Parents, if you are sending your child to camp, or thinking about sending your child to camp, then you will at some point have homesickness on your mind. I have some good news and some bad news.
The bad news: 97% of kids will experience homesickness at summer camp.
The good news: 97% of kids will experience homesickness at summer camp.
Hold on. What’s the catch here? It’s good that kids are getting homesick? Surely not. Homesickness is an all-consuming source of psychological pain concerning the longing for home! We don’t want kids to experience that. It sounds dreadful. How can that be good news?
Much like muscle soreness during a workout, missing home at camp is an indication that campers are in a zone of growth. The fact of the matter is that homesickness is an inevitable challenge and critical opportunity for growth.
Why homesickness is good:
- Homesickness is a challenge that young people want to triumph over. All kids will understand that someday they’ll have to sleep, live, and thrive away from home. While many will feel nervous, campers share a universal motivation to overcome homesickness. Completing a session at summer camp is a major source of pride and self-belief for campers of all ages.
- Healthy separation from home and caregivers is crucial for growth. Away from home, campers cannot rely on their caregivers’ responses to events. The world is theirs to experience, and successes are theirs to own. Overcoming homesickness creates independence and confidence to overcome future challenges.
- Former campers acclimate to college (and life) more easily than people who did not go to camp. Of course they do! Campers have years of experience living with new people, acclimating to new environments, and learning to navigate yearnings for home and family. Those camp-formed skills create a foundation of emotional resilience, something needed for success and enjoyment in academics, relationships, and professions.
So homesickness can be a good thing. But some kids do get so homesick that they can’t have fun at camp. Luckily, there are many things that caregivers and camp staff can do to help.
How parents can prepare kids to overcome homesickness:
- Show your future-camper that you are confident in them. Be positive and affirming when talking about summer camp. You are sending your child to camp because you trust them to be successful.
- Tell your future-camper that you are confident in them. “I am proud of you for going to camp.” “You are going to do a great job being away from home.” “I know you can make friends and have fun while you’re away.”
- Talk about homesickness and share a homesickness story of your own. Tell them:
- All kids will miss home, and they can get over the feeling by trusting themselves and focusing on having fun. The feeling doesn’t last forever.
- Missing home is good! It means they have a good home and a loving family.
- In your childhood, you experienced homesickness too. Maybe you went away to camp, or a family member’s home, or a field trip, or even college. If there was a silver lining, be sure to share it.
When your future-camper hears that homesickness is common and treatable, they are more equipped to take it on and enjoy camp too.
Some more good news: you are not alone in helping your camper with homesickness. Camps are homesickness experts. We are here to help!
How counselors help kids overcome homesickness:
- Connecting with the campers. Staff work at camps because they want to connect with campers. They are ideally positioned to be role models – young enough to not seem like parents and teachers from home, and old enough to be looked up to. They will share the same messaging you did; homesickness is common and the camper’s feelings are valid. They will listen to what a camper is experiencing and affirm their emotions.
- Reassuring the campers. “It is normal and good to miss home. That means home is a place worth missing.”
- Getting campers to experience success. Self-esteem comes from learning skills, and that is the bread-and-butter of summer camp. Mastering a new swimming stroke, climbing to the top of the tower, shooting a gold in archery, catching a frisbee, jumping from a diving board… the list goes on. Missing home and enjoying camp can both happen. There is no doubt that camp is fun.
A final thought:
With regard to homesickness, some camps go above and beyond in preparing their staff and coaching their campers. Homesickness is a massive opportunity to build trust and to mold young people into more confident, resilient, and compassionate humans. But this takes a skilled and experienced staff. Camp Chippewa counselors work with prominent child psychologist and author Dr. Tina Payne Bryson for three days each summer.
Camp Chippewa staff learn:
- How to serve as a secure connection for young people. Positive relationships – founded on ensuring a camper feels safe, seen, soothed, and secure – help to build more resilient brains.
- How to understand behavior as communication. Challenging behaviors are just skills a camper needs help to develop. Being responsive, not reactive when campers have challenging behaviors allows counselors to focus on skill-building and teaching when their campers need that most.
- How to maintain an environment where young people thrive. Camp Chippewa counseling is founded in the idea that kids need nurturing relationships and a structured environment.
- How to keep themselves ready to help. Self-care comes first. Counselors who are in control of their own self-care (and navigate their own feelings of homesickness!) are the ones who are able to help campers.
For more on homesickness at summer camp, read Homesick and Happy by Michael Thompson, or connect with Sam Endres.
