It's Tween Tuesday -- and tweens are often headed to overnight camp in summer. Here's Liz Atwood's take on that: 

"The first time I sent my older son to overnight camp he was 10 years old. He had never spent the night away from home. In fact, the one sleepover he had been invited to ended at 11 p.m. when he called us to come get him because didn't want to sleep in someone else's house.

"Naturally, it was with some trepidation that we packed him up for that first camp in western Maryland. The staff prohibited parents and kids from talking to each other over the phone except in an emergency, although the kids were given access to e-mail. I wrote him every day, but he didn't respond. Midway through the week, I asked another family whose son was at the camp to find out if my son was all right. Turns out he was fine.

"That doesn't mean he wasn't homesick. He later confided to me that the first two nights, he cried. He said that while he liked the camp activities, he hated sleeping in a strange place. He complained about sleeping in a cabin full of other boys, he didn't like the practical jokes the counselors pulled, and he didn't like the rowdiness that is bound to happen with 15 kids sleeping together.

"But the following year, he again went to an overnight camp. That time, he called the second day and said he hated it. But I urged him to stick it out and at the end of the week, he said it was the best camp he had ever attended.

"Since then, he's gone on weekend camping trips with his Scout troop and each time, he has had a good time.

"This is the time of year many parents of tweens are getting ready to send their kids off to overnight camp. Some kids will love it; some will hate it. The American Camp Association reports that 96 percent of kids who spend two or more weeks away from home will be homesick at least one day. The organization has lots of tips to help get your child ready for camp and suggestions for how to cope with homesickness. The most important tip, the organization says, is to avoid making a deal that you'll pick the child up if he's homesick.

"In a couple of weeks, I'll again be packing up my older son for camp, this time a weeklong trip in Virginia. Will he like it? Will he complain about the food or the bed? Will he find the other boys too rowdy? Will he be teased? Will he get bitten by mosquitoes or ticks? I don't know. But as he grows older, we both are becoming more confident in his ability to get along away from home."

Photo courtesy of American Camp Association