Last summer, Hannah Alper attended a WordPress workshop at the Digital Family Summit right here in Philadelphia. Since then her blog, Call Me Hannah, has exploded, making the 10-year-old one of the most read kid bloggers on the Internet.
After the summit, Hannah attended overnight camp for the first time. Despite some initial butterflies, she ended up having a blast. Here are Hannah's top 10 tips for kids who are leaving for their first sleepaway camp experience this summer, in her own words.
- Make friends with the people in your cabin. You will make new friends starting from the bus ride up there and have lots of people to hang out with. Also, introduce yourself to everyone. I always had not just my friends in my cabin but other people in my camp were my friends too. It is always good to have a lot of friends to get you through the lonely or homesick times.
- If it’s your first time at overnight camp, it’s probably also the first time for most of the kids in your cabin. You are not the only one. It will make you feel better to know that.
- I was mostly nervous about the nighttime. My Mom’s advice to me was “all you have to do is make it through the night and then you will have so much fun in the day.” The days are so much fun at camp. Remember this at night.
- Try talking to your counselors if you’re feeling homesick. It feels good and they can make you feel better. They were also first-time campers – a really, really long time ago, though!
- When you’re packing for camp, collect some pictures of your family and bring some tape so that you can have them on the wall at your bunk.
- You know the list of things they tell you to pack? When it comes to clothing, bring extra t-shirts BUT…
- Don’t take your favourite t-shirt. You will probably lose it.
- My Mom and I had a special deal that we would both go outside at 9:30 every night and look up at the stars and say goodnight. When I looked up, I knew that she was looking up too.
- Take a notebook so that you can write down the phone numbers and email addresses of your new friends to stay in touch until next year.
- Make the most of every day. It goes so fast you’ll be home before you know it and instead of wishing you were home you’ll be wishing you are back at camp.
Does your camper any other first-time tips to share? Add them to Hannah's in the comments below.
