What are your plans for summer camp?

With spring still a few days away, summer may seem far off, but parents interested in putting their children in summer camps need to start planning now. The most popular programs fill up quickly, and no kid wants to get stuck spending a couple of weeks at Camp Loser.

Choosing the right day camp or residential camp is always a challenge. For advice, we called the American Camping Association in Indiana, which sets accrediting standards for camps across the nation and has 6,500 members, including camp directors, owners, students and retirees.

We spoke to Don Wood, who runs the ACA's southeast office in North Carolina, about hot trends in camps (think adventure) and how parents should check out programs.

Question: The range of summer camps available these days -- from sports camps to computer camps to your traditional day or resident camps -- is overwhelming. What would you tell parents who just want to give their kids something to do this summer and don't know where to start?

Answer: The first thing they want to do is talk to the child about what the child would like -- hopefully, that's in agreement with the parents -- and then kind of narrow things down from there. Many general purpose camps have a lot of different activities, so if the child wants to do horseback riding, they don't necessarily have to look for just a horseback camp. Does their child prefer more of a competitive situation or a non-competitive situation? There are camps that run the extreme at both ends, and some -- most of them -- that meet in the middle. Most kids want something in between.

Question: How early should they start looking, and what should they expect to spend for a resident camp or a day camp?

Answer: It would be good if they've already started looking. Some are already full. For some sleep-away camps, they're too late. For a week, parents could expect to spend anywhere from $150 up to $600. Many times the more expensive camps aren't necessarily the better camps. Some camps, Girl Scout camps for example, are subsidized by other organizations, so they're a little less expensive. If the parent says, well, I don't have that kind of money, there are lot of Kiwanis clubs and Rotary clubs that offer scholarships, but a lot of times people don't ask. It could be late for that, but it's always worth asking about.

Question: What are the hottest summer camp trends over the past couple of years?

Answer: Adventure programming -- such as high and low ropes, mountain biking. It doesn't necessarily have to be the kind of stuff parents see on TV and say, "No way I'd let my child do that." For the past 10 years, camps have been building more ropes courses, more climbing courses. They're canoeing, kayaking, whether it be on rivers or flat water. I'd say the adventure started out as a component of camp, and it has become more of an entity in itself. Their campers and staff are out on the trail all the time. It's mostly residential camps, but more day camps are offering these programs. They've had trouble attracting teens, and now they're attracting them by offering adventure programs. It really has worked.

Question: I also have read that some camps are incorporating more educational programs. Is that true?

Answer: Camps always have been very good about environmental education. And there are specialty camps specializing in math. If they have an outdoor component, the child is more likely to be excited about going. Most of them have something that entices the child. . . . (But) that trend is not as widespread as (media) have made it out to be.

Question: Is the traditional carefree summer camp experience -- either where kids go away for eight weeks at a time in some woodsy location, or day camps where campers do arts and crafts and a variety of outdoor activities -- dying out?

Answer: Not really. (In the South) that kind of experience still exists in the same pockets where it used to -- western North Carolina, there are pockets of that in north Georgia. Those three- to five-week sessions are still something children and parents want, particularly the older children. Florida doesn't really have those long-term sessions. They have never been popular in Florida, and they still are not. But a lot of children from Florida do go up to North Carolina or north Georgia for those kinds of camps. The all-summer program, the eight-week session, there's not as much of that.

Question: Since Florida doesn't have the climate where most kids would want to spend weeks camping out in a log cabin, what kinds of camps would you say are most popular here? Are they usually day camps or resident camps?

Answer: Both kinds are popular; resident camps typically last one to two weeks. Florida has many different kinds of camps. Theater arts camps, magic camps. YMCAs offer a lot of varying kinds of day camps for young children, up to teenagers. Then you've got sports camps at colleges and universities.

Question: With so many kinds of camps available, what's the best way for parents to wade through all their options and find the right fit for themselves and their child?

Answer: We have a pretty good Web site that can help them: www.acacamps.org. We have a camp search engine there, and parents can look all across the country. They can narrow things down. Then, after they select their camp, they should talk to the program director or other full-time staff people. Ask them questions -- what do you look for in a staff member and are you able to hire these people? Parents are really concerned about who is looking out for their child.

(Talking to the director) really helps because it gives the parent a comfort level. They also should ask how old the counselors are. We typically say they should be 18 years of age and older. At that age they're a little more mature, a little more able to handle things. It also helps if parents can talk to other parents in the neighborhood about the camps their children attend. And if they find a camp they like, they should ask the director if there are other parents in their area who send their child there, so they can talk to them about the camp.

If they look on the Web site and they don't see anything in their area, they can call the local YMCA, the Jewish community center, or the local parks and recreation department.

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