Let's Talk About...Summer Camp

Ok. Although summer may have just officially begun, with the 4th of July upon us, it feels like we are smack in the middle of summer. Which makes me think of summer camp. Maybe you went to summer camp, or your children went or are going to summer camp.

No matter your perspective, you probably have an opinion about the experience. Some people loved going to camp as a child, some loved having their children go. Others, like me, felt going to summer camp was a miserable experience, and I have never really forgiven my parents for making me go.

Summer camp comes in two major varieties: day camp and overnight camp.

Day camp means you go to "camp" every day for a period of time and come home at night. It is a lot like school. These can be science focused, sports focused, computer focused or just play focused.

Overnight camp is where the camper spends one or more nights away from home in the dirt with a tent, or in a rustic cabin. Or in my husband's case, thirty nights. Overnight camp's focus is survival.

I went to "day camp." My mom drove me there every day for a week and thankfully picked me up late in the afternoon.

I cried every day. I am sure my parents thought it was a good idea that I go. I, however, did not.

I mostly remember being in a big bug-filled field under what looked to me like a circus tent without the sides.

Apparently, it was "pirate week" because my group was called "The Long John Silvers." Seriously. It was either pirate week or someone just had a weird sense of humor that week.

I remember learning songs like "The Caissons Go Rolling Along," (the U.S. Field Artillery March). It is no coincidence that we learned that song since I considered my week at day camp equivalent to camping on a military base.

I made potholders, nearly drowned, and was chosen last for softball.

My children also went to day camp, but only because they asked to go. All their friends were going and I didn't want to dissuade them from trying something new, even though I was thinking, "Big mistake!"

Things were different for them.

My son went to a "computer camp." He remembers playing a lot of "Tetris."

My daughter went to a "science camp," where she got to hold puppies and other baby animals and then draw pictures of them, talk about them, and come home at the end of the day asking for a pet baby bunny. She still talks about it because she loved it so much.

I ask, is that really camp?

Both of my sons enjoyed a "camp" where they wandered the parks of Boulder, role-playing their medieval characters in a made-up world with important choices to make. Choices that often resulted in dire consequences. Much like life. They loved LARPing. But was it camp?

To me "camp" connotes scout camps and outdoor adventure camps where kids are outside surviving in the wild in the dirt. "Camp" can also mean simply surviving being away from home with kids you don't know while participating in an endless cycle of swimming, hiking, biking, and team games.

But unless there is a tent and fire involved, and no real bathroom, is anyone really camping? Computers and baby animals do not generally involve fire or a tent.

And really, who does camp really benefit?

My husband's parents sent him and his brother to "sleep away camp" for a month at a time, whether they wanted to go or not. That is a long time. His brother loved it. My husband, not so much.

Some kids relish that time away from Mom and Dad and the freedom to get dirty, a little crazy and independent. They make new friends and lots of memories. They learn to survive.

Some parents enjoy the freedom to spend a whole week at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico without the responsibility of day-to-day parenting.

I get that. But that begs the question, "Do families really need a break from each other?"

Some do. Others decide to camp together.

That's what "family camp" is all about. You remember Patrick Swazye helping Baby (Jennifer Grey) have the time of her life in "Dirty Dancing?" That was my impression of "family camp." We camped together as a family a lot. But I assure you, what happened to Baby never happened to me.

(What kind of name is "Baby" anyway?)

So, summer camp can teach a skill, give a bored kid something to do, and can be transformative for both parents and children. You try being in the dirt and heat with just a tent and freeze-dried food for a week or a month and see if you aren't a changed person. I am all for gaining self-confidence and skills. I am all for exercise and being outside enjoying nature.

But let's not kid ourselves. Except for the "summer" part, summer camp is not always camp.