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Finding a camp the online way

Finding a summer camp for your kids has always been a hassle, but thanks to the Internet, much of the information is at your fingertips.

The American Camping Association's site (www.acacamps.org ) offers general advice on selecting a camp. The goal is to help you find camps that match your children and their needs. The site lets you search alphabetically, by region or by camp type. If you're worried about the quality of the camp, the site only includes camps that have been accredited by the trade association.

Kids Camps (www.kidscamps.com ) is another site that lists camps by type and region. Like the ACA site, Kids Camps has quite a range. Its film-TV camp section alone lists 55 different camps. It also posts information on camps for adults. The site even lists employment opportunities for teenagers who want to help run a camp.

The whole concept of what constitutes a camping experience is changing. Parents with teenagers may find that a "teen adventure travel" experience may be more to the liking of their adolescents and can better meet their son's wish to learn how to kayak or their daughter's yearning for rock-climbing.

If you check out these sites and still can't find a summer activity, trip or camp to tantalize your kid, try one of the main Web search engines. You might, for example, plug in a phrase like "teen adventure travel" in a search engine like www.ask.com. You'll get dozens of possibilities.

Of course, reading about a camp online or visiting its home page has its limitations. Think of it as a glossy brochure. You're going to have to do more homework, and the Internet can help there, too. Use e-mail or the phone to find out how the camp is accredited and what the accreditation means. You can query camp organizers about information in their promotional materials. For example, if sailing is one activity that your child really wants to try, find out the camper-to-sailboat ratio. If it's too high, and this is a top priority for your child, then it's time to shop for another camp. Also ask the camp owners how their camp differs from competitors and how their employees are trained.

Ask for references. Many camps will provide prospective campers with the e-mail addresses or phone numbers of folks who have attended camp there. That can be a great way for your child to cut through the hype to find out whether the camp he or she is interested in lives up to its billing. And be sure to involve your children every step of the way. It's yet another way to teach them about the power of the Web as a research tool -- and, of course, they're the ones going to camp.