Duffels have arrived, fields are being lined, counselors are orientating… now we wait for the campers to arrive for the summer of their life! But what happens when the buses have pulled away and your camper is off to The Realm? In a world with text messaging, snapchat, FaceTime, skype, (you get the idea…) parent’s who seem to always know where their children are and what they are doing wonder how they’re going to know how they will communicate with their camper during the summer.
Communication throughout the summer is a top priority at Camp Robin Hood. Not just for the parents but for our campers too! Kids LOVE receiving letters and if you haven’t already sent a note for your camper to receive on Opening Day, now’s the time to start your letter writing routine. As an option, we offer our families the opportunity to send eLetters directly to their campers through our Camp InTouch system. You can even request a hand written letter back from your camper which we’ll scan and email back to you! But if you’re worried that you’re child is not much of a letter writer – DON’T – every Wednesday and Sunday, letters home are campers meal tickets to lunch.
Life may have been simpler before all of the technology that has come into our daily lives, when letters home were the ONLY way parent’s knew how life at camp was, but we know you want daily updates. Every evening, we upload anywhere from 150-350 pictures of our campers, to Camp InTouch, participating in various activities throughout camp. We do our best to make sure your child will be featured in photos, but we like to think if you don’t see your child, it means they were too busy having FUN to stop what they were doing to take a picture! Haven’t seen your child in a few days (which is rare,) shoot us a note and we’ll make sure to snap them in action (discreetly of course!)
Not only will you be able to see what’s happening at camp through photos, we post daily WoodChuck blogs, giving families a birds-eye view of our camper’s day in at Robin Hood. It’s a great way to include Robin Hood specific questions in your letters to camp and gives you a sense of how camper’s spend their time in The Realm.
With all of these ways for you to follow your child’s experience at Robin Hood, we make sure to keep the lines of communication with parents wide open. While many of your campers are holding onto their cell phones for dear life in the last few days before going “screen free,” we keep phone calls during the first two weeks to families with birthdays (either camper or parent.) A phone call can be arranged between parent and camper after the second week of camp has ended. We find from past experiences that a phone conversation may end up causing harm to the child’s adjustment at camp, as campers who are perfectly adapted and happy at camp can become homesick from a few short words with you on the telephone.
We understand that the transition to camp can be hard on parents, even after years of experience, and welcome the opportunity to speak to our families not just during the summer but all year round. Give us a call, shoot us an email… we’re ready to take care of your child(ren) this summer and thank you for trusting us with your most prized possession(s.)
