<p>I must truly be longing for the “good ole’ days.” Or I am just old. But I enjoyed this op-ed piece about summer camp (especially the last paragraph 
) and thought some people on here might like it to.</p>
<p>From The Washington Post
Weds. July 19, 2006
<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801375.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801375.html</a></p>
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<p>My S went a super-expensive day camp where the emphasis was on fun, fun, fun, and hated it. The problem was that his idea of fun and the camp director’s idea of fun did not match. So the following year we sent him to a sleepover camp that was half academic and half fun. And he sorta enjoyed himself. Then we discovered CTY, a definitely academic camp and he loved it. Then he went to math camp where it was–according to him–math all day, six days a week and loved it even more. He did come back with some non-academic skills, to wit, how to use glow sticks, sing Miss American Pie; he also mastered the complete Monty Python oeuvre. All extremely important life skills, to be sure. </p>
<p>To each his own idea of summer fun.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why caving camp or rafting camp - or horseback riding camp, which I thought had been a staple of camps for ages - would be considered overprogramming, excessive indulgence, or the kid equivalent of “bowling alone”. It’s not like you don’t still make friends with the other kids or do fun activities. If it’s a day camp and the parent has to schedule their life around it I can see the author’s point about indulgence, but not really otherwise.</p>
<p>Weenie, I enjoyed the article and thank you for posting it. I found parts of it very funny. Other parts I related to having been a camp kid growing up and also sending my kids to camps.</p>
<p>I went to overnight camp for ten years, for 8 weeks every summer. It was a general camp (as discussed in the article) in the Poconos and one had to attend for 8 weeks as there were no sessions as seems to be the more common way today. I would say that camp remains one of my most fond memories of childhood. I attended the same camp as my two older brothers. Back then, just as the article implies, the entire “bunk” went from activity to activity as a group. And yes, I learned archery and riflery too, lol. I made plenty of lanyards too. We had Color War which was a big highlight of summer. We put on shows, etc. We did every sport and craft. We had all the lake activities. Lotsa camp songs. Campfires. We had dances and summer loves. We had the same friends every summer. I went back as a counselor the summer before entering college. </p>
<p>My husband tried camp growing up but never liked it. And then as parents, we live in a place that “looks” like where people send their kids to camp (Vermont) but while we don’t have to send our kids away to get to a place like this, it still is not the camp experience. When our kids were young, they did summer activities here such as horseback riding, swim lessons and a performing arts day program and I schlepped them to everything like a camp director. However, they really wanted to go to overnight camp. My oldest had done one week camps for dryland training for ski racers in our state (overnight). So, I got a camp directory and was searching for a camp that allowed just a two week session. A regular camp, not specialized. The girls were 8 1/2 and 10 1/2. I wanted just a two week session because they were involved in day programs they liked at home and so only had two weeks available. In our research, we came across performing arts camps that had a min. of three week sessions and my kids thought those looked particularly appealing and we saved the information for the future. We chose a regular camp in the Catskills for two weeks. They enjoyed it and are the types who have NO qualms about being away from home. Two weeks, though, seemed so short to me, having gone 8 weeks to camp growing up. </p>
<p>The following summer, they wanted to give up the performing arts day program at home and go to the overnight performing arts camps we had found in our research the prior summer that had a min. of 3 week sessions. However, both begged to go six weeks, not three. We narrowed it to two performing arts camps that happened to be located in the Catskills as well (was never shooting for that area). But, one child really wanted one camp and the other preferred the other camp as there were differences between the two programs. Both girls were well rounded sorts who did a lot of performing arts but also a lot of sports. One camp was JUST theater and the younger child thought it was perfect and was ready to give up everything else to just do theater. The other camp had everything that the theater camp had but was bigger and offered everything else under the sun as well as theater. My older child loved this idea because it really fits who she is as a person…loves both performing arts and sports equally. People thought we were nuts to not make the girls go to the SAME camp. Afterall, if they both went to the bigger camp, they could do theater there and then the one who wanted to do additional stuff still could. But we decided to let them choose. Now that they went, I can see why each place was absolutely the right fit for each child. The older D went to the bigger camp which let her (just like the article!) CHOOSE her own program and so her particular major activities (they actually had Majors and Minors!) were Musical Theater, Dance, Tennis, and Waterskiing. She was able to compete on sports teams and still be in musicals which is just what this kid was about. She is a ski racer in winter and had always wanted to learn to waterski and we don’t do that, nor have a boat. My younger D eventually gave up all her sports during the school year in middle school and just focused on performing arts and thus that is just the kind of kid that her theater camp fits. She actually is studying musical theater in college and plans a career in that field. </p>
<p>Younger D went to her camp for six weeks every summer for 8 years and I’d say it was juat about the most significant experience in her life and has had a huge impact. Older D went to her camp for four years for six weeks each summer. She loved it. However, she wanted to do two summers of travel programs (one with a tennis specialty) before graduating HS and so opted to switch to that. However, travel is also a huge interest of hers and indeed she is in France this summer (is entering third year of college) and will study abroad in the fall. </p>
<p>People thought we were crazy to send the kids to different camps that were even an hour apart from one another. The performance weekends (every three weeks) were indeed nutty as we had to shuttle between both camps all weekend long to catch their many shows. People at each camp couldn’t understand why we were doing that and not having them in the same camp, particularly when each camp put on 13 theater productions every three weeks. But each camp differed and fit each kid just right. There was even a summer or two that the girls didn’t go the exact same six weeks (one had to work around soccer pre season here) and that was even nuttier and required more trips out of state for us. That is why I got a chuckle with this line in the article: “It takes a village to carpool these children.” Frankly, this still exists for us even with the college drop offs and other activities to this day. </p>
<p>I see nothing wrong with specialty camps if that is what the child enjoys. Generalized camps are also great. One week camps seem short to me but can be worthwhile in various ways, but simply are not the same as a longer experience. I found the following line funny but actually true: "The latest trend in sleepaway camps, the Wall Street Journal reported recently, is the speed session. Instead of eight weeks away from home, some camps offer sessions as short as 3 1/2 days – barely enough time to finish a single lanyard. One camp’s pitch: “All the fun in half the time!” " I have to say that lotsa camps are very expensive and I can see why it is not set up the way it was where I went to camp when you could only go for 8 weeks, not less. </p>
<p>While the “trends” are appropo in that article, I am not critical of them as the author tends to be. I think there are still generic camps out there for those who want them. But some kids really do have certain interests and the summer can be a time to pursue them and/or get something they can’t get back home. For kids with a strong passion, like my D who does musical theater, there is nothing like a deep immersion in a program that is nothing like at home the rest of the year. And then there are kids like my older D who wanted a camp that allowed her to do her mix of passions in one place and piece that together. I realize the author at the end of the article was suggesting what was wrong with just picking a camp because other local kids attend and then all their own children could go together, etc. However, as I reflect on my own kids’ camp experiences, I am so glad we let each child pick what she wanted and where to go, even if it was less convenient for us. We researched it a lot and each child drove the process (much like college admissions!) and looking back on it, I do believe each child picked the place that fits their needs and interests and to this day, those choices have dovetailed with who they are as young adults and I am really glad they went where they did. For my youngest child who went for 8 years to the same theater camp all summer, it was a huge influence on who she is today and where she is at. She is in a specialized college degree program. And then older D didn’t want to enter a specialized college degree undergraduate program and wanted more liberal arts and will specialize in graduate school (architecture) and so I can see how their camp selections are really similar to their preferences in college selections. So, just sending them to some camp and going with the flow as a siblings would not have turned out the same. I realize I went to a general camp with my brothers every year and that was great too. I don’t think one way is better than the other, as the author tends to slant it. However, I can see how trends or program opportunities have changed over the years. </p>
<p>So, the other night, I was eating in a restaurant with hubby and there was Muzak in the background, no lyrics. A song came on and immediately I said, “that was the tune to my camp alma mater!” (camp songs were written to existing tunes) and started singing the lyrics. Not sure my hubby could understand, having not been a camp kid himself.</p>
<p>soozievt:
Thanks foryour post, I got some good chuckles out of it. </p>
<p>I really posted this more for the sentimentality of it than to somehow bash specialized camps. My own kid is a computer camp fanatic, and god knows, it’s taken a whole extended family, town, and high school to carpool my kids around over the years.</p>
<p>Indeed though, long, hot, crafts-games-and, yes, target shooting (!)-filled days at summer camp (day camp - my parents would never have paid for sleep-away) are some of the best memories of my childhood.</p>
<p>As I am reminiscing here, I recall that there was even Political Correctness in the early '70s when the camp changed the traditional Color War to Color Days.</p>
<p>I unfortunately did not have a sleep away camp experience as a child because my older sister had a bad one and I could not be talked into trying in. My children have more then made up for it.</p>
<p>My oldest two went to a sleep away camp in Missouri until they were seniors in High School. My daughter then became a camp counselor. It was the highlight of their year, something that both looked forward to from the day they got back. Tomorrow my oldest daughter will take her younger brother to his camp about three hours away from here. For my sons that live for computer games it’s extremely refreshing to know that they can enjoy something so outdoorsy. My kids camps are sort of like what the author of the article was talking about in that there are games and songs, campfires, etc. But the kids do get to choose their activites and I think that’s a good thing. Put me in crafts everyday and I would call that a bad camp experience. </p>
<p>I also agree that camps that feed a childs passion is not a bad thing. Some people (like the author) get caught up in the idea that because we did not have certain things when we were kids, that it must be bad to have them now. My nephew (from NYC) went to my older kids summer camp and did not like it, but later when he went to math camp at a college campus, he loved it. different strokes…</p>
<p>A couple other things…</p>
<p>My child who went to the singular passion camp (theater) and is now pursuing that in college and beyond, is strongly bonded to the friends she made there the 8 years she attended and to this day (now entering second year of college) is still very close to them, from all over the country. She even attends college with some of them and will be musical director of a show this fall where the director, choreographer and producer are all alums/friends from her summer camp. This summer, she is working at a professional theater out of state and a big “plus” to her is that the theater where she works is located 50 min. from her best friend from camp whom she rarely gets to see and now is seeing a lot this summer. I think she will be tied to these summer friends for life. Part of this is due to the fact that they share this passion and many are pursuing it in college and as a career. My older D is no longer in touch with anyone she went to camp with though loved her experiences at the time. </p>
<p>Older D is actually working at an overnight summer program for kids in France right now. It is an immersion program where the French kids have to use English in their activities. Now my D is the one creating the activities. There are not the traditional camp songs but rather she is teaching them American songs. A funny tidbit was she called me very late at night her time (they have to plan the activities past midnight) and was planning to teach various American songs and got stuck on some lyrics and so I looked them all up on the internet and across the world, I am singing her one line at a time as she was writing them down. It was rather a comical experience.</p>
<p>I was amused by the article. My son’s summer camp, established in 1902 and still run by the same family, now in the third generation, has–and always has had–daily signups for activities. There’s only two activities a day, though, one before lunch and one after. In the evening, the director reads stories around the campfire, among other things. No electricity (so no cell phones, internet, gameboys, etc.), no running water, lots of skinny dipping (it’s all boys)… He learned all kinds of useful things there, including the fine art of writing your parents on Sundays.</p>
<p>I went to one of those generic camp-camps growing up, all the way through CIT and counselor. I loved it, and still remember all the goofy songs. My sister and I can howl from our memories of that place, which was really not very fashionable at all, by today’s standards.</p>
<p>My kids have never expressed interest in those type of camps, and the older one is on his fourth summer of music camp. This is what floats his boat, not rafting, swatting bugs around the campfire or making lanyard necklaces (stuff I remember). I loved my experiences at camp, but he loves his, and although the two experiences are very different, I think each has individual value.</p>
<p>I love camp and would go back in a minute.</p>
<p>I worked 4 summers at a Girl Scout camp, with 2 weeks sessions, ending up as Riding Director. I don’t think I would have liked general camp as much, but running this riding program was just awesome. The kids had half a day with horses and half a day swimming and general camp. And they had us horsey people living in the units and eating meals with them … they loved it!</p>
<p>As a parent (this is now 30+/- years ago) I now have BOYS … and could not go back to camp because my boys would have never put up with being in the boy’s unit for the staff children.</p>
<p>I’m glad to report that I as a soon-to-be college freshman I am working this summer at one of the traditional-style camps. Yes, there is still a Girl Scout day camp in the middle of all the tennis camps in my affluent area. Groups are named after birds. There are no enrollment options…you choose the number of weeks, but not activities. We sing on the bus, go hiking, wade around in the stream with fishing nets, and do lots and lots of lanyard.</p>
<p>I am actually a 13-year veteran of such camps, first day camp (the same one at which I now work) and then sleepaway camp in the Poconos…at sleepaway camp there are “specialized” programs but they’re all things like extra boating and extra arts and crafts and all include lots of silly songs and chants, parachute games, and swimming. As much as my friends loved their enrichment classes and air-conditioned programming I wouldn’t have had it any other way.</p>
<p>About going to camp with the kids in the neighborhood -
My d went to such a camp for 3 years (before she started going to specialized theater/dance camps) - generalized camp, but you got to choose your activities - and the thing she disliked most was that there were so many kids from home. “Mom, it’s like living at school!”</p>
<p>While an extremely social kid, as she got older, she really enjoyed going to camps and other programs where she didn’t know anyone, making new friends, and “reinventing” herself. She’s still in touch with kids from the performing arts camps, and from her academic program, but the only kids she still knows from the general camp are the ones in town.</p>