First Time Campers:
First time campers are very common at all ages at Don Lee.
Parents Can Help:
Parents can help the adjustment of their campers by leaving them on a positive note. Make sure to set your camper up for success by letting them know you expect them to have fun. Help them set some goals for camp (meeting people, learning something new, etc.) before you leave and be enthusiastic about their time at camp.
Child-Sick Parents:
“Child-sick” parents often lead to homesick campers. It is best not to promise a camper they can come home if they don’t like camp.
Our Staff are Trained to Support Homesick Campers:
The Don Lee staff is well trained to help campers adjust to camp by immediately involving them in goal setting, team building, and fun activities.
We Want to Partner with Parents:
Parental support and encouragement are crucial to the happiness of the child; Don Lee has an extremely high success rate of working with campers when parents work with us. Parents will be contacted by camp staff if their child becomes homesick. We will keep the parent up to date on how we are working through the issues. Encouraging comments in letters (“we know you are working hard to have fun”, “it is ok to miss home, but we want you to have fun”, “we look forward to hearing about your achievements”, “have fun at camp because you are not missing out on anything here”) are also helpful in this process. Though homesickness is common in first-time campers, it is usually short-lived due to all the fun people and dynamic activities at Don Lee!