A Great Adventure The Benefits of Summer Camp By Deirdre Wilson
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UMMER CAMP HAS ALWAYS BEEN A RITE OF PASSAGE. Kids at overnight camp are away from home and their parents – often for the first time. They’re thrown together with kids, counselors and camp staff they’ve never met before. They spend their days on lakes, fields or wooded grounds, playing sports or music, doing crafts, artwork or drama. They spend their nights in dormitories, cabins or tents. And when they come home, they always seem a little changed. More confident, independent and social. Parents of young campers have known this for years. Now the people behind the $20 billion summer camp industry have the research to prove it. The American Camp Association (ACA), which accredits about 2,400 camp programs nationwide, released a study on the benefits of camp in late 2005 and has been promoting the results ever since. The study, dubbed “Youth Development Outcomes of the Camp Experience,” is touted as
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Boston Parents Paper Northeast Camp Guide | 2018
the first and largest research of its kind in the country. Some 5,000 families, including parents and kids ages 8 to 14, were surveyed before, immediately after and six months after their camp stays in 2002 and 2003. In addition, staff from 80 participating day and residential camps recorded their observations of kids at camp and described their camp programs in detail. The study found that camp helps kids grow significantly in: • self-esteem, independence and leadership; • social skills and friendship-building; • physical and thinking skills; and • positive values and spirituality. About 70 percent of the parents surveyed reported their kids were positively changed by their camp experiences, with most seeing greater self-confidence. Parents also reported their children were more caring toward others, more apt to take on leadership roles and had made many new friends. Camp counselors observed kids becoming more willing to take positive risks by trying activities that were new to them.