By Jess Michaels

Sending your child to camp for the first time is a major milestone for a child, one that is often marked by excitement, anticipation and perhaps even some anxiety. For many kids, sleepaway camp is often the first real separation from parents they have experienced, and some have difficulty transitioning from the comforts of home to learning more independence.  Homesickness, of course, is quite common, though in varying degrees.

Campers at Bank Street Summer Camp enjoy some down time.

The good news is that “the vast majority of youngsters get over their homesickness in a matter of two or three days,” says David Tager, director of Indian Head Camp, a co-ed resident camp in Wayne County, PA. “In order to minimize the impact of homesickness, children need to be kept busy, especially during ‘down’ times like rest hour and bedtime,” he added. “Playing interactive games during rest hour and reading to campers at bedtime can be effective ways to distract homesick campers so they don’t turn their thoughts towards their families.”

But that’s once they’re in the hands of experienced camp directors like Tager. There are also many things parents can do to prepare their prospective campers for the emotional transition, and to support them once they are away.

l Involve your child in the camp process. The more involved your child is about camp decisions, from choosing the camp to packing, the more comfortable your child will feel about being at camp.

• Practice separation throughout the year. Have your child sleep over at friends’ and relatives’ houses.
• Discuss with your child what camp will be like. Honest discussions before your child leaves will help prepare your child for the camp experience.
• Don’t bribe. Linking a successful camp stay to a material object when your child returns home sends the wrong message. Your child’s independence and growth at camp is the reward.
• Send your child off with a personal item from home. Pack a favorite item, such as a stuffed animal.
• Reach a prior agreement about phone calls from camp. Some camps may allow calls; others may not. Your child should know what the policy is beforehand, with an explanation for why the camp has that policy, and also how they have a lot of experience in dealing with homesickness in kind and nurturing ways. Children should know that they will never be alone—and of course they can always write to you and vice versa.
• Send a note or package ahead of time to arrive in the first few days of camp. Send a letter from home or a care package, acknowledging in a positive way that you will miss your child. For example, the note can say, “I will miss you, but I know you are going to have a wonderful time at camp.”
• Don’t plan an exit strategy. Before your child leaves for camp, don’t discuss plans to pick up your child early from camp if he/she doesn’t like it. If you receive a “rescue call” from your child while at camp, offer calm reassurance and put the time frame of camp into perspective.
• Don’t feel guilty about encouraging your child to stay at camp, even if your child wants to come home. For many children, camp is the first step toward independence and it plays an important part in their growth and development. Try to keep in mind that most of the time kids settle down and are glad they stayed at camp.
• Talk candidly with the camp director about his or her perspective on your child’s adjustment to camp. Remember, camp staffs are trained to ease homesickness, have dealt with homesick children before and will go out of their way to help make a child who’s feeling homesick feel more involved in camp. “When children begin to feel connected to the adults in their camp world, they feel more secure and their feelings of homesickness begin to subside,” says Tager.

Summer camp has always been a place where strong friendships have been made and sustained for years to come. In fact, The American Camp Association has found that 96% of campers say that camp helped them make new friends, while 92% indicated that other campers helped them to feel good about themselves. 69% of parents also mentioned that their child still remains in contact with friends made at camp. What is it about summer camp that helps foster friendships?

Camp is a community. Campers and counselors eat meals together, share camp traditions and rituals, and take part in activities together. At resident camps, they bunk together. For the majority of campers, being at camp is the first time they have lived with or eaten every meal with a group of people other than their family. Campers must learn to adapt, make decisions as a group and respect other people’s needs.

“Most of our campers say they are closer to their friends at camp than from home. This is because they are living with the same group of people for a significant amount of time; other campers in the bunk become their family away from home,” Michael Baer, owner and director of Camp Chipinaw, a co-ed resident camp in the Catskills of New York, points out. “Campers cheer for each other on the fields, console each other through homesickness and celebrate personal accomplishments. No one else truly understands a camper’s experience except for those who are right there sharing it.”

Camp can be a respite from constraints at home and a place to gain confidence in social skills, which ultimately affects friendship.

Camp staff is trained in the management of group dynamics. Counselors are trained to empower children in their group to feel comfortable and encourage each child to contribute to the group, making it easier for friendships to be formed. This shows each child that he or she is valued and gives children social confidence.

Camps commit themselves to teaching campers to respect each other. If disrespectful or hurtful behaviors occur between campers, counselors are there to talk to the campers and make it a teachable moment, unlike in a classroom where sometimes these behaviors go unnoticed. 

Electronic technology has done a lot to make life more convenient. But the seductiveness of new technology probably contributes to most Americans working longer than 40 hours per week. For many people, checking email outside of work hours is habitual. This summer, I regularly saw parents “on vacation” at the beach checking their email on handheld devices while their children splashed in the ocean. Sure, these gadgets are convenient, but they easily blur the lines between work, play, and family time.

Day Camp in the Park

Electronic technologies also provide a mixed bag—sorry, stream—of media. Television programs, DVD movies, Internet sites and video games are entertaining, often educational. On the other hand, unsavory content and time absorption are the two most frequently cited problems associated with these media. Research last year by the Kaiser Foundation concluded that young people between 8 and 18 spend an average of 6.5 hours a day absorbed in media. Most of it is electronic, and much of the time is solitary.

Can there be any way out of the technology trap? Indeed. All it requires is thoughtful application of intentionally selected technologies. Electronic technologies are particularly welcome when they save us time, nourish our relationships, teach us something or amuse us in healthy, wholesome ways.

These days, every camp uses electronic technology of some sort, from telephones to toasters. Even the most rustic and isolated camps use electronic technologies for safety (e.g., GPS units, walkie-talkies, satellite phones) or publicity (e.g., Web pages). Evaluating a camp’s appropriate use of technology no longer involves questioning whether it uses new technology, but how.

Famil-E-Values

Every family has different values and a different history with technology. For some, what camp offers is welcome relief from the burdensome yoke of electronic technologies. For other families, camp might offer tools that truly enhance interpersonal connections. As you consider each point, ask yourself what makes the most sense for your circumstances, your own family’s values and history, and your child’s development.

Telephones. Some camps have a “no phone/no call” policy because they recognize that telephone calls exacerbate homesickness and erode children’s independence. Although parents and camp directors may have phone contact, campers are not typically permitted to make or receive calls. (Exceptions are made for family emergencies, of course.) Some seven- or eight-week camps allow scheduled weekly phone calls. Again, this policy reflects the belief that phone contact is not a treatment for homesickness, nor should it interfere with the growth in self-reliance most camps seek to promote.

Email. Many camps allow parents to send e-mails to their children, which are sorted and distributed with the regular mail. Unlike a phone call, children and parents don’t hear the sound of each others’ voices. As tender as real voices are in other contexts, such immediate contact while children are at camp reliably flares campers’ homesickness (and parents’ “kid-sickness”).

Facsimile. Some camps are using faxes to send campers’ handwritten letters to their eager parents. Potentially, a parent could send an e-mail to their child in the morning and receive a faxed reply in the afternoon. Potentially, this also creates an unnecessary burden for parents, children, and camp staff.

Photographs. Since the 1920s, some camps have published photographic yearbooks. Of course, families had to wait until Thanksgiving to receive a copy. The advantage of such a long wait was that it forced children to recreate a verbal narrative of the experience. Today, such narratives may be bypassed because camps are posting hundreds of digital photographs a day on their Web sites. Parents at home or at work can instantly view, purchase, and download photos of their child at camp. Of course, this can also create undue anxiety when your child is not photographed on a certain day, or appears not to be smiling in a certain snapshot.

Video Streaming. Some camps see this as the ultimate way to give parents a window into their child’s world, but others see it as the ultimate way to rob children of an experience all their own. Even more so than the provision of photographs, this medium may create more anxiety than it was designed to quell and encourage children to bypass a truly interactive, personal narrative with their parents. Why write during camp or talk after camp when mom and dad already saw it all on their laptop?

Run the Diagnostics

In your search for the camp that best matches your child’s interests and abilities, consider that the thoughtful application of electronic technology requires two things. First, it must meet one or more of the criteria of efficiency, connection, education, and wholesome entertainment without eroding any of the other criteria. Second, it must be in accord with the camp’s stated mission. If a camp hasn’t applied technology thoughtfully, consider other camps that have.

Any camp that passes these diagnostic tests must now pass two tough parent tests: First, does the camp’s application of technology match your value system? For example, the camp may provide live streaming video, thus providing a kind of connection and entertainment for parents. But does this match your value system, which may include affording your child an opportunity to independently explore a new place and new relationships? Are you comfortable that someone could hack past the camp’s Web site password and view camp activities, or does that threaten your sense of safety and privacy?

If the camp’s technology passes your values test, the second test is this: Does the camp’s application of technology give you an opportunity to take a break from full-time parenthood? As much as parents and children might miss one another, both say their relationship is stronger when they’ve had some time apart. However, if the camp’s use of technology makes more work for you, it diminishes one of the benefits of time apart: respite for you.

Worth the Wait

Remember that camp is not the stock market or a breaking news story. It’s community living, away from home, in a natural, recreational setting. Nothing needs to be transmitted at the speed of light. Plus, children are exposed to electronic technology all year. It’s nice for them to have a break during the summer.

It’s also healthy for children and parents to talk with each other about their experiences after spending some planned time apart. Technologies should not crowd out the necessary psychological space for dialogue. The artificial needs created by new electronic technologies—to see and hear everything the instant it happens—are not always developmentally appropriate needs for our children. To wait a few days for a traditional letter to arrive, for example, gives parents and children alike the time to reflect, form new relationships, solve problems independently, and understand their emotions. In these ways, unplugging the digital umbilical cord promotes healthy growth and self-reliance.
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Christopher A. Thurber, PhD, a board-certified clinical psychologist, is co-author of The Summer Camp Handbook. This article was originally printed in CAMP Magazine and reprinted by permission of the American Camp Association © 2006 American Camping Association, Inc.

By Charlotte Eichna

1. Involve Your Child—To a Degree

“Obviously, you maybe don’t let the child pick the exact camp, because they may pick it from the pretty picture in the brochure and not based on safety or some other issue,” says Jon Malinowski, Ph.D., camping author and expert. “But the worst thing a parent can do is to just choose a camp, decide that the child is going to camp and not involve the child in the process at all. It’s a recipe for a very unhappy, very homesick child.”

Christopher Thurber, Ph.D., camping author, says that even with children as young as five, parents can do research ahead of time, then present a few options, any of which they’d be happy to follow through with. “You can make it collaborative at any age,” he says. “Just kind of tailor it to what is developmentally appropriate.”

Alternatively, consider bringing your child along when you shop for camping supplies, even for things as simple as a new toothbrush or pair of sneakers. “Don’t go out and get the stuff and come home and say, ‘Here are the shorts I got you,’” Thurber says. “And your kid is like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so dorky.’”

Once you’ve selected a camp, be optimistic and excited for your child, Thurber says. Your camper might get nervous as opening day approaches—and so might you—but don’t suggest that if they feel homesick, you’ll come get them. The subtext of that message, Thurber explained, is that a parent has so little confidence in his child’s ability to cope with normal feelings that she’ll have to be rescued.

“Instead, say, ‘Yeah, there probably will be something you miss about home,’” Thurber says. “‘Almost everyone misses something about home when they’re away. But I know you can make it, I know you can do it.’”

2. Accreditation

Many camp experts believe that accreditation is the first thing a parent should look for when evaluating camps. Unfortunately, this criterion is not as cut-and-dry an issue as parents might wish. Just because a camp is accredited doesn’t mean it’s good, while a camp that lacks accreditation isn’t necessarily bad. And finding an accredited camp certainly doesn’t let a parent off the hook when it comes to doing additional research.

Accreditation is typically given by the American Camp Association (ACA). Two highly trained standards visitors, one of whom is often a camp director, tour the site for about a day, poking through cabins, prowling in the mess hall and scoping out the waterfront to make sure the camp meets the association’s approximately 300 safety and health standards. There’s also a thorough review of paperwork beforehand. (You can read more about the process on its web site, acacamps.org/accreditation.)

“It is a very intensive, grueling process for a camp,” says Renee Flax, program services director for the American Camp Association-New York. “We’re checking the credentials of the people that are involved, we’re making sure that their physical site is a safe place for your child to be. So we’re going into the kitchen, we’re going into the dining room, we’re going into the bunks.”

Accreditation is not, however, an affirmation of a program’s quality; health and safety are the main objectives of this evaluation.

“We are never judging a camp by the program that it runs,” Flax says. “We don’t care what activities you offer. All we’re saying is they have to be safe.”

And don’t immediately dismiss camps that aren’t accredited, either, according to Malinowski.

“I know of some established camps that have been in business for a long time,” he says. “They do their own thing and don’t feel a need to be involved with the ACA.” It’s not uncommon for YMCA, Jewish and Christian fundamentalist camps to pass up accreditation, he explained. The bottom line, though, is that if a camp isn’t accredited, parents should ask why.

3. Are People Sticking Around?

Accredited or not, parents should try to find out if people are coming back. That goes for the director, staff and campers.

A camp that attracts directors who stay for a long time is probably stable, has a consistent vision and is generally a fun place to be. But don’t just ask how long the current director has been around, says Thurber—the current director might be a relative newcomer. Instead, ask what the average tenure for directors has been in the life of the camp.

Also ask about return rates. No camp will have all its staff or campers return the following year, since many become too old for the program. But a 70 to 80 percent return rate is “fabulous,” according to Thurber.

If between 50 and 70 percent of campers and staff return, that’s “very good.” But if less than half of eligible campers and staff are choosing to return, it could indicate problems with the camp’s quality.

A caveat: Specialty programs may have lower return rates by nature. A child might attend a computer camp one summer, for example, and want to try something different next year.

4. Meet and Greet

We know you’re busy, but once you’ve narrowed down a short list, be sure to visit camps, or at the very least meet the director. Many camps offer rookie days or weekends for prospective campers, according to Joanne Paltrowitz, founder of the advisory service Camp Experts. A visit also lets a parent see firsthand that the waterfront is safe (can you easily identify who’s in charge?), the grounds are well kept (is there broken glass underfoot or tools laying around?) and the bunks meet fire codes (are there fire alarms and fire extinguishers?).

In private camps and Y programs, Paltrowitz estimated that roughly 90 percent of campers have met the director, either at the camp or in the prospective camper’s home. “It’s important for bunk placement. It’s important, I think, for a parent turning over their child to someone,” she says.

Also, ask what the director does during the rest of the year, their experience with children and his or her vision for the camp.

5. Be Honest About Your Child

Your kid is obviously better than everyone else’s. But try, when you’re chatting with the director, to give the full picture.

“Tell [directors] not what you want your child to be, but what your child really is,” says Flax.

Believe it or not, a director will tell you if your child won’t fit in, Flax says.

An honest assessment of your child’s personality will also help the director decide on counselors and bunk placement.

Honesty means being frank about your child’s interests and talents as well. And if you have pinpointed something he or she wants to do, make sure the activity is not just an added bonus listed in the brochure.

“You need to ask the question, ‘How often will my child actually get to do that activity?’” suggests Malinowski. “They may offer horseback riding, but if it’s only one hour a week, the child’s going to be disappointed.”

By Renee Flax

So many factors go into choosing a summer camp that it’s often difficult even to know where to begin. Here, the seven most crucial camp questions parents should ask.

How do I prepare my child for overnight camp?

If you can, take your child to the camp ahead of time so that he or she can meet the people there and become familiar with the surroundings. Once you take away that feeling of it being a foreign experience, it makes the child feel a whole lot better.

Should my child go to a co-ed camp or a single-sex camp?

Each offers things that the other one does not. With a co-ed camp, if you have a boy and a girl in your family, you can send them to the same camp. And kids become good friends with people of the opposite sex at co-ed camps; it’s not like school, where there’s a far more rigid environment. Co-ed camps are also pretty “rah-rah” kinds of places—there’s a lot of spirit in a co-ed camp.

What’s the difference between a structured camp and a non-structured camp? Which type of camp is a better fit for my child?

A structured camp has a bunk with generally two counselors, and those two counselors are with the same kids all day long; they’re taking them from activity to activity.

The non-structured, or “elective,” camp, where the child chooses his or her daily activities, is terrific for the older child and for the child who is very independent and knows what he or she wants to do.

Should my child go to camp with a friend?

If you can convince your child to go by himself or herself, it is the greatest gift you will give your child. When you go with a friend, you’re bringing all the baggage from home when you get off that bus.

Should I tour the camp before sending my child there?

Absolutely, if you can. A lot of day camps have open houses in the spring, which gives you an opportunity to meet them, meet some of their staff, meet some of the other kids that are going there.

What is the camp’s philosophy and program emphasis?

In order for a camp to be a successful fit, you need to be on the same page with the camp on what you believe is a good experience.

How can I be sure the camp is safe?

A camp being accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA) is a parent’s best evidence of a camp’s commitment to safety.
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Renee Flax is program services director for the American Camp Association-New York. For more information or to speak with Renee, call 1-800-777-2267 or visit aca-ny.org.

Bethany Kandel is a former national news reporter for USA Today and is the author of The Expert Parent (Pocket Books).

By Meira Maierovitz Drazin

Summer camp options include everything from specialty camps that focus on theater, sports or academics to general all-inclusive programs. In general, day camp is a wonderful experience for children of most any age, as it allows them to grow by making new friends while learning new skills from positive role models. And for those who may be making last-minute plans, day camps generally have more openings than overnight camps as we get closer to summer.

A ratio of one staffer for every six campers is appropriate for younger children.

But how to choose one that’s right for your child? According to the directors of four very different kinds of New York City area day camps, the following are the top 10 topics parents should be thinking about.

Make Sure Your Child is Ready: Many camps have a “camp readiness screening,” in which camps and parents look together at factors like the age of the child, his maturity and familiarity with separation. Gail Ionescu, director of the “mommy and me style” Poppyseeds toddler summer program, suggests that if your child is too young, or you don’t want her first separation experience to be at camp but you still want to give her the social experience as well as consistency of a group of peers, you might consider a program where the toddler or young child comes with a caregiver.

Know Your Child: David Knapp, director of Asphalt Green, suggests talking to your child about her hobbies and interests. “Camping has developed over the years. It used to be a general experience, but now there’s all kinds of specializations: computer camp, horseback riding, soccer, gymnastics. You need to think about what you’re looking for in terms of your child’s interests and needs,” he says. Alan Saltz, director of the 52-year-old 92nd Street Y camp program, agrees: “Try to match your child’s interests, abilities and personality with the right setting. While your decision will ultimately be based on your own sense of what your son or daughter will enjoy and be challenged by, input should also come from your child.”

Make a Checklist: “Figure out what important elements you are looking for—weeks, hours, pick-ups, lunch, busing, flexibility, what you’d like your kid to be doing during the day—and make a checklist of the items you expect,” says Knapp.

Ask About Staffing: “Make sure the camp understands that older children need less supervision and younger children need more. A ratio of 1:10 for 11 or 12 year olds is appropriate but 1:6 is better for younger children,” says Knapp. If your child has special needs such as ADHD, a smaller ratio might be more appropriate.
Ionescu emphasizes that for toddler programs, it is important to inquire if the teachers have a background in and underlying understanding of early childhood development. Petunia Chmiel, director of St. Bartholomew’s Summer at St. Bart’s, which uses New York City school system teachers as head counselors, college students as assistants and high school seniors as counselors-in-training, recommends asking specifically about the head counselors and “if they are real teachers.” Knapp, based on Asphalt Green’s experience with a range of staff from high school seniors to retirees, recommends camps that strike a balance in the age of their staff: “I’m skeptical of camps run by all adults,” he says. “Young people add energy.”

Talk to Friends: Talk to other parents, teachers and childcare professionals. “The fact is, great camps get buzz, so open your ears and poke around on the Web,” says Saltz.

Check It Out: “Visit the camp if you can, preferably with your child,” says Saltz. Chmiel agrees: “Bringing the child gives them something to look forward to,” she says. For city kids, “going to camp in the country can provide a great change of pace,” adds Saltz, “but make sure the setting appeals to both of you.”

Consider Vacation Time: Today there are some camps like St. Bart’s which offer weekly sessions that don’t have to be consecutive, thereby accommodating your family vacation without forcing you to pay for unused days. Chmiel recommends planning any summer vacation you might want to take well in advance.

Stay Informed: “You should expect to get information formally and informally through some combination of newsletters, counselors or the camp director, and phone calls,” says Saltz. “Choose a camp with open communication and established channels for conveying information about your child on a regular basis.”

Know the Policies: What is the camp’s policy on refunds? Medical care? Does the camp have a state permit or New York City license, which guarantees minimum safety standards?

Take a Chance: “If you’re thinking about a specialty camp—for sports, art, nature, etc.—remember that your child doesn’t have to be an expert in the area,” says Saltz. “General interest in the subject or activity is much more important than technical ability or innate talent.” 

Q: How can children with disabilities benefit from a camp experience?
A: From the child’s perspective, camp is fun, they learn skills, they make friends, and it can be a support network because they’re with children who have similar special needs. Meanwhile, parents are getting respite and learning that their child can be safe with another adult.

When evaluating special needs camps, ask about specific activities.

Q: What makes a special needs camp different from a typical summer camp?
A: For one thing, many special camps have intensive medical care readily available. The other thing is the staff training. There are kids with severe behavioral issues, and in a mainstream program, the staff may only have a general idea about what to do when the child is really losing it because the child is overly stimulated and stressed out. In a special needs program, staff may understand and be able to use techniques like applied behavioral analysis and timeouts, rather than just calling up a parent. So many parents of kids with disabilities have had the experience, “Come get Johnny. That’s it, he’s going home.” If you’re in a special needs program, everybody’s like Johnny, and hopefully the staff has been appropriately trained.

But don’t assume that because your child has a disability, they have to go to a special program. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, it’s your family’s right to ask for reasonable accommodations at a mainstream camp. Does that mean you want your child in a program that doesn’t know how to successfully work with your child? Of course not.

But you may say, “Oh, I like the staff here, I like the facility. Maybe I will try this mainstream program.”

Q: What should parents look for when choosing a camp for their child with special needs? What questions should they be asking of camp directors?
A: When your child is ready for camp, consider the program’s philosophy: Do they have an inclusion program, or is it a very specialized program for children with intensive needs? If your child has a disability that requires one-on-one attention, make sure that this is the type of program that can provide that. If your child has dietary needs, make sure those needs can be met. Ask about the specific activities—an organized program should be able to say, “This is when your child is being given aqua-therapy. This is when we’re doing arts and crafts. This is when we’re doing dance therapy.” You’ll also want to ask about transportation. If you can, visit the program the summer before; if you can’t visit, most camps have CDs and videos they can send you.

Q: What kinds of scholarships are available for campers with special needs?
A: There are many funding sources. Some are reimbursement programs where you put the money upfront and you can get the money back later. Others come from charities like fraternal organizations, the Lions Club, Knights of Columbus, Kiwanis Club. But the early bird catches the money, so apply early to funding sources.

The question is not if camps use technology, but how they use it.

Can there be any way out of the technology trap? Indeed. All it requires is thoughtful application of intentionally selected technologies. Electronic technologies are particularly welcome when they save us time, nourish our relationships, teach us something, or amuse us in healthy, wholesome ways.
These days, every camp uses electronic technology of some sort, from telephones to toasters. Even the most rustic and isolated camps use electronic technologies for safety (e.g., GPS units, walkie-talkies, satellite phones) or publicity (e.g., web pages). Evaluating a camp’s appropriate use of technology no longer involves questioning whether it uses new technology, but how.

Famil-E-Values

Every family has different values and a different history with technology. For some, what camp offers is welcome relief from the burdensome yoke of electronic technologies. For other families, camp might offer tools that truly enhance interpersonal connections. As you consider each point, ask yourself what makes the most sense for your circumstances, your own family’s values and history and your child’s development.
Telephones. Some camps have a “no phone/no call” policy because they recognize that telephone calls exacerbate homesickness and erode children’s independence. Although parents and camp directors may have phone contact, campers are not typically permitted to make or receive calls. (Exceptions are made for family emergencies, of course.) Some seven- or eight-week camps allow scheduled weekly phone calls. Again, this policy reflects the belief that phone contact is not a treatment for homesickness, nor should it interfere with the growth in self-reliance most camps seek to promote.
Email. Many camps allow parents to send e-mails to their children, which are sorted and distributed with the regular mail. Unlike a phone call, children and parents don’t hear the sound of each others’ voices. As tender as real voices are in other contexts, such immediate contact while children are at camp reliably flares campers’ homesickness (and parents’ “kid-sickness”).
Facsimile. Some camps are using faxes to send campers’ handwritten letters to their eager parents. Potentially, a parent could send an email to their child in the morning and receive a faxed reply in the afternoon. Potentially, this also creates an unnecessary burden for parents, children and camp staff.
Photographs. Since the 1920s, some camps have published photographic yearbooks. Of course, families had to wait until Thanksgiving to receive a copy. The advantage of such a long wait was that it forced children to recreate a verbal narrative of the experience. Today, such narratives may be bypassed because camps are posting hundreds of digital photographs a day on their websites. Parents at home or at work can instantly view, purchase and download photos of their child at camp. Of course, this can also create undue anxiety when your child is not photographed on a certain day, or appears not to be smiling in a certain snapshot.
Video Streaming. Some camps see this as the ultimate way to give parents a window into their child’s world, but others see it as the ultimate way to rob children of an experience all their own. Even more so than the provision of photographs, this medium may create more anxiety than it was designed to quell and encourage children to bypass a truly interactive, personal narrative with their parents. Why write during camp or talk after camp when Mom and Dad already saw it all on their laptop?

Run the Diagnostics

In your search for the camp that best matches your child’s interests and abilities, consider that the thoughtful application of electronic technology requires two things. First, it must meet one or more of the criteria of efficiency, connection, education, and wholesome entertainment without eroding any of the other criteria. Second, it must be in accord with the camp’s stated mission. If a camp hasn’t applied technology thoughtfully, consider other camps that have.
Any camp that passes these diagnostic tests must now pass two tough parent tests: first, does the camp’s application of technology match your value system? For example, the camp may provide live streaming video, thus providing a kind of connection and entertainment for parents. But does this match your value system, which may include affording your child an opportunity to independently explore a new place and new relationships? Are you comfortable that someone could hack past the camp’s website password and view camp activities, or does that threaten your sense of safety and privacy?
If the camp’s technology passes your values test, the second test is this: Does the camp’s application of technology give you an opportunity to take a break from full-time parenthood? As much as parents and children might miss one another, both say their relationship is stronger when they’ve had some time apart. However, if the camp’s use of technology makes more work for you, it diminishes one of the benefits of time apart: respite for you.

Worth the Wait

Remember that camp is not the stock market or a breaking news story. It’s community living, away from home, in a natural, recreational setting. Nothing needs to be transmitted at the speed of light. Plus, children are exposed to electronic technology all year. It’s nice for them to have a break during the summer.
It’s also healthy for children and parents to talk with each other about their experiences after spending some planned time apart. Technologies should not crowd out the necessary psychological space for dialogue. The artificial needs created by new electronic technologies—to see and hear everything the instant it happens—are not always developmentally appropriate needs for our children. To wait a few days for a traditional letter to arrive, for example, gives parents and children alike the time to reflect, form new relationships, solve problems independently and understand their emotions. In these ways, unplugging the digital umbilical cord promotes healthy growth and self-reliance.
–
Christopher A. Thurber, PhD, a board-certified clinical psychologist, is co-author of The Summer Camp Handbook. This article was originally printed in CAMP Magazine and reprinted by permission of the American Camp Association © 2006 American Camping Association, Inc.

Appeared in West Side Spirit in November 2008.

The downtown fair will be held Saturday, Jan. 30, at Friends Seminary School, 222 E. 16th St.

The Brooklyn fair is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 31, at The Berkeley Carroll School, 762 President St.

Both fairs are held from noon to 3 p.m.

For more information or to register for the fairs, visit newyorkfamilycamps.com.

Registrants who attend a camp fair will be qualified to win a free family vacation at the Woodloch Resort in Pennsylvania.