camp vs free time?
I don't know what I think about camp. I remember it being fun, a place to grow and make new friends. But I've also heard free time is important too, and intrinsic motivation, imaginative discovery and the ability for kids to invent games, make their own rules, and settle their own disputes are all brilliant side effects of less scheduling and less "active parenting".
So, at what age to start camp? How much camp vs how much "not camp" at different ages? If you have the luxury of thinking about camp as an option and not a necessity for childcare what did you decide? What did you do if you opted for less or not camp?
2 Answers
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We are sending our almost 6-year old son to camp for about half the summer. The camp is 9-4 which I think is a little too long, but it's the one he wanted. We do need some childcare in the summer but not as much as we're getting through camp, we're just doing it so he doesn't sit in the corner and stare at the wall all day.
Last summer we sent him to one 2-week session of camp (also 9-4, though a different camp) and he loved it which is why we uppped the amount this summer.
I'm around a lot in the summer so when he's not at camp, we'll try to do some fun stuff, with and without friends. We'll also have friends over to play and then I'll leave them more to their own devices.
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I grew up going to day camps for part of the summer from about age 9-10 onward. I started with two two-week sessions. Also during the summer we had two weeks of pure family time during my Dads two week vactation. When I got older, I actually worked as a counselor at day camps, where I always tended to request working with the youngest kids (4-6 yr olds).
You made a statement "But I've also heard free time is important too, and intrinsic motivation, imaginative discovery and the ability for kids to invent games, make their own rules, and settle their own disputes are all brilliant side effects of less scheduling and less "active parenting"." Depending upon the camp (and camp counselor), these goals are not inconsistent with camps. Also, it depends upon what is available to you, your circle of friends or your neighborhood. If your child will be spending much of the time with you and not so much extended time with other kids, then you spend your time organizing the day so they can have some unstructured time.
Case in point ...when I was younger (thru age 8), I lived in a "quiet" two-family home neighborhood (quiet as in traffic) where there were many kids of all ages that we could play with and be "watched over and fed lunch" by the commual set of neighborhood parents and older kids. Later we moved to a more older aged neighborhood where there were not that many kids of my age so during the summer I had less to do and spent time "fostering my imagination" when my mom didn't have something planned. At that point, I started going to camps for part of the summer where I could run around and be with kids of my own age. The first camp I went to (BTW ... the more expensive one) was much more structured and organized in the set of activities we did. I then went to another day camp (a less expensive YMCA camp on 70+ wooded acres) where they combined organized games (kickball, swim lessons, nature) with unstructured time where the counselors were assigned areas to have unstructured time with the kids (e.g., area where they brought different types of balls, books, games that the kids can pick and choose from). I found this camp much more fun since, in retrospect, I had more time to interact with other kids and not always have to do more formally organized activities that I didn't like to do.
When I got older, I became a counselor at the YMCA camp, mainly with the 4-5 yr olds. The other counselors I worked with typical focused more on facilitating free play type activities vs. the organized activities (e.g., softball, basketball). Most kids at this age don't have the attention span to do a long organized activities, get hot/tired quicker and trying to get 15 kids all doing the same thing isn't exactly the easiest thing to do (even with three counselors per group). With each session we tried to figure out what the likes and dislikes of the kids were and tried to focus on what they liked to do, avoid what they didn't like and occasionally try some new things. Also, for kids that spend the entire summer at camp, we sometimes would swap kids between the different camp counselor groups to try to get kids with like interests together (some kids could play kickball all day while others like to go on hikes). We did need to deal with younger kids being homesick, but that was more often at at morning drop-off/bus pickup time. Once they got into things, they were fine.
Sorry for being so long winded, part of the answer is that young kids can do fine at camps. Balance out the summer with family activities vs. camps -- and don't feel guily about it. A camp can be a good experience and provide something that many folks can't provide -- long periods (hours/day and days/week) of somewhat unstructured time with other kids. Check out how the camp is run and how they work -- sometimes the more expensive, organized camps may not necessarily the best for you child. One also has to gauge if you own child is ready and for how long. BTW, the YMCA camp I worked at also had 1/2 day camp option for the 4 and 5 yr olds (i.e., 9a-12 & 1p-4p).
