Every summer, thousands of parents send their kids off to camp. This can be a risky moment for parents, most camps aren’t cheap and they of-course always end up missing their kids, well most of the time.
This moment for parents can seem risky, but it’s a powerful social learning experience for their kids. There are so many things that a child can learn there that will help them in school, sports, and just life in general. One thing that is especially amazing about summer camp, though, is the friends your kid will make that can potentially last a lifetime. Networking in todays world is powerful, it sometimes really is all about who you know, not what you know. This skill can be developed early on. Camp is a great way to learn that skill.

Forging Friendships
For kids who may normally struggle with making friends, the camp environment is an easier way to meet others. Even kids who tend to be a bit shyer get to know other campers quickly with all the time they spend together. Bunk mates especially have a lot of time to talk and find out what they have in common. Camp is actually more perfect for those who are shy.

As a child, sometimes it is hard to make friends, but it’s an important skill to have. Summer camp is a great place to break down some of their walls so they can turn around and try it when they get back in school. Making friends is a new thing in life for most children, they’re not experienced, camp helps give them that experience.

Having friends is important no matter what stage of life a person is in. Even if your child feels like they don’t have a lot of friends at home, they can have several close camp friends that they look forward to seeing every year. These are people who accept them for who they are, which gives an added level of confidence and security.

Keeping Contact
Even though your children may not see their new camp friends much once they both leave and go their separate ways, that doesn’t mean the friendship is over. Instead, they now have a friend who probably came from a totally different town. There are great ways to keep in touch with mail, social media, and even visits from time to time.

In the new world of social media, these friends stay connected for many years. Campers love tweeting old pictures of camp and commenting on camp related fb statuses online. The online world really can help people stay connected forever. Long distance really is getting shorter with the internet.

Mail and email are fun ways for everyone to keep in contact, but there is something extra special about it to a kid. Most children don’t get a lot of mail addressed specifically to them, so it is fun to have a long distance friendship where they can exchange letters for a while. It is still fun to get an email every now and then, too, which is a lot faster and more convenient.

If your child is old enough to participate in social media, they can connect with their camp friends that way as much or as little as they want. It is also a great way to see what is going on in each other’s lives so they can continue the friendship until they see each other again the next summer.

Your children and other campers can get together occasionally, depending on how close you live to each other. Kids come from all over the country to attend summer camp, but chances are at least a few of them live close by. This is obviously more convenient for everyone involved, but it is especially beneficial to kids who may have a harder time making friends at school.

Finding Diversity

Lifelong Friendships
Whether or not your kids attend the summer camp each year with the same kids does not mean they can’t stay friends forever. There are plenty of people who have forged strong friendships at their first summer camp. With all the ways that people can keep in contact now, it is even easier to stay connected. This way, camp friends can truly be best friends forever.