Editorial: Growing Summer Camp

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Let’s face it. Growing up today is very different than it was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. For starters, all the electronic devices and instantaneous communication is a world away from mom yelling out the back door to come in for dinner or rooting around for a dime to call home on a payphone.

Every generation looks at the previous one and notes how different it is. Our grandparents probably thought we were spoiled when we played whiffle ball since they had to bat with a broom handle. They probably believed that the music of our era would poison society, it being so unlike the crooners of the 1950s and the Big Band era.

The big difference between our grandparents’ generation and our children’s is technology and the speed at which it is evolving. Who remembers the evening news when we would sit there and actually watch someone read the news for 30 minutes, or the first cell phone that was the size of a shoe box? Today, we have the power to access any news topic around the globe and, for that matter, make a call to anywhere in the world on a device that fits in a back pocket.

As kids, we used to love losing hours poring through the latest installment of The World Book Encyclopedia, 22 volumes of facts and articles on almost any topic we could imagine. Today, it is just easier to swipe left on our smart phones for the same information.

As parents, this gives us pause for concern. Are our children having the same kind of well-rounded, broad exposure to the world around them that we and our parents had? Lifestyles today lend themselves to being over-programmed and very hectic, especially in a community like Greenwich. Sometimes it is easier to let our children spend that extra time on their electronic device because we are busy with work. We are just as guilty as our children in over using technology for expedience.

When we talk about this challenge with other parents, we are reminded that there has been one constant available to children since the beginning of the 20th century, namely, summer camp. There are a slew of sleep away and day camps that offer a chance to return the type of summer we knew as a child, free of electronic devices.

Imagine waking up not to your iPhone beeping, but a bell being rung at a farmhouse. You are not sleeping in your own bed, but in a cot in a platform tent along the shores of a Maine lake. You run to the farmhouse for breakfast because you are excited to see what the day will bring. 200 kids gather at long tables and wait to sing a good morning song before devouring a hearty (and healthy) meal. The farmhouse is loud with laughter, songs and conversation. There is not an electronic device to be found anywhere, and the kids are fine with that.

Or, imagine being dropped for a day of swimming, sailing, arts and crafts and fun. When the day is over you don’t even realize that you did not miss texting your friends because you were so busy having fun! These are what summers were like growing up for many of us, and they still exist at summer camps today.

Next week we will be issuing our annual Summer Camp and Program Guide. It is a wonderful resource to find opportunities for our children that get them outside of their normal routine. Summer is a chance for them to take a step back from the hectic lives they live during the school year and just be kids for a couple of months. Opportunities abound in the guide. There is something for everyone. Unplug and enjoy.

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