Are Specialty Camps Right for Your Child?

"Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh. Here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining. And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining". - Allan Sherman In this 1963 novelty song, the letters that the song's author Allan Sherman gets from his son, who is away at camp, don't describe it as being a very good time. Except at the end when the kid comes around and starts having some fun.

In the 1950's model of America, most parents sent their kids away to summer camp so they could have a little break from having them around all summer. The reasons that a lot of kids hated summer camp back then was that you had to do all of the same things that you normally would do when you were home: play ball, go swimming, volleyball, etc.

But you also got the added activities of going hiking in the woods, getting a bad sunburn, and being incessantly bitten by mosquitoes. The bad thing is that you had to do all of these things with kids that you didn't know instead of your friends.

I was a poor kid living in the city so I never got sent away to summer camp. My parents simply couldn't afford it. But I did go camping with the neighbors one year around the 4th of July though. A stray bottle rocket that I set off burned a nice big hole in the roof of their brand new tent and I fell into the river and nearly drowned. I was never invited back. I remember not really wanting to go again anyway.

Today, people still send their kids away to summer camp, but many of them are specialized now. According to The Healthy Planet Magazine:

"Over the last decade, the number of camps catering to kids specific interests has multiplied, due to parent and camper demand. Today there are camps in almost every interest area including skateboarding, theatre, cooking, animal and vet programming, science, weight loss, and many more."

There's one camp here in the area that has over a hundred animals that the kids can connect with. Hopefully, there aren't any lions or tigers or dangerous snakes in the bunch. Probably not.

So I guess that the parents got tired of the kids complaining that there was nothing new to do at summer camp. I wonder if there are camps that cater to kids who love to play video games? And do the camps actually still throw in a little exposure to nature along with all of the other activities? If they don't anymore, then maybe they should call it summer school instead of summer camp.

Source: http://www.thehealthyplanet.com/feb2011_are.htm