Summer camp should be a fun experience for your children and worry-free for you. Whether you're choosing a day camp or overnight camp, ask several key questions when making your choice to keep your kids safe and happy while at camp.

Get more help on finding the right kids' summer camps. Read the free Summer Camp Guide.

1.Are you accredited by the American Camp Association?

The American Camp Association (ACA) has hundreds of standards its thousands of member camps must meet in order to be accredited.

Those standards include health, safety, quality of programs and more. The ACA works with experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Red Cross and other youth-focsed organizations to ensure your child's camp experience is up to standards that will help children have an engaging, exciting time at camp while staying safe and healthy.

2. What are your requirements for staff?

You want to make sure the people taking care of your children are properly trained and have the necessary credentials and clearances. For example, does the camp require background checks for all of its employees? Are they trained in first aid and CPR? Are the camp counselors who will be guiding your children teenagers and, if so, how are they trained to handle emergencies?

3. What percentage of staff is over 18?

Teens as young as 16 can take jobs at summer camps. But the ACA recommends that at least 80% of the staff be 18 years or older.

4. What type of on-site medical staff does the camp have?

Overnight camps should at least have a licensed physician or a registered nurse on site at all times.

Day camps should have phone access to dial 911 for an emergency. You will also want to ask how far away the nearest hospital is in case your child is injured and needs more medical care than medical staff can give your child at the camp.

Also, if your child is attending a camp with a higher-risk of injuries, such as adventure camp or sports camp, then you'll want to know what types of medical procedures they have in place to keep your child safe. And if a child does become injured, will there be other activities she can attend or will her camp experience be over?

For parents of children with food allergies or other medical conditions that require special care, address those with the contact person at the camp as well as the medical staff who will be on-site when your child is at camp. You have to be 100% comfortable that these people can properly take care of your child should an emergency arise.

5. What's the return rate of campers and staff?

Simply put: do children come back to the camp again and is there a lot of staff turnover year to year. For some types of summer camps, you won't expect a higher return rate because of age restrictions that would limit a camper to come back year after year. But for a general summer camp that allows a large age range, a 50% return rate or higher would be a great number while lower numbers should have you following up with the question of why a higher number of campers don't come back.

For staff, the ACA says 40-60% of the staff should come back to camp every year. A lower return rate may mean there is an underlying issue, such as poor management or other staffing problems that you should question to make sure your children are in the proper hands when you send them off to camp.

6. What's the ratio of camp counselors to children?

There are only so many children a camp counselor can keep track of safely. For overnight camps, the ACA recommends a 1:6 ratio for ages 7-8, 1:8 for ages 9-14 and 1:10 for ages 15 and 18.  For day camps, the ACA guidelines call for 1:8 for children ages 6-8, 1:10 for children 9-14 and 1:12 for ages 15-18.

7. Will my child be riding in any vehicles?

Some camps are so spread out your children may be transported to other locations on the grounds. How safe are the vehicles and what type of terrain will they be traveling on?

8. How are on-site visitors screened?

This includes every person from other parents to trash men who come on-site to the camp. You also want to ask about record keeping for every visitor who enters the site. Your goal is to make sure unauthorized people don't have access to your children at any time while they're at camp.

9. How do you keep track of campers at all times?

Is there any time of day that campers are allowed to walk the grounds alone without a camp counselor or other staff member with them? How does the camp keep track of the campers at night. Are cabins staffed with at least one counselor?

10. How does the camp's staff handle conflict with the children?

Even while on a mini-vacation, kids are going to run into conflict with each other. Ask how the staff will deal with these conflicts between campers and what types of actions would cause a camper to be sent home.

11. What is the camp's method of child discipline?

Your views may be very different from the camps. You want to make sure you find a camp that handles discipline the way you would. For example, the camp may put a child in time out. You'll need to find another camp if time outs aren't in line with your parenting principles at home.

12. How does the camp deal with homesick kids?

It's going to happen every year in every age group. Kids around going to get homesick. Do the counselors have proper training to help the kids get through being homesick? Will the campers be allowed to call home? Ask how the camp's staff is trained to deal with children who are homesick and in which cases they will call you so that you can come pick up your child.

13. How often are campers allowed to contact home?

You'll want to stay in touch with your children just so you know that they're okay. But the camp probably has rules on how often you can make contact with your child. It won't be as easy as sending your child a quick text because, even if your children are allowed to have cell phones at home, they usually aren't allowed to have their cell phones on them at camp.

14. What is a typical day like at the camp?

Ask the camp to tell you about or email you a sample schedule of the day's activities. Also ask if children are allowed to choose their own activities at camp or ahead of time or if the schedule applies to all campers. If the camp is very structured and your child likes the flexibility of making her own decisions, the structure may mean she's bored if she ends up hiking all day when she would rather be in arts and crafts sessions like they have at art camps.

15. Can I have a list of references?

You'll want to do your own research online to see what other people have to say but the camp can also give you some of the names and phone numbers of campers who've attended there. Of course, these references are going to be glowing but you can ask many of the same questions above to a real parent who's been there/done that with this camp.