Unhappy Campers

Unhappy campers? It sounds like an oxymoron.

Nevertheless, summer is upon us, and for the first time in years a post-COVID mentality of “returning to normal” is sending scores of parents and kids into their cars and back to their camps. Sadly, for millions of children and adolescents, settling into the uniquely American experience of summer camp may not be realistic.

Why?

Number one, many camps did not survive beyond the summer of 2020, given an almost complete loss of revenue due to what was likely intended to be a temporary closure. Others wrestled with onerous CDC and local boards of health protocols and moved forward on unsettled ground. A third approach, put in place successfully, can be found in the experiences of Brewster (MA) Day Camp (BDC), which dedicated the balance of that year to surveying campers and families to determine what they wanted in successive summers. With that data in hand, they reimagined all aspects of what they do and had a remarkably successful 2021 season.

BDC’s approach to the pandemic shined a light on a fruitful, if different, path to continue serving children, teens, and families. And not a moment too soon.

Research from the Center for Adolescent Research and Education (CARE) and Total Brain, a mental health and brain performance platform, highlighted the very real challenges young people faced since the start of the pandemic. To wit, in February 2021, they reported the following (Total Brain, 2021).

The COVID pandemic is having a dramatic impact on U.S. students’ mental health, which in turn is affecting precious cognitive capacities like memory, focus and planning …

• 48% of high school and college students are at risk of general anxiety
• 45% are at risk of social anxiety
• 39% are at risk of PTSD

Deteriorating mental health is usually linked with a decline in cognitive capacities. Expressed in percentile ranking, the standard average for any capacity is the 50th percentile ranking. However, the average percentile rank for students in this study fell well below the standard average.

• Memory: 37th percentile rank (13 percentile points below standard average)
• Focus: 37th percentile rank (13 percentile points below standard average)
• Planning: 34th percentile rank (16 percentile points below standard average)

“The importance of providing students with resources that strengthen their resilience and flexibility in the face of conflict or change has never been more apparent than now,” noted Barry A. Garst, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Youth Development Leadership, at Clemson University. Dr. Garst is a longtime camp professional and commentator.

Also, those camps preparing to open for the 2022 camping season are facing the hard-pressed labor market affecting so many businesses both big and small.

In her article for CNN Business, “Worker Shortages Force Summer Camps to Trim – or Cancel – All Programs,” Parija Kavilanz says, “The start of summer vacation has arrived, but instead of preparing to welcome campers, several camps have had to disappoint families by shrinking the variety of programs they can offer this year. Some are canceling overnight programs, or worse, camp altogether for the 2022 season” (Kavilanz, 2022).

All of this is occurring against a background of the benefits a summer camp experience provides, as documented by Mara Gay in her May 28th New York Times opinion piece, “Summer Camp for All.” She wrote, “For some lucky American children, summer means campfires with new friends, long hikes in the woods, hot days swimming in cool lakes, magical nights under starry skies.

“Summer camp is a cherished experience for millions of children … As much of the United States reels from the pandemic, gun violence and threats to its democracy, the summer camps many have enjoyed for generations may offer something else: healing for America’s young people” (Gay, 2022).

How does that healing take place? The American Camp Association’s (ACA) original research involving 5,000 families whose children go to camp reported the following.

Results confirmed that camps build skills necessary to prepare campers to assume roles as successful adults. Parents, campers, and camp staff independently reported growth in areas such as self-confidence, independence, making friends, exploring and learning new activities, and spirituality. Indeed, camp provides growth experiences for youth that can benefit them through adulthood (ACA, 2022).

What Campers Say

• Camp helped me make new friends. (96%)
• Camp helped me to get to know kids who are different from me. (93%)
• The people at camp helped me feel good about myself. (92%)
• At camp, I did things I was afraid to do at first. (74%)

What Their Parents Say

• My child gained self-confidence at camp. (70%)
• My child continues to participate in some of the new activities he or she learned at camp. (63%)
• My child remains in contact with friends made at camp. (69%)

What’s not to like? Inaccessibility.

Currently, only about half of children eligible for camp can actually attend. As Gay pointed out, “The best gift America’s leaders could give young people is a healthy, functioning democracy. One small step the country could take to invest in their future, though, would be to come together around a new promise: to make summer camp available to every child in America …

“It’s hard to imagine a more ideal escape for young people living through an extraordinary time of grief, loneliness and upheaval. At its best, camp can offer children a chance to learn outside the classroom, drawing them from their computer screens and helping them build stronger relationships with other children, themselves and nature. For children living in poverty especially, summer camp can be a great equalizer, giving them a chance to pick up essential life skills — like swimming — often not taught in their communities. At many camps, children from diverse backgrounds forge lifelong friendships, develop a deep connection with and respect for nature and learn to work as teams to overcome big challenges. These are values our democracy desperately needs.”

ACA states, “The American Camp Association is committed to your child’s growth and development. Measuring how camps are doing to address the potential of every child is an integral part of ACA’s mission. Camp is both a laboratory and a catalyst for child development. By studying campers’ experiences and camp’s impact on the lives of young people, ACA provides parents with the knowledge to make good decisions, to thoughtfully guide their children, and to offer opportunities for powerful lessons in community, character building, skill development, and healthy living. Camp is a powerful, positive force!” (ACA, 2022). To reach its goals, ACA indirectly supports scholarship (campership) opportunities for families unable to afford the price tag.

Other camps offer scholarships and/or financial aid, some providing discounts for families that “refer a friend.” For its part, the U.S. Congress, through legislation passed last March, provides increased assistance for after school and summer learning programs (Grant, 2022).

Asking for help is worth the effort!

Even though difficult, during troubled times it is critical that our kids “find the sun spot,” as envisioned by Stacey Loscalzo, a writer/storyteller and former camper. She speaks to “collective trauma and collective grief.”

“It certainly feels like we have had our fair share of both just in the span of the past few weeks – never mind the past few years.” The remedy, Localzo suggests, can be found in collective healing. No doubt for many children, their favorite sun spot can be found at camp (Localzo, 2022).

While it’s likely that there are some campers who will be unhappy, most are probably the kids not able to go!

Stephen Gray Wallace, M.S. Ed., is a doctoral candidate in the Institute for Ethical Leadership at St. Thomas University in Miami. He is also an associate research professor and president and director of the Center for Adolescent Research and Education (CARE). Stephen has broad experience as a school psychologist and adolescent/family counselor. He is a member of the professional development faculties at the American Academy of Family Physicians and American Camp Association and a parenting expert at kidsinthehouse.com, NBC News Learn, and WebMD. He is also an expert partner at RANE (Risk Assistance Network & Exchange) and was national chairman and chief executive officer at SADD for 16 years. Stephen is an award-winning writer and author of the books Reality Gap and IMPACT. Additional information about Stephen’s work can be found at StephenGrayWallace.com.

REFERENCES

ACA. (2022). The value of camp. American Camp Association. https://www.acacamps.org/campers-families/because-camp/benefits-camp/value-camp (15 June 2022).

Gay, M. (2022). Summer camp for all. The New York Times. May 28, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/28/opinion/summer-camp-for-all.html (15 June 2022).

Grant, J. (2022). Congress increases funding for afterschool and summer learning programs. Afterschool Alliance. March 14, 2022. https://www.afterschoolalliance.org/afterschoolsnack/Congress-increases-funding-for-afterschool-and-summer-learning_03-14-2022.cfm (15 June 2022).

Kavilanz, P. (2022). Worker shortage forces summer camps to trim – or cancel – all programs. CNN Business. June 4, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/04/economy/summer-camps-staffing-shortage/index.html (15 June 2022).

Loscalzo, S. (2022). Find the sun spot. https://www.staceyloscalzoreads.com/musings/find-the-sun-spot (15 June 2022).

Total Brain. (2021). High prevalence of mental health risk amid COVID pandemic taking a serious toll on U.S. February 24, 2021. https://www.totalbrain.com/high-prevalence-of-mental-health-risk-amid-covid-pandemic-taking-a-serious-toll-on-us-students-cognition/ (15 June 2022).