The calendar has just turned over to spring, but it's summer that's on many parents' minds. Specifically — should you send your child to summer camp?
In one way, the choice was an easier one last year. For many, the pandemic was simply too new, the unknowns too many to even consider camp. But this year, those same parents are reconsidering.
"The demand for camp is huge," Laurie Kaiden, the director and campcierge of a community of 37 Maine overnight camps, told Mom.com, noting that the camps she works with are filling up as fast as they ever have.
What does the CDC say?
In guidance updated earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a lengthy list of suggestions for making camp safe. The good news: Many of the suggestions — handwashing, mask-wearing, social distancing — are, for better or worse, things that have become second nature over the last year.
Overnight camps might call for additional rules: immediate separation of a sick person from others; physical barriers between beds; aligning mats or beds so that campers and staff sleep head to toe.
What's your comfort level?
"If a parent is not comfortable sending their child to camp, neither I nor any other camp director would advise them to send their child," Kaiden said. But she says that sleepaway camp might be the safest option of all.
"Campers arrive on day one, there's no going back and forth, they only interact with each other, there's acres and acres to spread out," Kaiden said.
What does your child want to do?
Kids don't always make the best decisions, and ultimately parents have to make the call here. But for a kid who's been in virtual school for most of the last year, it's probably a good idea to get their input.
While children have been largely spared the physical harm of the COVID-19 virus, their mental health has not fared as well. CNN reported last month that "according to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255), the most recent completed month, December 2020, shows a 4% increase in NSPL call volume from December 2019, though not all months during the pandemic showed increases.
"Adolescents are very peer-focused under ordinary circumstances," Lisa Furst, chief program officer of Vibrant Emotional Health, which, among other things, runs the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, told CNN. "The nature of the public health measures such as remote school and physical distancing may impact teens and youth very significantly because they feel so isolated from their peer group."
What precautions is the camp you're interested in taking?
This should top the list of questions parents need to ask when it comes to considering a particular camp. The answer, Kaiden said, is a combination of efforts that work in conjunction with each other.
"It's the creating pods and bubbles, it's the COVID-19 testing strategies, and keeping up on the latest information on when and how best to conduct those tests. It's being diligent in outreach to public health experts," she said. "All those things together add up to the safest way to run camp."
