so that they are not surprised to find out they are not allowed to call home.

• Write letters to your child before they’ve left home so the letters are waiting for your child at camp. Write often!

• Encourage your child to bring something for their bed area to make it “home.” A picture or stuffed animal can often make a big difference, and yes, it’s OK for boys to bring stuffed animals to camp!

• Involve your child closely in every step of getting ready to come to camp.

• Remind your child that at camp there will be about 10-12 kids and four staff members in every cabin,­ probably very different from their bedroom at home.

• It helps to practice skills they’ll need at camp bed making, folding clothes, showering and getting ready for bed, clearing the table, teeth and hair brushing.

• Practice problem solving: “What if… you lose your baseball gloves… don’t feel well…are scared of the lake?”

• Prepare yourself for the separation. Often this hits the parents harder than the child. Expect mixed emotions.

Once your child is at camp...

• Write letters focusing on the positive, not focusing on how much everyone misses them. It is not appropriate to break bad news to your child through mail while at camp. If there is sad or upsetting news that needs to be shared with your child, please call our camp office to discuss the best ways to handle the difficult situation.

• If you receive an “I’m sad” letter, please don’t panic! It’s common in the first week for campers (especially new campers) to write a letter saying, “Come get me!” This is normal. Complaining to parents empowers children. They often do reveal more to their parents. If you get a very negative letter, you can call and alert us, but also be aware that the letter was likely written a few days prior, and there’s a good chance that matters have improved dramatically since the letter was written.