Glance over at that child-shaped dent in the living room sofa, and that may seem a Herculean task. But it’s the very proliferation of technology’s tentacles that has helped parents discover camp, it turns out; they’re desperate for a safe way to nudge youngsters outdoors again.
“Parents see an opportunity for kids to be kids,” says Dayna Hardin, owner and director of the Lake of the Woods Camp for Girls and Greenwoods Camp for Boys in Decatur,
Michigan. “It brings kids back to the world before texting, Facebooking, instant messaging, and constant communication.”
Years ago, American children were booted out of their homes after breakfast every summer and advised to not come back until dinner. They’d spread out into the neighborhood with their temporarily evicted peers and turn the world into one big playground, building forts, playing cops and robbers, and piling into sandboxes.
Times have changed, though. Whether it’s their perception or reality, parents now fear that this kind of unscripted romp is simply too dangerous, which leaves two options: They can either keep little Johnny under lock and key — where he’s likely to gravitate toward something that requires a power outlet — or micromanage an action-packed schedule from dawn to dusk, replete with soccer practice, playdates, and paint-your-own pottery.
“We refer to them as helicopter parents,” says Harriet Lowe, director of communications at the ACA, which is based in Martinsville,
Indiana. “Their children are in the house, helicoptered over, being sedentary, being obese, playing video games.”
The cases of both the overscheduled and the sedentary child present problems. The latter may develop “nature-deficit disorder,” a term introduced by author Richard Louv in his book
Last Child in the Woods. The concept attributes a host of behavioral problems to spending too little time outdoors, from attention-deficit disorders to depression. Louv submits that being outside is practically a physiological need, and that when children are deprived of it, they are prone to suffering.
“We already know our children are not going to be as healthy as our generation, which is the first time we’ve ever seen that reverse,” says Peg Smith, chief executive officer of the ACA. “That’s a frightening realization for parents.”
The overscheduled child can suffer repercussions, too, most of them stress-related. But what’s heartening is that parents seem to be recognizing that they need to break their children loose from some of these vise grips, even if it’s within the structure of a three-week program.
“For three weeks, they’re disconnected from the electrical umbilical [cord],” says Steve Baskin, who, with his wife Susie, coowns Camp Champions, the camp Hannah attends. “What replaces it is true interaction, being fully present with another human being. I say ‘I’m not taking your phone away from you; I’m giving you the gift of knowing you can be spectacular without it.’ ”
Something certainly seems to be working. In 1996, Camp Champions’ inaugural year, attendance was at 600; today, it is 1,100. Between 1999 and 2005, their annual enrollment among high school students surged from 43 to 210, where it has stayed, simply because the camp is at capacity. And in the last five years, the number of kindergartners and first graders in attendance has doubled.