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this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
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the_dunk_tank
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This is everyone in the suburbs. My relatives send their kids to a summer camp where the main draw is a daily proof of life and frequent check ins and having an app to monitor the kids. Look, I'm all for safety (no really I am, more on this later), but it really seems to be more about the social media aspect of it, and removing any chance for kids to disconnect from parents socially even temporarily.
I never know how to feel about it when it comes to kids because although that sounds okay in some ways with best case scenario being little benefit and worst case scenario being your kid is dead or abused like wtf you can’t trust anyone with your kids really. Like a camp where they specifically don’t want/ let kids use their phones or computers or whatever? Sorry that sounds like camp rape to me idk
It's important to allow kids a space where they can escape existing in constant relation to their parents and under observation by them and just fuckin explore and experiment with socializing and identity. Summer camps are really good for this.
I know, but summer camps are not the only way to do that. Mostly kids just want to have their interests be supported by their parents without too much prying in my experience. Kids socialize on their own time and in their own ways. I never went to summer camp and neither did any of my friends really so we all just hung out. I do get the appeal of summer camps though and maybe my opinion would be different had I gone, but I feel like as a kid I’d rather be in the woods with my friends and a trusted chaperone than a bunch of strangers and as a parent I’d rather take my kids camping so I can keep an eye on them.
It probably is something that makes sense when you've experienced it. There's a certain quality about camp as a place that's detached from the rest of your life and temporary that allows one the freedom to be themselves - or maybe more importantly, someone else - because the consequences for fucking up are inherently limited. You don't have to worry about your parents or your social status back home, no one knows about the time you peed your pants in school. Plus a lot of camps do stuff that breeds camaraderie but are unusual for normal life. Singing at mealtimes, cabins having projects to be done over the whole period and shown off, and other ways for kids to feel like they're part of a group. And this gets reinforced by the aforementioned safe space to figure yourself out. Because the consequences for oversharing or whatever are limited to the time that you're there, kids often allow themselves to be more vulnerable and talk to their peers about embarrassing or difficult subjects. In general I just think that the particular nature of a camp as separate from everything else is what makes it so valuable for youths development.
Like I said, I see the appeal, and genuinely I do not think of myself as a helicopter parent, but the idea of giving strangers nearly unlimited access to your kid for idk I assume weeks at a time while you don’t is weird. That’s why I said I’d rather take them camping and let them run around in the woods, but be around if needed.
Summer camps are usually only for a week. It’s rare kids would be there for longer than that unless they are teenagers training to be camp counselors. Lots of summer camps are also associated with existing after school programs so parents aren’t totally unfamiliar with the people running them.
Okay, but that just seems like what I described but with extra steps? Taking your kids camping and being a trusted chaperone. Also that pretty much negates the benefit the other user described which is you get to reinvent yourself because no one knows you. Can’t really reinvent yourself when you’re surrounded by known peers. Might as well cut the middle man and just take your kids out yourself.
Well to be clear not all summer camps operate the same way. There’s going to be benefits at one you won’t find at another.
That said, I don’t think it is what you described like at all. Parents, especially working parents, are just not going to plan all the activities you would do at a summer camp. Yes there is hiking and biking but also archery, rock climbing, arts and crafts, and all kinds of games. Kids also get to learn about nature, conservation, geology, and more. It’s an enriching experience.
Not these kids. Your other points I agree on. It's just like watching the last bricks be put on a wall lmao.