Picking a camp for your child can feel like a monumental task. You want to make sure it is the right fit for your child -and maybe for their siblings too, if keeping everyone together matters to your family. You want to make sure they have the traditions you love, that the facilities are taken care of, that the activities feel right, and that the overall experience is everything you hope camp will be for them. But most importantly, you want to trust the people in charge. You

For years, I was the camp director. I was the person parents called when they had questions, concerns, worries, or simply needed reassurance. I always made sure families had my phone number and knew they could contact me if they needed anything. My philosophy was simple: if a parent was trusting me with their child, the least I could do was be available. Over the years, I saw every type of camp parent. There were the parents who called regularly for updates and wanted to know

I've spent years in the camp world—as a camper, counselor, and camp director. Yet as I prepared to send my daughter to sleepaway camp for the first time, I found myself constantly wanting to call her camp director. Not because anything was wrong. Just because I had questions. Concerns. "What ifs." I kept stopping myself because I didn't want to be that parent. When I finally admitted this to her camp director, she said something I'll never forget: "If you're not advocating fo