Years ago, I worked at a day camp that had cookouts on a certain night of the week. The whole idea was to give parents an opportunity to spend a little time at camp and better understand their child’s experience. It was great! We ended up having greater buy-in from parents and got to know them, all the good stuff that comes with personal interaction.

Fast forward twenty-two years, I had a summer staff sitting in my office asking if they could invite their parents out one Saturday and show them around and maybe do some activities with them. It was a complete face-palm moment. I realized we had never invited parents and family members out to see what their summer staff children were doing all summer long. In the next three minutes, we went from inviting her parents to see camp to a Camp Staff Family Day complete with lunch and opening up all the program areas for a whole day after checkout. After running it (learning as we went), I can tell you it was a huge success.

I think if you talk to any camp director these days, they will tell you that “staff are different than they used to be.” I am not going to dig into that, but what I will say is that staff today, I have found, are far more connected to their families. Gone are the days of having your scheduled pay phone time in the dorms to call home. Most of our staff members call or text home daily. There is constant communication. With that understanding, opening up camp, and including staff families as a part of the camp community, makes perfect sense.

Simplicity was key to keeping it enjoyable for everyone. We did not want anyone having to do extra work for the day that was based around them. So our meal was simple. Pulled pork and pulled chicken that we threw into the oven an hour before lunch was to start. Buns and bags of chips and lunch was done. Paper cups and plates meant minimal dishes. We let the families explore camp with staff leading their individual programs. If you had a family that wanted to go swimming, but their camp staff was not a lifeguard, they simply buddied up with another family, and later the other staff would lead something for the lifeguard’s family. To be honest, I thought they would all be gone by 3:30pm. At 5:00pm we still had loads of families on camp. Those staff members whose family was unable to make it, like the international staff, were simply “adopted” by other families, and hung out together. Many of them were taken out to dinner later that evening.

We took advantage of a few minutes before lunch to talk about the staff with their families. It was an opportunity to brag on the staff and to educate the families about the importance of the work their children were doing, both for the campers in their care each week and for all the skills they were personally gaining. We shared articles from magazines talking about how those skills are exactly what job recruiters are seeking. As I spent intentional time with each family throughout the afternoon sharing and bragging about their individual child, I was amazed at their gratitude for offering this opportunity to connect to camp. You could feel the pride those parents had.

Our main takeaways from the day:

·        When a parent can understand what camp does for their child and what their child does at camp (it’s far more than fun and getting a tan) you create a fan of camp. That fan then becomes your advocate when a staff is calling home on the hard days.

·        It boosts motivation. We did our about two-thirds through our season. The next week the staff came back pumped up because they got to show camp off, and they were shown off by camp leadership.

·        How many times have you heard that a parent told a staff member, who wants to return, that they can’t because they have to get a real job? This erases the “real job” conversation as parents understand the long-term skills that are gained.

We are already planning on this becoming an annual activity for our camp staff, and genuinely believe this will become a great staff retention tool. 

~ Brad "BJ" Murray
   Camp Wood YMCA