Categories Good SOIL Jim Vitale September 20, 2024

Why you should send your kid to overnight camp

By Jim Vitale

This article is part of our “Why you should send your child to overnight camp” series.

Sending your kid to camp might be one of the best things you ever do.

We’re not exaggerating.

 

The hesitation

There are lots of reasons why parents hesitate to send their kids to overnight camp. And there are plenty of reasons why kids are hesitant to go. I suspect parental concerns fall into one of two categories: reluctance to be separated from their child and/or preference for other experiences over camp.

In the first instance, parents are worried about what might happen to their children while they’re away. Every parent is protective of their children and so it makes sense they’d feel anxious sending their child away. It is common for children to experience homesickness while at camp; and we have found there is an increasing number of parents who appear to feel “child-sick” away from their children (meaning it is harder on the parent for the child to be away than for the child). The rise of lawnmower parents (also called bulldozer or tiger parents) is a testament to this.

In the second instance, there is no shortage of other activities happening over the summer—many of which have more obvious appeal on college applications and resumes. Sports practice, choir tours, engineering camp, summer jobs—all of these offer very convincing arguments for their importance over everything else. Parents want their child to succeed in life and the narrative in our culture is that parents need to be doing everything possible to groom their children for the optimal college experience.

In her article for the Boston Globe, Beth Teitell writes, “Amid escalating competition for elite and even not so elite colleges, summer has become resume-building crunch time for students whose parents can foot the bill — a season of strategic importance for students trying to distinguish themselves from other students also trying to distinguish themselves.” Some parents are willing to shell out thousands of dollars a summer if it means their child can get into an Ivy League school.

Interestingly, in 2014, administrators from Harvard issued a statement pleading with parents to allow their children to have a laid-back summer experience, involving something like downtime, a simple summer job, or a camp experience.

 

The reality

The desire to protect our children and see them succeed is valid and important. As a father of three I feel that all the time. The thing is, however, that a summer camp experience like one at Camp Mount Luther might do more for your child’s safety and success than you might at first realize.

The data is in. The vast majority of people who attend overnight camp report a positive experience. And the vast majority of those people report that camp had a significantly positive, maybe even life-changing impact on their life.

Multiple institutions have studied the impact of overnight camp on kids. The American Camp Association (ACA) and Sacred Playgrounds both conducted recent reports (2017) with some powerful findings. In their National Camp Impact Study, the ACA found that youth who had a high-quality camp experience developed greater “affinity for nature, willingness to try new things, social awareness, independence, and grit” than youth who did not.

(A high-quality camp experience is defined as one that gives campers “[a sense of] belonging,

supportive youth-staff relationships, and opportunities for action-based and…reflection-based experiential learning. As one of Newsweek’s Top Camps in America two years in a row, Camp Mount Luther is committed to providing a high-quality camp experience.)

Sacred Playgrounds had similar findings. They found that, “The increased positivity and emotional boost at the end of camp were temporary, but the increased self-confidence persisted.” In other words, the “camp high” faded after a month or two, but camp’s impact on personal development persisted. Furthermore, Sacred Playgrounds found that faith-based camps generated “clear and lasting impacts on campers’ understanding that faith matters and that the communal elements of faith are important.” Campers came away from camp with a deeper understanding of how their faith draws them into relationship with others.

 

Camp’s impact is a ripple effect

Camp is college prep because camp is life prep.

The ACA says, “Our findings suggest that a high-quality camp experience may actually promote improvements in school experiences…Additionally, positive connections between camp experiences and youth outcomes were sometimes transmitted through improved school experiences” (ACA 28). The rich variety of outcomes offered through a camp experience, while not acutely beneficial like math camp might be, are far more broadly beneficial in providing kids the life-skills they need to be successful socially, emotionally, spiritually, and even academically.

It is understandable that we would rather keep our kids home where we know they’re safe, and it is also true that kids need to experiment with independence if they are to grow into healthy adults. While no one can ever guarantee a child won’t get hurt or experience a challenge, ACA accredited camps like Camp Mount Luther are probably one of the few and best places for kids to learn safe independence.

 

Going deeper

We firmly believe that the overnight summer camp experience is essential for the healthy development of children and youth. In upcoming blog posts we’re going to explore some of the most positive outcomes for campers at overnight camp, which include:

  • Creative Thinking
  • Independence
  • Sabbath
  • Social skills
  • Bravery
  • Affinity for nature
  • Leadership
  • Faithfulness

We are confident that your child will carry these life-skills with them for the rest of their lives!

 

Read more entries in this series