Can I visit my child while they are at camp?  This question is asked many times and it's never easy to say "I'm sorry, we don't allow visitors during the week".  We also discourage phone calls to the children during the week at camp.  The camp does not have a parent visitation day nor do we allow visitors, simply because your child is away from home for less than a full week.

Safety of your child is also a KEY factor...unfortunately, our society has many families with broken homes, issues with parental rights or custody, and child predators.  We carefully screen and train our staff to make sure they understand the importance of keeping your child and other children safe, happy, and enjoying their time here at camp.

Let me explain the reasoning behind the answer.  When you bring your child to camp and sign them over into our care for their week at camp, you are trusting the camp staff to take care of your child and help them have the best time they can at camp.  If your child has not spent any time away from home or has issues with homesickness, our trained staff is able to work with your child on a daily basis to help them get over their fears.

What many parents don't understand is that their desire to visit their child or call during camp is actually hindering their child's ability to overcome their fear of being away from home or parents.  We have found that there are two time periods that your child is unhappy with being away from home.  Their initial fear and unhappiness is when you are leaving them at camp their first day and most homesickness arises at night when they are getting ready for bed.

Our staff have been carefully trained to work with your child that first day, involve them with games and getting acquainted with the other campers, especially their cabinmates for the week.  This relates the same as if your child was starting out the first day of school.  There is apprehension until they are comfortable with their new surroundings.  Homesickness in the evenings is treated the same way and with even more care and time spent with your child.  Most children are comfortable with their new surroundings, nighttime noises, and schedules by Wednesday morning.

Another key element to this reasoning is the effect your visit has on the other children in camp.  You may not think your visit will disrupt the camp but let me assure you...IT WILL!  Your visit will impact your child's friends who are at camp, their cabin mates, and other children who see you visiting.  This results in tears, demands to call home, confrontational issues, and general chaos that undermines our efforts at making your child's and the other camper's week at camp an enjoyable experience.

If you decide to ignore these explanations and try to visit your child here at camp during the week, then two things will immediately happen.  We will assume that you are here to pick up your child, so your child will be taken to their cabin and their belongings will be packed and then you and your child will be politely asked to leave camp.

If your child has a medical appointment or something exciting going on like being in the playoffs for softball or another sport, please let us know when you come and we'll gladly make arrangments for you to come and pick up your child and then return them once they are ready to come back to camp.

Thank you for understanding and we'll see you on "Saturday" when you pick up your happy and excited child.