Preparing Your Camper For Camp
The weeks and days before camp are an exciting, and sometimes anxious or nervous, time for both you and your camper. In addition to preparing gear and finalizing plans, we recommend talking with your camper about the time away from home, the camp environment, expectations and personal goals. We find this to be an excellent way to prepare your camper and help them get the most out of the Catalina Sea Camp program.
Especially younger and first-time campers will need an opportunity to discuss leaving home and living in a new environment. They'll need to ask questions, express fears and concerns, and be reassured that nervous anticipation is part of any new experience.
We encourage you to browse this page for suggestions on how to help your camper prepare for the camp experience. You can navigate by clicking on any of the links below.
Be Excited For Your Camper! For some parents, especially parents of first-time campers, the separation while their child is away at camp can be difficult. In fact, sometimes the separation is harder on the parents than on the camper. With this in mind, while discussing your camper’s time away at camp, focusing on how excited you are for your camper and how much confidence you have in him or her is an excellent way to help your camper to acclimate to and become completely immersed in the camp community. Dwelling on how much you’re going to miss your camper and how different everything will be without he or she around can make the separation harder on everyone and possibly even subtly convey that you don’t think your camper can succeed on his or her own. Campers want to know that their family supports them, is excited for them and believes in them.
Setting Goals Open and relaxed discussions about your camper’s goals for the summer are another great way to help your camper get the most out of the camp session. Concrete goals like learning to snorkel or kayak are a great place to start, but social and growth goals like making friends, overcoming a fear, trying something new, actively participating in all activities or just getting more comfortable being independent and being away from home are equally important. Often, your camper’s goals for themselves may be different than your goals for them. Camp is a place for children to gain independence and self-sufficiency and to make decisions for themselves; campers are always more successful if they’ve been involved in the decision to attend camp and if they’ve set their own goals for the summer. Being supportive of your camper’s goals and decisions for the summer is an important step in camp preparation.
Don't Make Deals: The Importance of Commitment For some campers, simply leaving home for a week may be a big challenge. It may be a little frightening, as many new experiences are. At Sea Camp we anticipate that this may be the case for some campers; as such, we work hard to get all campers involved in the program and the community. Please do not, under any circumstances, make a deal with your camper concerning the length of his/her stay at Sea Camp. Telling your camper, “If you don’t like it, you can come home,” my paralyze his/her ability to commit, engage, risk and, ultimately, to succeed. We believe that overcoming adversity and challenges and learning the importance of a full-term commitment are important steps in a young person’s development. When campers leave camp early, it is also very disruptive to the camper’s group and camp as a whole. If your camper is having an especially difficult time adjusting to camp life, we of course want to work with you to help he/she be successful. We know that you know your camper best and we hope that working together we can help your camper to have a great experience. And, if you have any concerns or want to check in on how your camper is doing, please call the Camp Directors for an update. Additionally, if camp dates conflict with another opportunity, we feel the best bet, and best way to support your camper’s development, is to discuss camp and the other opportunity with your camper and help him or her choose one or the other.
Reviewing the Camper Code of Conduct and Camper Agreement At Catalina Sea Camp a diverse group of campers and staff come together from all over the country and all over the world, bringing with them a wide array of cultural, religious and geographic backgrounds as well as varied life experiences. The community that is created forms the backbone of the Catalina Sea Camp experience. Campers and staff alike return year after year because they love being a part of the supportive, accepting camp community, seeing old friends and making new friends! In order to make camp a fun, safe, healthy and enriching experience for all campers, we have, over the past 30 years, developed a Code of Conduct and Behavior that campers must follow and live by while at camp. We’ve found this very successful in supporting and creating the camp community and ensuring that all campers and staff have a great experience. The Code of Conduct and Camper Agreement is included in your Welcome packet or can be downloaded from the Forms section of this website. Please take a moment to read over these with your camper.
Contact Us If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact the Sea Camp Registrars or Summer Camp Director at the business office. Business Office Phone: 1.800.645.1423 or 909.625.6194
Business Office Fax: 909.625.7305 Please address any logistical questions or inquiries to the Sea Camp Registrar Please address any specific questions regarding the camp program, special needs, concerns or the like to the Summer Camp Director, Paul Kupferman
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