3. DO YOU WANT A SINGLE-SEX OR COED CAMP?
For most campers and staff, a single-sex environment offers fewer romantic distractions. It’s a bit easier for everyone to focus on the goals of overnight camp that we discussed in Chapter 2. There tends to be less showing off, reduced self-consciousness, and fewer broken hearts. At a single-sex
camp, children support each other and bond together in ways that reinforce the best parts about being a girl or the best parts about being a boy. Plus, the staff at a single-sex camp is primarily the same sex as the campers. This provides kids with many adult role models of the same gender. About 50% of all overnight camps are single-sex.
Single-sex overnight camps have unique advantages. However, one of the goals of overnight camping is to make friends and develop social skills. If your child attends a single-sex private school from September to June, then a coed summer camp may be the perfect way to balance his peer group and round-out his social skills. Remember that one of the greatest things about overnight camps is that they offer kids a change from their usual school and home environments. A well-supervised coed overnight camp may be a welcome change for some kids, especially teenagers.
Coed camps also have an advantage for families with both a boy and a girl who want to go to camp. It’s convenient to drop your son and daughter off at the same camp. They may even enjoy spending time together there. However, the convenience of a single drop-off site is minimal if the advantages of a single-sex camp are important to you. As an alternative to searching for a coed camp, find out whether the single-sex camps you like have a nearby “brother camp” or “sister camp.” Many camps have this kind of formal affiliation with each other. Usually, brother and sister camps are of similar quality and have similar philosophies. They may even have the same change days and visiting days, to make it easy for parents. Most brother-sister camps are within an hour’s drive of each other.
Most young children prefer playmates of the same sex, but that’s not always the case. Before you make a final decision, as a family, remember that coed camps vary in how much they integrate the boys and the girls. At some coed camps, boys and girls may sleep and change in separate cabins, but do everything else together. At other coed camps, boys and girls are kept apart, but eat together in the same dining hall. Some camps promote themselves as single-sex camps, but they have a “sister camp” or a “brother camp” on the same property. It’s important to find out how much boys and girls are integrated in these settings.
When making your choice of single-sex vs. coed, you should also consider the camp’s program offerings. If you want to go to a camp with a lot of sports, then a single-sex camp may be best because the competition will be more fair. If you prefer a camp with a strong academic or fine arts program, then a coed environment may be best. If the camp has a mixed program of athletics and academics or fine arts, find out whether boys and girls do the athletic activities together. Sometimes, coed athletics are phenomenal; other times, they’re unrealistic.
Finally, you should consider staff issues. More so than a single-sex staff, coed staff members are likely to have other business on their minds besides making sure that campers are having a fun time. Directors of coed camps often regret how the inevitable staff romances impair instruction and interfere with cabin leadership. Staff members at coed camps may also be distracted by campers who have crushes on them.
Of course, crushes are normal and romantic love is wonderful. It’s just that romance can detract from the goals of any camp—coed or single-sex. Plus, kids deemed less romantically desirable will feel the same rejection at camp that they do at home among their coed classmates. Single-sex camps allow most kids to dismiss that issue for a while.
For most campers and staff, a single-sex environment offers fewer romantic distractions. It’s a bit easier for everyone to focus on the goals of overnight camp that we discussed in Chapter 2. There tends to be less showing off, reduced self-consciousness, and fewer broken hearts. At a single-sex
Single-sex overnight camps have unique advantages. However, one of the goals of overnight camping is to make friends and develop social skills. If your child attends a single-sex private school from September to June, then a coed summer camp may be the perfect way to balance his peer group and round-out his social skills. Remember that one of the greatest things about overnight camps is that they offer kids a change from their usual school and home environments. A well-supervised coed overnight camp may be a welcome change for some kids, especially teenagers.
Coed camps also have an advantage for families with both a boy and a girl who want to go to camp. It’s convenient to drop your son and daughter off at the same camp. They may even enjoy spending time together there. However, the convenience of a single drop-off site is minimal if the advantages of a single-sex camp are important to you. As an alternative to searching for a coed camp, find out whether the single-sex camps you like have a nearby “brother camp” or “sister camp.” Many camps have this kind of formal affiliation with each other. Usually, brother and sister camps are of similar quality and have similar philosophies. They may even have the same change days and visiting days, to make it easy for parents. Most brother-sister camps are within an hour’s drive of each other.
Most young children prefer playmates of the same sex, but that’s not always the case. Before you make a final decision, as a family, remember that coed camps vary in how much they integrate the boys and the girls. At some coed camps, boys and girls may sleep and change in separate cabins, but do everything else together. At other coed camps, boys and girls are kept apart, but eat together in the same dining hall. Some camps promote themselves as single-sex camps, but they have a “sister camp” or a “brother camp” on the same property. It’s important to find out how much boys and girls are integrated in these settings.
When making your choice of single-sex vs. coed, you should also consider the camp’s program offerings. If you want to go to a camp with a lot of sports, then a single-sex camp may be best because the competition will be more fair. If you prefer a camp with a strong academic or fine arts program, then a coed environment may be best. If the camp has a mixed program of athletics and academics or fine arts, find out whether boys and girls do the athletic activities together. Sometimes, coed athletics are phenomenal; other times, they’re unrealistic.
Finally, you should consider staff issues. More so than a single-sex staff, coed staff members are likely to have other business on their minds besides making sure that campers are having a fun time. Directors of coed camps often regret how the inevitable staff romances impair instruction and interfere with cabin leadership. Staff members at coed camps may also be distracted by campers who have crushes on them.
Of course, crushes are normal and romantic love is wonderful. It’s just that romance can detract from the goals of any camp—coed or single-sex. Plus, kids deemed less romantically desirable will feel the same rejection at camp that they do at home among their coed classmates. Single-sex camps allow most kids to dismiss that issue for a while.
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