The Journal
April 2000
Summer camp choices numerous, varied

Ahh summer camp! A time when the long lazy days of summer stretch out before you and are filled with canoeing, woodworking, arts and crafts and mountain biking.

Mountain biking? That's right. While the traditional activities typically associated with the summer camp experience still remain, new activities, such as mountain biking, in-line skating, roller hockey and rock climbing have been added to the ever lengthening list.

"Summer camp is not just about woodworking and arts and crafts anymore," Dana Davidson, a board certified social worker and director of the clinical program at the parenting Center of Family Services of Greater Baton Rouge, said. "There are so many specialty camps for certain skills today. Camp has become very sophisticated."

Need proof? Consider the summer camp in Utah that provides off-road and in-town driving lessons to participants driving Hummers, the Michigan camp that offers intensive training in musical activities, including dance and the visual arts, or the seamanship programs offered at North Carolina camp.

If you decided to send your child away to summer camp this year, you've determined that you child is indeed ready for the experience, the next step is to choose from the 8,500 or so camps, including the 5,500 overnight camps, that are in existence. Sure the general interest camps still exist, but the wide range of specialty camps available today can make the selection process a daunting one. With that in mind, where does one begin? Ideally, camp experts recommend beginning the search a year in advance. This allows time for a visit to the camp site, a better opportunity for finding a spot in the camp of choice and a chance at early registration discounts. But don't despair, there is still hope for those who are just now starting the selection process for this summer.

The Internet now provides one of the greatest resources for researching summer camps. Two main sites are the American Camping Association and KidsCamps. The ACA has a checklist of over 300 standards in the areas of health, safety and quality that camps are required to meet in order to earn accreditation. Over 2,000 accredited summer camps are listed in the ACA's interactive database that can search for camps based on location, specific programs of cost. A free "Summer Camp Answer" booklet can also be obtained form the ACA by calling 1-800-428-CAMP.

KidsCamps provides a free listing to every summer camp that wishes to enroll on it's Web site at www.kidscamps.com and has over 12,000 camps in its directory. Camps can link an existing Web page to the site of have KidsCamps maintain a Web site for them. "We like to think of ourselves as the yellow pages of camps." Said KidsCamps co-founder Nancy Diamond.