Director Jud's Blog

How can You Help an Anxious Teen Look Forward to Summer Camp?

If your child has anxiety about attending a sleepaway summer camp there are some strategies that you as a parent can use to help them prepare and stay calm in the weeks leading up to the opening day of camp.  More than one in 20 kids and teens in America have anxiety or depression and for the majority, this won’t stop them from going to camp. If your child is excited about their upcoming adventure but is a little worried that anxiety may stop them from making the most of the experience, how can you help them keep their ‘fight or flight response’ in check?

Making Arrangements with Friends

Kids who have anxiety can feel much more comfortable about going to camp if friends they know will be joining them. It probably won’t be difficult to get friends excited about a camp at Stone Mountain Adventures, where kids can take part in so many amazing water and mountain activities. Even if friends are doing other things, let your child know that Stone Mountain Adventures is special because there are only about 60 campers per session. Therefore, there is a warm family atmosphere that will help your teen feel protected at all times.

During the summer of 2018 Stone Mountain Adventures offered a Dream Day Camp for kids ages 8 to 12 year old.  The was the second summer we offered this awesome program.  The following Blog Post was written by Merina Madina who was a Counselor In Training this past summer.  

It’s All Camp Day at SMA which means we al;l got to sleep in!  We had a yummy breakfast of bagels and donuts and have all had time to reflect on this crazy fun week of session 3.

Since the campers arrived, session 3 has been going none stop! We have had 2 overnights mud-ultimate, mud-soccer, bunnies adopted, rocks climbing, tie-dye, birdhouses made, frisbee golf, mountain biking, horse-back riding, and wakeboarding!

5 Important Life Lessons You Can Learn at an Overnight Summer Camp For Teens

Camping is a favorite pastime among Americans with statistics indicating that 14% of the population or 40 million aged 6 and above camped in 2013 (2014 American Camper Report). There are many reasons that camping is so popular, but a love of the outdoors and spending time with family or friends are often the main goals. For parents, signing up kids for overnight summer camps may be an important decision considering the benefits that camping provides in terms of education, social, physical and psychological development. There are in fact valuable life lessons that kids, tweens, teens and campers can learn when attending an overnight summer camp. These skills grow up with them and are useful into adulthood.