New Camper Blog Series – Communicating At Camp

Welcome back to the New Camper Blog Series!

We are focusing on how you as parents communicate with your children and how campers can communicate back while at camp! We stick to old fashioned methods of communicating as much as we can but also understand the need to communicate in a timely manner. Below you will find the ways communication is possible at camp.
 

3 ways to talk from Parent to Camper:

Handwritten Letters
Emails
Faxes

Handwritten Letters

Campers love getting “snail” mail. This is a wonderful way to communicate during the summer. We even suggest pre-writing a letter or two and sending it on its way before your son gets to camp. That way when he arrives or soon after he will start getting mail. (Hint: mail from places like California or Florida can take from 5-7 days to reach us!) You can send mail to: Camp High Rocks P.O. Box 210 Cedar Mountain, NC 28718.

In letters sent from you to your son at camp, it is generally best to ask about the camper’s experience or to comment on what he has already written home about.  Numerous references to home, family, pets or saying “we miss you” can turn a borderline homesickness case into a full-fledged occurrence.

Email

Forget to write a letter or want something that gets there a little faster? Send an email to camper@highrocks.com with your camper’s name in the subject line. We will print all emails out and deliver them with the regular mail at 12:30. (note: there will be a 75-cent charge to your camper’s store account per email

In letters sent from you to your son at camp, it is generally best to ask about the camper’s experience or to comment on what he has already written home about.  Numerous references to home, family, pets or saying “we miss you” can turn a borderline homesickness case into a full-fledged occurrence.

Fax

We can also receive faxes and deliver those to your son as well. They work the same as emails! You can fax letters to: (828) 884-4612.


 

Communication – Camper to Parent:
Handwritten Letters

Handwritten Letters

Campers you can write handwritten letters home! We avoid computers and any technology by using the good ole pen and paper method. A few tips on how to be successful at letter writing (hint: parents listen up too):
 
1. Zip them up!  – In the cabins, envelopes tend to get a bit sticky from the humidity which means they seal themselves and become unusable. To avoid this put all of your envelopes in zip locks (or any type of container that is sealed)!
 
 
2. Pre-Address – Putting your home address, or maybe a grandparent’s address, on the envelope beforehand will ensure the letter gets to the right place! Help your little guy out with this step, it can be pretty tricky! This normally increases the odds campers will write.
  
3. All The Stuff – Make sure the boys have everything they need to write home! Stamps, pens, letters, and envelopes in their trunks ready to go can really help. We do sell these items at our camp store for the boys who need more writing materials or have misplaced something.
 
 
 

How to See Your Camper During His Session:

Every day camp posts photos of the boys (almost 200 a day!). Our photographer works hard to capture the feel of every camp day through pictures and most camper faces as well! Every night we will be writing a camp blog with information about the day and have a link to the photos. While we do work hard to get every boy in photos, know that with 14 different activities a day, and the number of trips out of camp, we will not be able to get every camper every day. That being said, prepare your son for photos! Ask him to hop in front of a camera every once in a while so you can see his smiling face. 

Just a quick reminder, you can get all of the pictures from your son’s camp session through an online subscription to download the summer’s high-resolution pictures right from the online photo gallery. Click on the Camp Store link below to buy the online high-resolution download.

CLICK HERE FOR CAMP STORE
Store Will Be Updated March 1st

We will be sending more information out about the online photo gallery closer to the summer.

Quick note – everyone will have free access to the photo gallery! Buying the Camp Store USB/Online Download will allow you to download high-resolution photos.
 

Technology Free

As we are a technology free camp – phone calls directly to the boys are not allowed. Woody, our Associate Director, and his father Dan, the Head Counselor, are camp’s direct lines of contact with you, the parent. Both are happy to talk anytime! Call us at the office to get in touch with them (828) 885-2153.


Our next blog will focus on information for parents. We want to give you a few tools to use when talking about camp to your children to set them up for success. Our next installment of the blog will be: TALKING ABOUT CAMP

Did you miss our last New Camper Series Blog post?
Click here for “Activity Scheduling”
Click here for “Packing for Camp”
#newcamperblogseries2017

 

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