How to choose the right summer camp
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
By Missy Craver Izard
During this summer, more than ten million North American children will experience the simple pleasures of summer camp: sleeping under the stars, hiking wooded trails, canoeing quiet lakes and rivers, crafting lanyards and pottery, and singing around the campfire with melted chocolate on their fingers. Some will attend day camps close to home. Many others will pack trunks, label clothes, hug parents goodbye and step into the timeless rhythm of residential camp life.
Summer camps — whether private, nonprofit, religiously affiliated or agency sponsored through organizations such as the YMCA or the Boy and Girl Scouts of America — have become woven into the fabric of North American Culture. Among youth-serving institutions, only schools have touched more lives.
Yet, camp is different from school. Camp is seasonal, intentional and immersive. It is where children try on independence in manageable increments. It is where friendships are forged without the interference of phones. It is where a child learns that homesickness can be survived and that courage sometimes looks like staying.
Camp country: a Western North Carolina legacy
Although organized camps first took shape in New England, the Adirondacks and the Great Lakes region, the cool elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains quickly became a haven for summer visitors seeking relief from coastal and lowland heat.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, families traveled by rail to Asheville, Hendersonville, Brevard, Black Mountain, Highlands, Cashiers, Flat Rock, Lake Lure, Saluda and Tuxedo. Religious assemblies, health retreats and summer colonies flourished. The mountain air was considered restorative. The landscape itself felt formative.
Children’s camps grew naturally from these seasonal communities. By the early 1900s, organized overnight camps dotted the hills and lakes of Western North Carolina. What began as simple rustic gatherings evolved into institutions with deep traditions, generational loyalty and carefully developed programs.
Today, Western North Carolina is home to the largest concentration of summer camps in the United States — nearly 100 camps across four counties. For more than a century, children have returned to these mountains year after year. For many families, the arrival of camp season is what anchors their summer calendar.
Right now, as enrollment for the 2026 season reaches its peak, families across the country are making decisions that feel both hopeful and weighty.
A new dimension: safety and uncertainty
The heart of the camp world was shaken on July 4, 2025, when catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River devastated parts of Texas Hill Country — an area home to numerous summer camps, vacation communities and year-round residents. Less than a year earlier, Hurricane Helene struck Western North Carolina with a force few had anticipated. In places, the scale and speed of nature’s power stunned communities. In Western North Carolina, camps were not in session when Helene hit. In Texas, they were.
Twenty-seven girls lost their lives in the Texas flooding — a tragedy that shook the camp community to its core. Their loss was heartbreaking and unacceptable.
For parents everywhere, the news was more than a headline; it was every family’s quiet fear spoken aloud. In moments like this, fear can easily drown out wisdom — which makes clear questions, transparent answers and thoughtful discernment more important than ever. For parents, these events have added a new layer to an already emotional decision. Enrolling a child in camp has always required trust. Now, that trust carries sharper edges. Parents want to know that their children will come home safely and they deserve clear answers.
As someone who spent the majority of my adult life entrusted with the care of children at summer camps, I understand both the promise and the weight of that responsibility. Camps are sacred places. Their histories echo through dining halls, chapels, gymnasiums, docks and dusty trails. But sacred does not mean naïve, and tradition does not excuse complacency. The best camps pair legacy with rigorous planning, risk assessment and continual improvement.
Camp professionals are educators who wear many hats. They lead songs around campfires and comfort homesick children. They call square dances, wash dishes, cook meals, plunge toilets and perform in talent shows. They hire, train and mentor seasonal staff — often ranging in age from 18 to well into their 70s — and knit them together into a mission-driven community.
Above all, they understand that safety is not a slogan; it is a daily discipline. Responsible camps revisit emergency plans, evacuation protocols and training standards year after year — because safety is never assumed; it is practiced.
Why do they do this demanding work? Because they believe in what camp does for children.
Why camp still matters
In a world shaped increasingly by screens, algorithms, and tightly managed schedules, children have very few spaces where they can experience sustained, face-to-face community without screens mediating the interaction. Camp offers something quietly radical: unstructured time in nature and real human connection.
At camp, children make their own beds. Sweep cabin floors. Navigate peer conflict. Wait their turn. Try something that scares them. Miss home — and discover they can survive it. These are not small lessons. They are formative ones.
Camp is one of the last places where a child can fail safely. Miss the target in archery. Tip the canoe. Forget the lyrics. Try again tomorrow.
Camp builds resilience not through lectures, but through lived experience. It teaches that community requires contribution. That leadership rotates. That joy is amplified when shared. That you are valued not for your resume, but for your presence. And perhaps most importantly, camp allows a child to be fully seen — not as a test score or a statistic, but as a human being in the making.
Choosing the right summer camp
Choosing a summer camp has always required discernment. This year, it requires clarity.
My daughter, Anne Izard — a camp professional with the American Camp Association and author of A Guide to Choosing a Summer Camp — understands this moment well. She writes:
Choosing a summer camp for your child can feel like one of the biggest parenting decisions you’ll make. You want them safe. You want them enriched. You want them to grow. But the options are endless, and the stakes feel high. That’s why I wrote this guide: to filter through the noise, share what really matters, and help you make the best choice for your child’s camp journey.
Anne’s guide addresses not only how to choose a camp, but how to ask the right questions in a culture where parents are more informed — and more vigilant — than ever before. In an era of constant information and amplified fear, clarity matters. She reminds parents that the right camp is not necessarily the most prestigious or the most expensive; it is the one aligned with a child’s temperament, interests and developmental readiness. Her message is not blind reassurance, but informed trust — built through transparency, preparation and true partnership between families and camps.
A personal thread
When Anne Izard talks about summer camp, she doesn’t begin with statistics or safety protocols. She begins with belonging. “Growing up,” she says, “my happiest place was an all-girls summer camp where I spent 11 summers as a camper and counselor. It was there I first understood the magic of friendships, intentional community and what it feels like to be truly seen.”
That experience did not simply shape her childhood — it shaped her life’s work. Today, through her leadership role with the American Camp Association, she curates professional development for camp directors across the country. For more than 20 years, she has worked in the camp and outdoor education world as a camp director, nonprofit leader, and national leadership trainer. She has hired and mentored staff, led programs serving hundreds of campers each summer, partnered with boards and families, and supported camp leaders nationwide in building safe, values-driven, child-centered programs.
And she is also the parent of three campers. That dual perspective — seasoned professional and mother — informs the guide she recently wrote for families navigating one of parenting’s most emotional decisions: choosing a summer camp.
Her website and guide may be found at: www.lifeat9318.com
What parents should ask
Anne emphasizes that strong camps welcome transparency. She encourages families to ask good questions, and the full list is on her website above in the Parent Resources section. For example, be sure to inquire:
Is the camp accredited by the American Camp Association?
What are your emergency preparedness and evacuation plans?
How are staff screened, trained and supervised?
“These questions aren’t confrontational,” Anne explains. “They’re collaborative. A good camp wants to partner with parents.” Through her work with the American Camp Association, Anne supports leadership development and program quality nationwide. Her role is to help camp directors keep learning — strengthening safety standards, refining training and building cultures where children thrive.
“My job,” she says, “is to support the people responsible for your children.”
Finding the right fit
Anne is careful to remind parents that there is no universally “best” camp. There is only the best fit. Some children flourish at traditional residential camps. Others thrive in specialty programs — sports, arts, outdoor adventure, or faith-based experiences. Some are ready for two weeks away; others may need a shorter introduction.
“The goal isn’t prestige,” Anne says. “It’s alignment.”
A child who feels seen, supported, and appropriately challenged will grow.
And growth — not perfection — is the point.
Trusted resources
Years ago, the most trusted camp resource was simple: word of mouth. Seasoned parents were the reliable authorities, and watching camp movies at a friend’s house could seal the deal. Somewhere in my archives is one of the first printed camp directories compiled by Western North Carolina camps and distributed through the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce — a slim but treasured guide for families.
Long before online listings and social media reviews, the American Camp Association, founded in 1910, began bringing professional standards and structure to the growing field of organized youth camping. Today, it remains the nation’s leading nonprofit accrediting body for camps, promoting high standards of health, safety and program quality.
Clarity, not panic
As a retired camp director myself, and as Anne’s mother, I have watched firsthand how camp shapes a life. I have seen shy children find their voice. I have seen teenagers step into leadership. I have seen homesick campers become confident counselors.
Camp professionals do not take lightly the trust placed in them.
When families approach the decision thoughtfully — asking good questions, seeking alignment and choosing with clarity rather than fear — summer camp remains one of the most meaningful experiences a child can have. And in Anne’s words: “Summer camp can be one of the most transformative seasons in a child’s life — when the right fit meets preparation.”
For families navigating this decision in 2026, her message is steady and reassuring:
“You can choose wisely. You can ask questions. And your child can grow.”
Missy Craver Izard was born and raised in Charleston, S.C. and resides in Flat Rock, N.C. A retired summer camp director and art teacher, Missy is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, journalist, community leader, and the recipient of several awards, including the White House Champions of Change.
