Combating Homesickness at An Overnight Summer Camp

It is not unusual for children staying at an overnight summer camp for the first time to feel homesick. Even if they have spent time at day camps in previous years, an overnight summer camp can be a bewildering experience at first. Children need to be prepared for overnight summer camp before they go.  It is much better to prevent the feeling of homesickness before it occurs than to leave the camp counselors to try to help once the child is already away from home.

A wailing child in a cabin full of other children is going to have a really hard time calming down with a camp counselor they just met that day. The better way is to prepare your child for the experience before bringing them to the camp and getting them settled in.

How Do You Prevent Homesickness?

Preventing homesickness is not something that can be done overnight.  It is usually a gradual process, and if your child is naturally clingy, it can take a lot of practice and persistence to prepare them for spending time away from home.  If you can do it before their first overnight summer camp, however, then both you and the child will be glad that you did.  It will also make life easier for the counselors and the other children at the camp.

The matter of preparing your child for overnight summer camp means checking in on the following issues. Firstly, you must broach the subject (often) of going to overnight summer camp and other types of mental preparation, and secondly, you should design smaller, shorter versions of it for physical practice at being away from family and from home. If your son or daughter is the practice of sleeping in the same room or even bed as you, you have to make the first step at stopping this habit. No child who is a co-sleeper does well at summer camp.

Another useful idea is to organize some sleepovers at friends' houses for one night every couple of weeks.  These short stays away from home offer a chance for your child to practice sleeping in a strange bed, and to get used to not seeing their parents last thing before going to sleep.  Also, if you talk frequently to your child about going to the overnight summer camp,  and get them to think about the exciting things they will see and do, then they will be mentally prepared for spending time away from home. A child who is mentally and physically prepared for staying away from home at summer camp is one who will have a wonderful time

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