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 Continued on Page 46 Friday, -February- 8, 1985 - 43 -