Written by: Kimberly King, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
With summer days away and the pandemic restrictions lifting, now is the perfect time to start thinking about safety at summer camps! This year, ensuring camp safety may be a little more challenging with Covid concerns. However, body safety hasn’t been at the forefront of our minds as many of our kids have been home for the past year. Time to dust off the prevention toolbox to help prepare your child for a safe camp experience. Stories like this one are the reason why this is so important!
Every year about 7 million kids pack their bags, sleeping bag, notebook, flashlights, and stationary… and head to sleepaway camp or day camp. Camp is a right of passage for many children and tweens—a time to be independent and free with the support of responsible adults and the support they need. Plus, fireside chats with new friends and an unlimited supply of smores- do not hurt! Most campers will return home with many fun stories, camp songs, and new penpals. Sadly, for some kids- this is not the case.
Parents: Talking about prevention may create fear and overwhelm for some of you. Many parents tell me they don’t know where to start, they are scared, and they get stuck. I have good news for you! You can help prevent child sexual abuse by learning the facts, eliminating the risks, and educating our families. It’s easy to tackle this often tricky topic if we start early. Our kids need a few simple small body safety strategies. Come visit my just released Body Boss Bootcamp - Safety Chats for Little Kids Kids to help make this whole topic less stressful!
5 Kid-Friendly Empowerment Strategies to Teach Your Kids Before They Pack for Camp + Questions You Should Be Asking Before They Head to Camp:
For the Kids:
Flag Your Feelings: Help your kids learn to identify their feelings by practicing daily open communication. Learn to identify their feelings using red/green flags.
Be the Boss of Your Body: Your kids can learn that they are the boss of their bodies. They have the right to say “no” to unwanted touch. Start by reviewing consent and body boundaries.
Private Parts have special rules: Nobody should ask to see or touch your child’s private parts, and nobody should ask them to do the same. No games with private parts, no dares with private parts. If this happens- 🚩Raise a Red Flag and Tell a trusted adult right away.
Secrets, Secrets Are No Fun: Encourage truth-telling. Secrets are confusing and dangerous for kids and are used in the grooming process by abusers. Watch our helpful video explaining secrets.
Telling is NOT Tattling! Create a safety circle with 5 names of trusted adults. Be sure your child has access to a trusted adult always. Your child should be able to call you from camp if they have a problem. It is always ok to tell on this topic, and sexual abuse is NEVER a child’s fault.
For the Parents:
Be “THAT MOM or DAD”: Before you say “YES” to camp, make sure you know the answers to the following questions:
Can I have a copy of the sexual abuse prevention policies?
Who can I call? Ask for names and numbers of former parents - call them for references.
Does the camp do background checks on counselors?
Do they follow the rule of 2?
What access will kids have to phones and cameras?
Have any complaints been filed against the camp?
Can my child call home?
What are the sleeping arrangements?
What are the reporting procedures?
What A Prepared Camp Looks Like:
A prepared camp will be well versed in safety policies and be engaged in prevention strategies. These policies look different based on age and camp environment. But, implementation focuses on overall camper safety.
Rosalia Rivera, Consent Educator and Abuse Prevention Expert, advises parents,
“Look for camps with a long history and a culture of safety and ask a lot of questions about prevention policies and procedures. Rosalia is a consent and safety skills parenting expert. Her online class Prepare To Prevent is designed to help parents, and this topic is covered.
I decided to dig a little deeper this year and interview a few camp directors about camp safety this year and how they juggle the challenges of body safety and overall safety.
What the Directors are Saying About Safety:
Jennifer Brown, Director of Summer Camps for Carmel Clay Parks, runs a camp focused on safety and child abuse prevention. In 2011, they earned the certification of a “Partner In Prevention.” This prestigious, safety-focused certification is a big deal! At Carmel Clay Camps, they talk about safety and prevention upfront and maintain 90% of the staff are certified and trained in sexual abuse prevention. According to D2L, “Organizations that train their staff and volunteers create an environment that better protect children. Perpetrators are drawn to places where they can have easy access to children.”
A camp that focuses on prevention through training, policies, and safety procedures is not an attractive workplace for a perpetrator because they will probably get caught.
Jennifer shared that “training increases staff and volunteer awareness that teaches them to recognize the signs that an opportunity exists for abuse to occur and the signs that abuse has occurred. Our staff knows how to react if they recognize the signs or if a child discloses abuse and responds responsibly.”
Because of this focus on prevention, Jennifer shared with me that they have added additional layers of safety procedures that focus not only on protecting children from adult abusers. Jennifer stated that “We are aware that some child-to-child sexual abuse can happen and have instituted safety procedures to protect children from other children. We changed the way we do bathroom, showering, and changing procedures.” Child sexual abuse between older, more powerful children or same-aged children is one of the blind spots that some camps might not have on their radar yet. 40% of reported child sexual abuse happens between children.
Donna Guerrera, the director at St. Paul’s School, runs a summer day camp for preschool-aged children in Westport, Ct. According to Donna, “Summer camp will look a little different this year as we follow CDC protocols to keep all of our children safe and healthy. All of our staff are vaccinated and have undergone a background check by the state of Connecticut. Each camp group has 2 of our highly qualified teachers who are First Aid, CPR, Epi-Pen certified, and have completed state-mandated sexual abuse prevention training.
Donna shared that, “When children need to change their clothes and need help, there are always two teachers with the children to ensure the rule of two.” and that safety is priority number one.
Sleepaway camps provide different challenges that include a mix of ages, sleeping situations, and showering! Also worth considering, camps vary in size, location, and specialty areas.
Pre-Pandemic, I presented a Simply Safe Kids Training at Surf Hatteras. As an advocate and educator, it was focused on safety and prevention. Surf Hatteras is a small camp in The Outerbanks of North Carolina. As a small surf camp, they take safety in and out of the water as the top priority.
Surf Hatteras has at least ten full-time staff members working during every summer session. This camp maintains a better than a 1:2 staff to camper ratio at all times. This is to ensure the safety of each surfer, but it is also to make sure that each one gets the personal attention he or she needs every day. And they don’t just hire anybody! The interview process is quite intensive and focused on prevention. “We’ve got the best people in the world.” Every surf instructor is a certified lifeguard as well!
A combination of educated and empowered kids, “that mom/ that dad,” and a camp with an established culture of safety will provide you with three layers of prevention. Please make sure you brush up on body safety, ask those big questions, and research your camp and camp policies extensively before packing your bags for camp!
To learn more about empowering your kids with Body Safety Skills, join us for
Body Boss Bootcamp for KIDS! Pre-launch registration begins today!
For questions, concerns, resources, and support, please visit my website and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin.
Kimberly King, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kimberly King, "The Safety Mom," is the author of the best-selling, most highly recommended book for children on prevention called I Said No! A kid-to-kid guide to keeping private parts private.
Kimberly is a mom of three children, a survivor, a Sexual Abuse Prevention Facilitator with D2L.org, and a Sexual Assualt Crisis Counselor with The Rowan Center. She spends her time training adults and children on prevention strategies and sharing her expertise as a consultant, advisor, and media source.
Her work has been featured in various magazines, podcasts, and blogs, including; NBC, Ticker News, The Chicago Tribune, Women’s Fitness, Child Mind Institute, Social Work Now, US News and World Report, The Health Journal, Modern Mom, PopSugar, Child Life Mom, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Thrive Global, Medium, Dads Divorce, Split, Sex Ed Rescue, Consent Parenting, Pretty Wellness Podcast, iHeart Radio, and is highly recommended as a resource by national prevention organizations. Please contact her directly for any media requests.
