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 Parentown Kidshape
Why Your Kids Need to Experience Summer Camp
(ARA) Summer will be here before you know it, and parents around the country are facing the same dilemma: What should we do to keep the kids busy this summer?
Some families will travel. Others will send the kids to recreational programs in a neighborhood park. For many, though, there are no planned activities. The kids will simply spend more time watching TV on the couch and playing computer games in their rooms.
But there is another option you may not have considered. Why not sign your kids up for summer camp?
 At their recent annual conference, members of the American Camp Association (ACA) discussed some of the reasons today's parents are not exploring that option as readily as their own parents did. Quoting Wendy Mogel, PhD, from her book, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, and author Richard Louv in his articles about "Nature-Deficit Disorder," ACA members identified a number of causes: over-protective parents; fears about their child's safety, injury or teasing; fixation on materialism over nature; over-scheduling of sports, lessons and other programs near home; and tolerance of more and more video games, cell phones and hand-held computers.
Louv urges parents to restore childhood to the unplugged state of casual outdoor play that they may remember from their own youth but that few promote in their offspring. "It's society's whole attitude that nature isn't important anymore," says Louv, 56, who has two sons ages 17 and 23. He advises parents "to let kids be kids."
In response to parents' hesitation to look to a camp experience as a viable part of youth development, the ACA has introduced its "Partnering With Parents" campaign. It seeks to reassure parents that providing their children with a community of caring adults who will nurture experiential education will ultimately pay off by helping children build what the ACA calls the "Four Cs": compassion, contribution, commitment and character.
"First and foremost, we want to provide a safe haven for learning, growing, relating and having fun," says Sam Cote, executive director of his family-owned and operated twin camps, Camp Lincoln for Boys and Camp Lake Hubert for Girls. These camps, located on opposite sides of a pristine, spring-fed lake in the Brainerd Lakes area of north central Minnesota, have been providing a "North Woods Experience" for boys and girls for nearly 100 years. They attract children from all over the U.S. and several foreign countries.
There are many accredited ACA camps providing just about every kind of camp experience for all ages and for various periods, costs and locations. "Camp is a special place for fun and exploring the real, the genuine and the non-artificial," says Cote. "It's a shame that so many youth today are not being given this tremendous opportunity."
For years, campers' parents have reported that when their children return home from camp they are more caring, understand the importance of giving, are more equipped to stand up for what they know is right, and are willing to be more responsible.
Parents interested in more information on summer camps can contact the American Camp Association at www.acacamps.org. (Hit the "Find a Camp" button.)
Courtesy of ARA Content.
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