4 Tips for Letting Your Teen Visit Summer Camp Friends Out of State

One of the great aspects of summer camp is that your child will meet people from all over the country. Many teens may want to visit their camp friends who live in another city or another state. As a parent, it is important to make sure you are protecting your teens when you let them visit their camp friends. 

1. Make Sure You Communicate With Your Child's Friends and Their Parents

Unlike your teen's local friends, you most likely have not met their long-distance friends' parents. Before you allow your teen to arrange a trip, you should insist on talking to the parents of the friend they will be staying with. Ideally, you should do this on a video call, so you can see their parents and spend some time getting to know them. 

2. Create a Check-In Schedule for Your Teen

Your teen may get caught up having fun and forget to check in with you. A concrete schedule for checking in will help prevent this. For example, have your child call or text you at the same time every day, and have them set up a daily alarm on their phone to remind them of the check-in time. 

3. Have a Safe Way to Give Your Child Funds

Your teen will likely need money during their trip. If they do not yet have a debit card, now would be a good time to get them their first debit card. Make sure you talk to them about responsible usage and be prepared to quickly transfer funds to their account if an emergency arises. 

4. Encourage Your Teen to Travel With Other Campers

If possible, encourage your teen to travel with another camp friend from your area. This will give them a travel companion to help keep them on schedule and keep them safe during their travels. If your teen does not have any other camp friends in the area to travel with, make sure you book them a non-stop flight and that their friend's parents will be waiting for them at their destination. 

Traveling to visit camp friends is a great way for your teen to learn independence. However, it is important that you take some safety measures to protect your teen.