Curing Homesickness at an Overnight Summer Camp

Many younger children experience extreme homesickness when they go away to an overnight summer camp for the first time. Perhaps they’ve been to day camps in previous summers, but an overnight summer camp is an entirely different story. Children must be prepared for overnight summer camp before they go: contrary to popular belief, it is not up to the camp counselors to cure this problem. The feeling of extreme homesickness is much better nipped in the bud before it even begins.

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. Not only that, but one wailing child can set off the other children off too! The better way is to prepare your child for the experience before bringing them to the camp and getting them settled in.

Sounds Good…But How is it Done?

While the idea sounds like a good theory, it’s not always an easy thing to do. It is certainly not easy to prepare a clingy child to be without you for an entire week, but if you can do it, both you and the child (not to mention his or her counselor for the week) will be very glad that you did.

Firstly, you must broach the subject (often) of going to overnight summer camp. Talk about the possibility of homesickness, what it feels like, and give your child some coping strategies. Also tell him or her that it is perfectly normal and common, and that it will pass! 

Secondly, you should design smaller, shorter versions of being apart 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.

In addition to this, organize some sleepovers at friends’ houses once a weekend or two times a month. These one-night-at-a-time ventures are a kind of physical practice at sleeping in a different place and not seeing mom and dad last thing before going to sleep.

Remember, a child who is mentally and physically prepared for sleep-away camp is one who will have a blast of a time.