There were few real apron strings in the sixties

This morning I read an article, "Loosen the Apron Strings," by Judith Warner in the NY Times.  The article is about summer camp and the struggles to survive that many camps are facing.  According to the article many of the camps are changing their focus from helping kids become independent to making certain kids are always in touch with parents.

Parents today, apparently, don’t want their kids out in the wilds, where they might walk in the paths of potentially tick-bearing Bambis. They don’t want the kids out of reach, where they can’t take a mood reading at each and every at-risk moment of the day.

Jeff Solomon, executive director of the National Camp Association, told The Wall Street Journal a few months back that some parents even question whether those who send their children away for extended camps “really love their kids.”

Apparently camps are responding web cams and always available e-mail.

All I can say is that there is something seriously wrong with these parents or their kids have been drugged into submission.

I can easily remember the excitement of my first summer camp experience.   I was probably eleven or twelve.  We headed off to the luxury resort of Camp Raven Knob in Surry County, NC.  In the early sixties that meant, wall tents over wooden platforms, metal bed frames and a somewhat questionable mattress.  The bathroom facilities were a step up above a latrine but still required daily doses of lime to keep the outhouses bearable.  There might have been some showers around camp, but in general I think we were supposed to be in the lake water enough to stay relatively clean.

I can remember being a little homesick the first time, and eagerly awaiting the Wednesday night parental visit, but I can't recall seriously wanting to go home.  As to communication with parents, Wednesday night was it unless you broke a leg or got bitten by a snake.  I think Camp Raven Knob had one telephone .  Of course in those days, most houses only had one telephone.

Of course comfort is all relative.  The cotton tick mattress in a wall tent were a huge step up from the Boy Scout tradition of sleeping on the ground in a pup tent.  If air mattresses were around,  and I think they were in the Boy Scout arsenal in those days, they weren't standard issue, but perhaps some of my old camping buddies can refresh my memories.

Computers would have been a problem since there was no electricity at the camp sites.  Light was provided by flashlights or the gas lanterns that the adults had.

Did we have a great time?  Absolutely.  Did we come back more appreciate of our comfortable abodes?  You bet.

We sent our kids off to camps of one sort or the other in the late eighties and early nineties.   Our oldest daughter experienced a number of camps from the traditional around a small lake girls camp to one run by aging hippies.  Our son did Boy Scout camp and a wilderness camp where I think he got a good dunking while canoing.   I can still remember his excitement recounting their good luck in finding a Dairy Queen in Pembroke, Va while on one of their hiking adventures.  Unfortunately I don't think the counselors let them enjoy the air conditioning.  The youngest daughter did 4-H and horse camps which always had their own unique excitement.

There was common thing about all these camps.  The kids were really glad to see us after the camps, and we were happy to see them. Generally once we gave them some of their favorite foods they recovered miraculously from their camp experiences. I don't know if they had any life changing experiences, but I do know we have some very independent kids, at least measured on the number of requests for help that we get. 

I know these are different times, but it is bad enough that we rarely see kids playing outside these days.    A good fort in the woods is something that all kids should have the chance to create. We don't live in a really hostile environment, and it is impossible to protect your kids from everything.  There are far more dangerous creatures walking some of our city streets than there are lurking in the deep woods.

Protecting kids from a well run summer camp isn't a wise decision, it's just another way to increase dependency which isn't a good tactic for a parent.