Should You Let Your Kids Go to Summer Camp?

Summer seems to be shorter every year. It used to be comprised of countless lazy afternoons playing in the creek, eating watermelon, and then chasing fireflies after supper.  But now, it fills instead with all-star games, swim team, sports camps, play dates, and all manner of day camps.  Some areas use the “balanced school year,” so these unlucky children (like mine) will be returning to school the first week of August.  With such a full summer, why have I spent several hours this week preparing for my son to go off to a month-long traditional summer camp?

The New York Times reports that there are many factors—from the recession to increased parental demands-- working against the survival of summer camps. “The tight economy has made private traditional sleep-away camps …. seem even more of a luxury, even for many upper-middle-class families who have sent their children to such programs for generations.” On a tight budget, camp is an easy line item to cut.

And beyond the terrible economy, traditional summer camps are competing with specialty two to three week camps that hone particular skills—orchestra camp or intense sports camps, for example. In response, summer camps are heightening their programs—hiring professional athletes and musicians to train campers and building ever better facilities. Parents used to want their children to come home with all of their underwear.  But now, they want them to return knowing guitar basics or jewelry making.   And, of course, in the age of hyperparenting, they want frequent camp updates. These pressures come when general expenses—gas and groceries—are on the rise.

The world of the traditional summer is camp is a rocky one: why is important that it thrive? And why, despite a trending downturn (most camp enrollments have dropped since 2007) am I packing up my son and driving him to camp?

• Nature – Camp gives children the opportunity to escape from their technological lives. Most camps (unless they are technology-themed) forbid phones, iPods, and other electronic devices. Instead of playing video games, kids are actively enjoying nature—canoeing, rappelling, horseback riding, and swimming. Although still busy with activities, they are doing them without all the background noise—without even the whir of air conditioning. As one camper said, “When it rains during the school year, I put on a movie or surf the internet. When it rains at camp, I listen to it.” Camp gives my children time to think.
• Friends – With the background noise deleted from their lives, children become real friends. They talk during dinner, while they walk to the tennis courts, as they float in canoes, and in hushed voices after taps. Although parents choose the camp, we lose direct control when we drive away. Instead of having micromanaged social lives (“You want Rob to come spend the night? Why don’t we have Austin over tonight instead, honey?”), they have freedom to develop their own relationships. We cherish the things we choose.
• Mentors – When selecting a camp, I make sure to find out how carefully they choose their counselors. Where I send my boys to camp, the counselors have invariably impressed me as the kind of young men I hope my boys eventually become. While I can lecture my children all day long, a much younger “adult” who models responsibility, kindness, and leadership speaks volumes. Glenn Breazeale, director of Alpine Camp for Boys in Mentone, AL, says, “The strength of our camp is its people. I believe that counselors are everything to our summer program.  They are Alpine for our campers.  They are the ones that create the story each summer for these boys to enter into.”
• Independence – Ultimately, camp is a mini-experiment in growing up. For a few weeks, children are responsible for their own space, choosing their activities, and having the right clothes and equipment. Of course, they are well supervised and yes, someone else is doing their cooking and laundry. But mama is not there to helicopter around them, handing them soap and sunscreen. For a brief time, the children spread their own wings. Breazeale thinks this is one of the greatest benefits to sending children to camp. He says, “We see boys maturing as they learn to live in a cabin with 6 or 8 other boys and two counselors in very close quarters.  For most boys this might be the first time they have shared so much space with so many people.  They learn to make their bed, help sweep the cabin, keep their area neat, and respect the areas of their cabinmates.  They learn to work out differences and get along with boys that are not always like them.  When boys return home from camp parents always comment that they feel like their children have grown up by leaps and bounds compared to when they arrived.”
• Fun -- Although I am not insisting that my son come home with a perfect backhand or the ability to score higher on an achievement test, I do send him to camp to get experiences that I cannot personally provide for him. No power on earth would enable me to teach him to fly fish, rappel, ride horses, canoe, or mountain bike—especially all in the same day!

Although my summer with my son effectively ends next week (he returns from camp to the onslaught of school), my ultimate goal with him is to work myself out of a job--to see him assume responsibility first for himself and eventually for others.  (Frighteningly, he may one day be responsible for me!) We could spend the rest of the summer attending day camps, going to movies, playing the Wii, and having envy-of-the-neighborhood sleepovers, but I think our real goals are better achieved by packing him up and sending him away. It’s a bit painful, but for a brief time I think camp is the better place for him. If he can take a few strides down the road to adulthood while swimming, fishing, canoeing, and eating s’mores way too close to bedtime, what other choice could I make?

But as I pack I’ll make sure to include some self-addressed envelopes… and I won’t forget the sunscreen!