Your tween or teen may suddenly be nearing the end of their days as a camper, but is not quite ready to start working a summer job in the unfamiliar domain of student jobs such as in restaurants and retail. Some teens wish to stay on with their camp and look forward to the day in which they can finally be a camp counsellor. Here’s why your teen might love it!

Most parents dread finding new ways to entertain their teens. Especially parents, who don’t necessarily have the budget to finance their teens shopping whims and excursions. Teens may also feel limited to staying home when they are unable to see their friends. Parents may also have trouble monitoring their teens coming and goings.

When a teen is working as a camp counsellor, they are able to work during the workday schedule of 9-5, which tends to fit great with their parents’ work schedule. Elsa Lamontagne is now a University student, who used to work as a camp counsellor as a teen. “I believe that every teen should experience being a camp counsellor at least once in their lives, as it did provide me with a lot of experience that I wouldn’t have gotten had I worked in a store or a restaurant,” she explains. “I always wanted to be a camp counsellor because I enjoyed the experience of attending camp as a camper and I wanted to do something fun while I was saving money for CEGEP. I made a lot of wonderful memories and made a lot of great friends working as a camp counsellor.”

Being a camp counsellor will also allow your teen to participate in camp activities and outings at free of charge in return for their work. Being a camp counsellor provides your teen with many valuable life skills, such as learning to be patient, responsible and a good leader and role model for the campers. Several camp counsellors also learn early on if a career in childcare is the right path for them.

Brandie Turpin, learnt first-hand that working with children would be the right career choice for her. She enjoyed her day to day working with the children, which led her to develop a career in early childhood education. “Working with children early on when I was a teenage camp counsellor definitely helped me solidify the fact that I did want to choose a career involving children. In fact, around that time, I started working as a counsellor and I made the decision to apply to early childhood education instead of computer science! If I hadn’t had my experience as a counsellor, I don’t know if I would have started a career path in early childhood education. I was able to see how much I loved working with children and that I had a natural skill and connection with them.”

Camp counsellors may also have the opportunity to take part in several training such as First Aid, Leadership Development and Counsellor In Training (CIT) internships, which is an unpaid internship for tweens and young teens who can participate as a counsellor aid if they are not quite ready for the full-time counsellor role.

The role of a camp counsellor is to ensure that the campers are having fun in a safe environment. Working as a camp counsellor and having fun is a great way to enjoy the summer days outdoors and to make the most out of summer.