Top 10 Reasons To Send Your Child To Camp

Did you know that there are over 12,000 camps in the United States? 

So what makes one better than the other? Better yet, why do parents keep sending their kids to summer camps year after year? 

Consider this: Camp Augusta has filled their bunks every summer for the past decade. There must be a few reasons why this happens, right? We’ll give you our top ten reasons to send your child to camp!

But remember, Every single summer camp is different. So when exploring each reason to send your kids to camp (maybe it’s simple, maybe they’re more complex), you’ll want to make sure you ask the right questions to find the right fit. 

Overall, summer camp is a truly unique experience that we wish every child could have at least once in their life. Beyond the skill-building, friendship making, and an ability for parents to maybe have their own 2-4 weeks to go to Europe, there are so many benefits that come from a summer camp experience. Here are the top ten that we reached a consensus on.

1 – Independence

Camp Augusta incorporates a facilitation concept called Challenge by choice in most if not all of their programming. This is a really powerful way to encourage campers to achieve their goals and offer them a sense of safety in whatever environment they’re in: ropes course, archery, feeling safe enough to share a story at a campfire, etc. This helps to bolster your camper’s sense of independence because they’re receiving the right amount of encouragement needed to step outside of their comfort zone.

At camp, children are able to experience a level of mental freedom that they may not at home or at school (see partnering with parents). At Camp Augusta, campers have the ability to try and enjoy over 150 clinic activities. Plus, the ability to camp outdoors on wilderness trips gives children the independence they need during these crucial years of development. 

1 – Creativity and Innovation

Summer camp offers a wide range of creative cabin activities, evening programs, and other unique forms of expression. At Camp Augusta, campers get to experience special wakeups, truly unique Playstation, and have the opportunity to be around creative staff members who love to experiment with wish, wonder and surprise. Oftentimes, summer camps have community service projects they offer as well. 

Camp is also a safe place to fail and succeed (check out “The Art and Science of Mistakes.”). Whether your camper wants to try art clinics, horsemanship or archery, there’s a little something for everyone at summer camp. 

3 – Build Friendships

By living in community for 2 weeks, campers have the opportunity to be known and help people know each other on deeper levels. By eating every meal together, connecting by their cabins during Evening Embers, walking and exploring together, camp is a truly wondrous place to cultivate friendships. 

4 – Character Enhancement

At camp, children learn how to think for themselves and express their own emotions in healthy peer groups. Camp Augusta spends months hiring exceptional role models with a truly rigorous training process. Summer camps tend to focus on community building that offers children a “hidden curriculum” that creates a well-rounded accent to the school year curriculum. This camp personal character curriculum is focused on values, exploration, and clean communication with oneself and others. 

5 – Fun and Joy

There are scores of activities to try and learn at summer camp. Every camp functions differently, but at Camp Augusta, there are over 140 clinics to choose from (and growing!). Every day is unique with special wakeups, cabin activities, Playstations, evening programs, and evening embers. Depending on the type of summer camp, they may offer out-of-camp trips or wilderness trips to add to your child’s budding sense of adventure. 

6 – Social and Emotional Intelligence 

Summer camps offer children a diverse level of activities, but also a diversity of thought. Camp Augusta chooses to practice compassionate communication (also called Non-Violent Communication) and staff imbue these leadership styles in every facet of camp. Some camps like Augusta may choose to coach and guide without coercion, called “Level 1” behavior guidance. These forms of “success counseling” helps to guide more challenging behavior all while enhancing childrens’ emotional intelligence. 

7 – Community

All summer camps have some aspect of community living. Your child is living, playing, and eating in a community setting that they may or may not have been exposed to before. At Camp Augusta, they create an environment where individual needs are met through group commitments. They’re able to embrace diversity and grow together by expressing healthy boundaries all while expressing empathy for others. Campers can then both teach and learn about qualities that enable everyone to meet objectives. These skills can be carried out not only on a local level, but as your child experiences other groups throughout their lives. 

8 – Resiliency

At camp, showing up as you are is more than enough. It’s a wonderful, safe place to experience failure without grades. Campers learn to move forward and develop resiliency in a safer container than they might otherwise have experienced elsewhere. According to the American Psychological Association, resiliency skills can help children manage stress and feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. Resiliency is the ability to adapt well to adversity, trauma and stress. Making new connections, maintaining a routine, and nurturing a positive self-view are only a few skills your child can learn from experiencing summer camp.

Most of all, camp is about having fun, learning, and a place to develop an appreciation for others away from media/culture images and messages of what one “must” look, sound, or be like. Children get to experience a diversity of activities that can enliven the passion to be a student in life, outside of camp and school. 

9 – Environmental Awareness and Appreciation

One of the biggest perks of summer camp is being outdoors as much as possible. There’s outdoor education to be found around every corner. Many camps practice extensive recycling programs like Camp Augusta and measure their food waste to show how campers are directly impacting the environment.  According to the American Camp Association, “Children allowed to simply play outside improve their cooperative skills, exercise problem solving in creative ways, and improve their ability to concentrate.”

There’s no better way to feel directly connected to the earth than to be completely immersed in it! 

10 – Healthy lifestyle

Summer camp can be filled with intentionality, health and wellbeing. At Camp Augusta, every meal is nutritious. According to Common Sense Media, teenagers (aged 13-18) are consuming an average of 9 hours of media per day. Children aged 8-12 are averaging about 6 hours per day. And this isn’t including time spent using media for homework.

With a lack of television, video games, social media and other digital entertainment, your camper is able to experience a healthier mind as well. Through play and movement throughout the day, children are able to exercise frequently and experience a sense of joy for healthy physical activities.

Thinking About Signing Up?

Camp can be an important aspect of your child’s development and a transformative experience for parents as well. Camp Augusta works to partner with parents to offer a safe, healthy, community environment where children can show up, have fun and learn. At summer camp, your child can experience a place where play, exploration and independence are encouraged through intentional, meaningful experiences.

We hope that our top 10 reasons to send your child to camp helped show you the value that summer camp has. If you are interested in signing your camper up for Augusta, fill out the interest form below to be placed on our New Camper Interest List!