As a parent you want to ensure that your child has the best experience possible at camp. One frequent question we get from parents is whether we offer one-week sessions, and that question is quickly followed by, what is the right length to attend camp?
The simplest answer for why we only offer 2-week sessions is that we believe the shorter the session length the less successful experience your child will have. This doesn’t mean that they would have a bad experience in a 1-week session, but it does means that it will be a much better experience at two weeks. In fact, studies show that up to 25% fewer campers return when attending 1 versus 2 or longer weeks of camp across the country.
But why? It’s perfectly natural for campers and parents to be anxious about going to camp, often parents are more “home sick” than their child is, and as such a longer session can feel harder from a parent’s point of view. It really takes 2-4 days for a camper to be fully immersed into camp, for them to learn the schedule, get to know their cabin mates, discover the traditions of camp, and learn the songs. They are still enjoying camp during this time but just like at the start of the school year they are working out the finer details, so they are also more likely to be homesick at that time. With longer sessions they spend more time fully enjoying camp, and less time working out camp It is during this time that deeper friendships are formed, that new skills are learned, and where campers fall in love with what they then consider their camp! Another way of looking at it, is that in a 1-week session, they may be only spending 25% of their time fully immersed in camp, whereas two weeks that would be 75%. This is why more campers want to come back the following year when they attend two weeks or longer of camp.