THE DETROIT- JEWISH-NEWS
Gee, Ma! I Wanna Go!
BY ELLYCE FIELD
Special to The Jewish News
They lay huddled in a pile on
my desk. Glossy pictures of
children in action, mugging
mischievously. Brochures for
a winter ski vacation? Sounds
like you haven't lived in the
Detroit area with children for
very long.
Be advised — most summer
camp applications go out in
mid-January. Decisions are
made in a flurry of phone con-
versations with good friends
and acquaintances, especially
those with older, more camp-
experienced children.
Decisions are signed, sealed
and delivered, with a deposit
of course, by the end of Feb-
ruary. Or else — for many
popular camps — you will not
have your choice of session or
specified days.
Yet there is something
faintly reassuring and sooth-
ing about reading summer
camp brochures when it's 5
degrees below zero and snow- -•
ing wildly outside. Pictures of
. ,, ...................
•
•
half-naked • kids running
through the water, smiling
bravely in canoes and playing
ball they always perk me up. I
know winter is only tempor-
ary. Think of it. Signing up
your children for camp, in
February, is an optimistic af-
firmation that summer will
come.
First-time camper families
might be asking themselves
the same questions my hus-
band asked me when I showed
him the brochure for a sum-
mer program that accepted
21/2-year-olds. Why am I send-
ing my children to camp?
• So I'll have free time.
• Because I never got to go
when I was a kid.
• Because everyone on the
block is going.
• So I'll have time to spend
with .baby.
• Because I went for ten
years and it made me
what I am today.
• Because all my children's
friends are going.
• So my child can . . . gain
independence . . . learn to
live with others . . . meet
new friends . . . stay busy
. . . experience new
activities . . . have new
challenges . . . learn to
make his bed.
Camps today bear little re-
semblence to the rustic and
simple camps we went to.
Sure, we had swimming, boat-
ing, arts and crafts. Some of us
even paid extra for horseback
riding and sailing. Today's
campers are offered all this
plus computers, video taping,
radio broadcasting, kayaking,
wind surfing, map reading,
weight lifting, martial arts
'and archeology.
There are specialty camps,
Jewish camps, camping trips,
travel programs and summers
abroad. There are more chil-
dren's camps to choose from for
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