Youth Camping
The role it plays in Generation Y, iY and Z
...a formal and organized event, attended by children, absent from their parents, overnight, and dedicated to the promotion of ethical, moral or Christian behavior.
Camping is...
-Me
Frederick William Gunn, Head of the Gunnery School for Boys in Washington, Connecticut, is generally recognized as the father of organized camping. In 1861 he took his students out for a two-week period during which the boys lived in tents and participated in outdoor activities; many were similar to those of the modern summer camp…
-Reynold Carlson
Oldest summer camp in existence today
Founder: Francis Dudley
…Today the American Camping Association is the spearhead of the camping movement in the United States...During recent years it has devoted its efforts to the establishment of standards of health, safety, leadership, administration, programs, and facilities…
-Carlson
Camping as Contrast
Much has been made of camping as a way of getting children out of crowded cities during the school vacation period, and affording them some opportunity to spend the time in an environment less fraught with the normal hazards of crowded urban living, such as gang fights, depredations against property, and risks of accidents on busy streets…
-Dan Dodson
Have the purposes of camping had any positive effects of the well-being of campers?
…Camp affords admirable conditions for the diagnosis and correction of emotional difficulties. Here the child is temporarily separated from home and therefore, among new personalities and under new influences, has an opportunity to develop a greater independence and self-reliance...
...He is stripped for a time of dependence on the wealth of his parents and lives a thoroughly democratic life in an environment where all are on an even social level. His innermost nature functions because he is in the environment in which he is happiest and in which he expresses himself most naturally
-Retha Jane Mason
...rural spaces are healthier and safer for children and that camps in particular can be spaces of social transformation, in which adults can teach children the arts of acculturation and good citizenship (appropriate in regard to class, race, ethnicity, religion, politics, and gender) before returning them to their homes…
-Leslie Paris
...they learn that their actions affect the group and individuals in the group. The freedom, flexibility, and relaxed atmosphere aid in developing in the camper good health, a calm outlook, and wholesome attitudes. In short, camp is an experience in learning some of life's essential lessons…
-Retha Jane Mason
In fact, is this not more beneficial because of the spiritual consistency that a single week of camp cannot provide beyond the summer?
Is there really anything uniquely beneficial to learning at a camp?
Cannot these same truths be taught in the traditional youth ministry of a local church?
Educators and psychologists have discovered, however, that different individuals are reached in different ways. There may be blocks to learning even in the brightest children. Frequently these blocks are related to a home or to a school experience. The change in environment that camp can offer may unlock that block. Sometimes the freedom and per missive atmosphere of camp helps the child. Some children can be reached because here they want to learn and because the purpose of the learning is to have fun.
-Mason
Not...
but...