When at camp, will your kid miss home sometimes? Yes, and it’s very normal. First summer, third summer, tenth summer. A kid missing home just means they come from a place worth missing.
Our experience across the past 25 summers is that parents (yes, we mean you) tend to miss your kid more than your kid actually misses home. You laugh because you already know it’s true. And this means we’ve thought about it – a lot – and we’ve got this part figured out.
Will they be away from you? Yes, and they will also be supported by their heart family when they handle conflict, miss home, feel a little bored, manage their own belongings, and run through the social scene on their own.
So how might you talk about this nervous topic leading up to camp? Here are some of our ideas and those shared with us by veteran parents about what they do when their kids go to camp.
Be honest. Normalize missing home as a part of going to camp. Validate and lead with empathy.
Get familiar with camp. Look at photos on our website from past summers to see the camp location, activities, water front, horseback riding, etc. Reframe camp as what you’re excited about rather than what you’ll miss
Don’t make a ‘pick up’ deal or tell your camper they can call you if they miss home. Frame their feelings as part of growing independence: “Sometimes our hearts miss home while we’re also having fun and learning new things. Both can be true.”
Make a plan. Tell your child that when they miss home, they can talk to their counselors. Create an understanding that this is their safe person, their “parent” at camp, who will listen & help them when things get tough.
There is power in overcoming challenges. Growth happens when things get hard, but missing home won’t be so hard that they panic or feel super scared. Kids who spend a few days away from home realize that they CAN do hard things, which is building a muscle they will use their entire lives.
Pack your comforts of home. Have your child pack things from your room, like stuffies, blankets, family photos. Put daily letters inside your kid’s suitcase for them to open at bedtime or upon waking up.
At Odayin, we see missing home as a benefit of coming to camp, not a risk that comes with heading off to camp for the first (or fifth time). We see camp as more than a summer experience; we see it as rehearsal for life, for leaving for college or moving out of the house. And when that happens, it won’t feel like a mystery. They’ve already accomplished a version of it. And so have you.
