Family Matters

Planning Your Child's Summer

by Liza N. Burby

Winter winds may blow, but if you haven't yet made summer camp plans foryour children, time is running out. It's important to begin theselection process now because it takes awhile to consider all thevariables, says Susan Greenberg, project manager for "Peterson's SummerOpportunities for Kids and Teenagers 1998" ($26.95).

When beginning your search for the perfect summer plans for your 6 to18-year-old son or daughter, you need to consider what kind ofexperience you want them to have, where it should be - as close asthree hours' drive or as far away as Europe - and how long you wantthem to stay (if it is a residential program). Do you want a theme camp,such as sports or nutrition, or a more traditional camp? Do you want acoed or same-gender situation, a camp rustic enough to lack electricityor cosmopolitan enough to include monogrammed sheets?

Other reasons Greenberg advises starting early: The best programsfill up fast and most camps offer early-enrollment discounts, awonderful break when you're paying an average of $2,000 for the summer(although you can find places for as little as $50 a week and most campsoffer financial aid).

In addition, she says, you might want to set aside time to interviewthe camp director and speak with references - the best bets are theparents and kids who have been there before.

Before you get overwhelmed, take a moment to look through "SummerOpportunities" with your child. The book describes more than 1,800programs that offer enough variety to make you wish parents could go,too. There are language enrichment programs in Spain and France, afilmmaking camp through the New York Film Academy, a minstrel program inwhich kids ages 12 through 18 go on tour as performers, not to mentioncamps where kids learn to fly or become inventors - and swim and playgames, too. There's even a camp in New Jersey called Campus Kids,designed for families with working parents, where kids go home onweekends.

Is summer camp all it's cracked up to be? "Any camp experienceoutside the home with other children is enriching and empowering,"Greenberg says. "[Children] may start out lonely, and you may miss thema lot, but it only benefits kids. Younger kids learn responsibility andindependence, and older kids have an overwhelming need to be betterpeople. For all ages, it gives them the chance to gain a perspective ondifferent backgrounds."

One of the better motivations for parents may be the college essay,she says. "When they ask your child to describe an experience thatchanged their life, for many kids, the answer is camp."

Liza N. Burby is an award-winning author and an accomplished public speaker. She is the mother of two daughters, Danielle, age 7 and Laura, age 4, and is married to Stephen, a high school teacher. They live in Huntington Station, NY. She is a frequent contributor to Working Moms' Internet Refuge.

This article first appeared in Newsday.

Family | Career | Art of Juggling | Single Moms | Health
Dad's Voice | Bookshelf | News | Recipes | Sports Mom | Discussion Lists
Business Directory | The Boards | Wisdom of Mothers | Postcards | Resources
Search | About Us | Contact Us |Advertising on the Refuge | Home

Copyright © 2000   Working Moms Refuge.