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April 26, 1985 - Image 43

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1985-04-26

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, April 26, 1985

43

'



Art by Michael Hitsky and Brian Schaeffer

• A•Y•C

A•M•P

BY ELLYCE FIELD

Special to The Jewish News

R

emember growing up?
Summer was one long,
lazy day with fans hum-
ming, warm breezes loft-
ing through open win-

dows.
"Err-ic, Erric. Can Eric come out
to play?" We called our friends outside
with a sing-song chant and played
until our nightly visit from the Good
Humor man. "Leansies-Clapsies-
Twirl-About-Toetapsies," hunting
bees and grasshoppers with glass jars,
impromptu plays on rigged-up back-
yard stages, neighborhood baseball
games at school playgrounds and
lemonade stands, 1 cent a cup.
Our summers were punctuated by
trips to Sandy Beach, Edgewater Park,
Bob-Lo, Downtown, and the Mercury
and Royal Theater. Some of us spent
part of the summer at a cottage, or a
South Haven resort. Few of us spent
our summers at any day camp other
than the one we organized for
neighborhood toddlers, and charged 10
cents a week, which included all the
kool-aid they could drink.
These days, there are few families
who don't send their children to sum-
mer camp. Some families have no
choice. If two parents work full time,
the children need a summer program.
Many day camps recognize this fact of
life and offer flexible, extended hours
or an option of half-day day care, half-
day camp.
Why do the rest of us enroll our
child for three, four or eight weeks of
day camp? Many parents point out
their child's need for structure and
stimulation. One mother explains,

"My five-year-old son is an active child
who needs constant stimulation in a
supervised setting."
But Birmingham child psychia-
trist Jeffrey London wonders what
came first, our child's need for con-
stant stimulation or our
achievement-oriented need to pro-
gram him? He cautions parents
against scheduling their children's
summers too full. "Many of us have
created situations in which our child
has a hard time not being programmed
and does not have the skills to be a
self-starter."
From TV, video games and com-
puters, to classes and more classes,
children are over-programmed year
'round, not just in the summer. Dr.
London urges parents to examine their
own need to be productive. "Kids need
an afternoon to play, to be creative. In
an attempt to give our children as
many experiences as possible, we have
robbed them of the experience to learn
creativity through necessity."
But Dr. London also points out
that "today's times are different than
when we were growing up. Today it is
almost impossible to let our children
play outside all day unsupervised, let
alone give a child free reign of a
neighborhood like we had." Many of us
no longer live in close-knit neighbor-
hoods teeming with children or in
walking distance to playgrounds or
corner drugstores.
Camp certainly has its benefits.
Children are offered large doses of
fresh air, camp spirit and group coop-
eration. They learn to swim, are ex-
posed to a wide variety of experiences

.

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