Top Ten Reasons Why Your Kids Need Camp

…Even if you don’t think they do…

by Tish Davidson

 What? My kids go to camp? I don’t think so. I know they got bored after a couple of weeks last summer. They don’t get to go many places with their sitter while I’m at work, and they end up watching a lot of TV, but I never went to camp. Why should they go? What’s so important about summer camp, anyway?

This summer more than six million children will attend camp. American summer camps first appeared on the East Coast about 100 years ago. Located in rural areas, camps provided city kids an escape from the heat, the streets and boredom with programs built around swimming, sports and outdoor skills. Today there are more than 10,000 camps in the United States of which about 6,000 are residential or sleepaway camps. They offer everything from the traditional waterfront activities, sports and arts and crafts to filmmaking, foreign languages and off-road driving.

For parents who never went to camp themselves it might take a while to realize that summer camp is more than just expensive babysitting. Camps provide a safe, healthy, supervised environment where children can experience a true community of their peers.

"Some parents say choosing a camp is like choosing a college, and it is, because if you make the right choice, camp is a place where your child will grow," says Karenne Bloomgarden, owner of KB Camp Services, a New York City camp consulting business that matches children to camps.

So, if your children are facing another aimless summer, but you aren’t sure what summer camp is all about, here are 10 reasons why your kids need camp.

Camps know that to stay in business campers must have a safe, but rewarding summer. They select their staff with the physical and emotional well being of campers as their highest priority. Many staff members are teachers or college students experienced in working with children. Often they are former campers themselves.

More than 70 percent of camps are privately owned family businesses. The owners are intimately involved in both staff selection and daily implementation of camp policies.

When selecting a camp, look for accreditation by the American Camping Association, an organization that sets standards for staffing and safety. For single parents or families where both parents work, camp may be a safer choice than a patchwork of summer childcare.

"Friends at camp are everything," says Doug Draizin, producer of the movies Fools Rush In and Spy Hard. Draizin spent 16 years as a camper – then as a counselor – at Camp Baco for Boys in the Adirondacks. "Where else but camp can an eight-year-old boy hang out with a 15-year-old?" he asks. "Everything is so segregated at school. At camp there are no boundaries on friendships."

Many parents worry that their child will not make friends at camp, but camp living is structured to make friendships almost inevitable. "Relationships at camps are much deeper than friendships during the year, because you are living with your friends 24 hours a day," says Bloomgarden.

The intensity of camp friendships echoes the friendships made in college dorms or during military service. Many people remain friends for years. "I know people who have even started businesses with camp friends," says Bloomgarden.

Emily Webster of Essex, Connecticut has Williams Syndrome, a genetic disorder. Although she had been successfully integrated into public elementary school, seventh grade was a nightmare. "She was ostracized. She had no friends, and never got invited to a birthday party or sleepover," says her mother, Sharon.

The four weeks that Emily spent at Round Lake Camp in Lake Como, Pennsylvania were her salvation. "She fit right in, she loved the people, loved the counselors. She found a boyfriend, and has kept up that friendship after camp," says Sharon. "Once she felt accepted at camp, Emily’s self-esteem soared."

Every child, not just special needs kids, has the chance to re-invent himself at camp. Each child goes to camp with a clean slate. Children who struggle academically during the school year are not judged by grades. Kids who are bullied or excluded are no longer subjected to their tormentors. Every child has the chance to be successful on her own terms.

Camp is a true community of children, a place to belong and not be controlled by parents or teachers. Which activities to sign up for, what to eat in the cafeteria, which clothes to wear, whether to make a purchase in the camp store — for the first time kids have to make their own decisions without immediate recourse to adult opinions. And they have to live with those choices.

Certainly some poor decisions get made, but that is part of the learning process. Counselors and staff members provide a safety net in the decision making process. They’ll keep an unobtrusive eye on kids so that no, your daughter will not exist on a diet of Cheerios and chocolate cake and your son will not wear the same pair of underwear for all four weeks of camp.

A stay at summer camp lets kids and parents take a break from some of the stresses that haunt families. For parents it provides much-needed time to concentrate on themselves and their own needs. Many couples choose to take adult vacations while their children are at camp.

Camp lets kids put aside the strain of an ill family member, marital discord, turmoil caused by siblings, and other family worries for a few weeks and just concentrate on being kids. It promotes a natural change in habits. Kids get off the couch and away from the computer and television screen. They leave behind the neighborhood bully or friends that their parents consider undesirable. Camp gives kids a chance to put their home life in perspective and discover that other children share many of the family stresses that they feel.

Quality camps, especially special interest camps, draw campers from all corners of the United States and Canada. It isn’t unusual to find a girl from Pennsylvania bunking with two girls from Maryland, one from California and another from Ohio at a camp in upstate New York. In addition, many camps make a special effort to achieve diversity with scholarships and financial aid. Others mainstream campers with disabilities.

During the past five years, inquiries about summer camps from families overseas have increased by approximately 50 percent. Gretchen Mann, director of Camp Half Moon in Great Barrington, Massachusetts says that 15 percent of her campers came from abroad in 2001. International counselors are on almost every American camp staff. Living with people of different backgrounds brings new perspectives and understandings, while e-mail makes it easy to maintain long distance friendships once camp is over.

When Kelsey Farabee of Walnut Creek, California went to Bearskin Meadows Camp in Kings Canyon National Park, she swam, did arts and crafts, played sports and sang around the campfire. But the best part of camp for Kelsey was that she didn’t have to explain her insulin pump to anyone. In fact, two of her counselors used insulin pumps, too. For Kelsey, going to a camp where everyone had diabetes gave her a chance to experience what it feels like to be in the majority.

Kids can feel in the minority for any number of reasons, real or imagined — too fat, too dumb, too clumsy, too nerdy, too shy. A good camp gives children a feeling of being part of a team, of feeling safe and accepted.

"We believe there is a camp for every kid," says Jeffrey Solomon, Executive Director of the National Camp Association, an organization dedicated to matching camps and campers. Parents who recognize their child’s strengths and weaknesses can find a camp that plays to the strengths and makes them feel they belong.

The job of a parent is to work oneself out of a job. Parents need to let kids develop independence and confidence in their own judgment. Often camp separation is harder for the parent than it is for the child.

"When a parent tells me that their child is not ready for camp, it often means that the parents are the ones not ready," says Karenne Bloomgarden.

Hard as camp separation may be, it is good practice for future separations. "Our oldest daughter, Maggie, went to Camp Wyonegonic in Denmark, Maine," says Sharon Webster. "Camp was responsible for changing her life. This year she was a page in Washington, D.C. She had no fear of going away because she had gone to camp."

Camps offer a selection of activities that no parent can provide. At Camp Tioga in Thompson, Pennsylvania campers can go mountain boarding on snowboards with tires or summer sled riding (sleds with wheels). They can shoot and edit a video or play Ultimate Frisbee. One of the strengths of summer camp is the chance to try activities that aren’t offered or don’t fit into the school year.

On the other hand, kids with a deep and abiding passion for a particular activity, whether it is theater, skateboarding, water skiing, or bird watching, can attend a specialty camp where they will share their passion with like-minded kids and work with professionals to improve their skills.

Camp means community living. For children who don’t have siblings, who have never had to share a room or speak up and be assertive to get their needs met, it is a wonderful lesson in patience, tolerance and interpersonal skills. Camp lets kids put into practice the life skills that their parents try to teach them all winter.

"Why do kids need camp?" asks Ron Kuznetz, owner of Camp Tioga. "In today’s world where one out of every two married couples end up getting divorced, people need to learn to live with each other. With 10 kids and counselors in a bunk, they really learn how to become more tolerant."

Tish Davidson is a freelance writer living in Fremont, California.