WSJ article about (really) young kids going to summer camp.
August 15, 2000
Kids Start Sleep-Away Camp
At Increasingly Younger Ages
By BARBARA CARTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Megan Deangelis was five years old in June when her mother packed her off
for six weeks at Camp Universe, a summer sleep-away camp in Wildwood,
Fla.
For Megan, it was old hat. She started going to sleep-away camp last year
when she was only four. Far from being homesick, Megan, an only child, had
a blast; she even celebrated her fifth birthday there. "She loves to be at camp,"
says her mother, Kimberley, a 40-year-old administrative assistant, who lives a
4 1/2-hour drive from Wildwood, in Delray Beach. "Being at camp is like being
with all the sisters she never had." Megan plans to go back to camp next
summer -- this time for nine weeks.
Across the country, a small but growing number of parents are sending kids
off to sleep-away camp at ages previous generations viewed as more suited for
the backyard wading pool. Ken Fiedler, director at Brookwood Camps in Glen
Spey, N.Y., says some of his tot campers have to have their meat cut up for
them. At Wekeela, a camp in Hartford, Maine, where 20 of the 300 campers
are age six or seven, owner-director Eric Scoblionko says he had to teach one
how to use the bathroom.
Ten years ago, the average age of a
camper at a traditional sleep-away facility
was a little over 11 years old. By this year,
that figure had fallen to slightly over 9 1/2,
says the American Camping Association, a
Martinsville, Ind., accrediting body for
2,500 camps. The association doesn't
know exactly how many pint-sized
campers -- say, those under age seven --
have enrolled in sleep-away camps this
summer. But it is considering whether to
develop guidelines, such as staffing ratios,
for accommodating the kiddie crowd.
A number of factors are driving the trend
-- including the boomlet of young
children, the proliferation of dual-income
households and the lack of child-care options during summer months. When
school's out, many working parents become desperate for a safe spot to park
the kids. And the cost of day camps keeps rising. Joanne Paltrowitz, a Cliffside
Park, N.J., adviser to families on choosing a camp, says, "This year, there
were some day camps that were $4,200 for eight weeks. ... You can get
sleep-away camps for $5,500, ... 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Thus far, it has largely been parents asking camp operators to take children at
ever younger ages, but some camp operators expect to start marketing the
option. "In terms of business -- pure business -- this is a new market," says
Dave Devey, owner and director of the Falcon Camp in Carrolton, Ohio.
There, the minimum age for campers was eight until three years ago, when
Mr. Devey established a one-week "Young Adventurers" program for six- and
seven-year-old boys. The first year, five boys came for a one-week session;
this year, a total of 25 have enrolled for four week-long sessions throughout
the summer.
Some camp operators like the new wave of pee-wee campers, because they
see each as a potential repeat customer, representing years of savings in
marketing costs, says Jeff Solomon, executive director of the National Camp
Association, a Pomona, N.Y. camp-advisory service. The influx at the young
end is making up for a loss at the other end: By the time they reach their early
teen years, most kids these days have outgrown camp and opt for adventure
tours or study-abroad programs.
In fact, it's the increase in younger children, plus 15% growth of foreign
campers recruited via the Internet, that has helped fuel an overall 13% increase
in sleep-away camp enrollment this summer, to a record 4.5 million campers.
Of course, not every sleep-away camp will take five- or six-year-olds; a more
typical starting age is eight. The presence of young campers raises a new set
of safety issues. "I like them to at least be able to read the 'Exit' sign," says
Spencer Boyd, owner of Camp Merri-Mac in Black Mountain, N.C. This
summer, he has enrolled eight six-year-olds, including two who haven't been to
first grade yet.
Some educators and even camp operators are troubled by the trend.
Christopher Thurber, co-author of "The Summer Camp Handbook" and a
psychologist and teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H., generally
recommends against sending children to sleep-away camp before the age of
seven or eight. He says many children younger than that are still conquering
nightmares and bed-wetting and learning to dress themselves, so still need lots
of individual attention.
As important, most still require heaps of cuddling and physical affection. And
many children between the ages of five and eight "don't have an accurate
concept of time," Dr. Thurber says. For them, a miserable week at camp can
feel like a lifetime.
Indeed, one week is usually the limit for how much camp such young children
can take, Falcon's Mr. Devey says. "I wouldn't send my six-year-old for six
weeks," he says. "I know that there are careful camps that do it, but I wouldn't
be that comfortable."
Even some of the parents seem to have misgivings, he says. "Sometimes the
parents look sheepish or feel guilty about taking a break," he says. Still, he
adds, "My goodness. We all deserve a break."
Accommodating tykes can require camps to make significant investments. At
Camp Universe, the owner and director, Sheryl Ryan, hired a trampoline
teacher just for the young kids because she thought they were too small to play
competitive sports. For rainy days, Ms. Ryan purchased 10 Nintendo games,
since many of her young campers can't read yet.
Universe also installed extra-long safety boards on bunk beds for its young
campers, set bedtime at 9 p.m. instead of 10, and ordered separate movies. On
one recent night, junior campers watched the Muppets while the older kids saw
"Big Daddy," a PG-13 flick.
At Camp Redwood in Newburgh, N.Y., which has 15 five- and six-year-olds,
the smallest campers use rubber-tipped arrows at archery practice and have to
stand spitting distance from the target. Basketball nets are set at 7 feet instead
of 10.
But little campers actually have few big problems, some camp officials say.
"For the younger kids, every day is a perfect day," Brookwood's Mr. Fiedler
says. "It doesn't matter if it's raining or not. Everything is a treat. The older
kids know too much, you know what I mean?"
Ms. Ryan agrees. "Emotionally, they're much easier. You don't have the
cattiness, the bickering. They will participate in almost everything." The older
ones, she says, "heard that someone got thrown from a horse, so they won't
get up on a horse."
The little ones end up being less homesick, because they are so easy to
distract, Ms. Ryan says. "They say, 'I miss my mom' and you say, 'Hey, let's
go look at the horses,' and they forget all about mom."
When Laura Taylor's kindergartner, Wilson, announced he wanted to go to
sleep-away camp, the Pepper Pike, Ohio, mother immediately responded, "No,
honey, you're too young." But, the more she thought about it, the more it
sounded like something he would enjoy, she says.
She explained that camp meant six nights away from home -- no getting tucked
in, no hugs, no bedside prayers. But all Wilson wanted to know was whether
he could bring his favorite stuffed pig. "He said, 'Mom, as long as I have my
pig with me at nighttime, I won't be lonely,' so I said, 'All right. Let's try it.'"
He tried it, riflery and all, and sent lots of glowing letters home -- even though
he can't write yet. He drew pictures instead.
Write to Barbara Carton at barbara.carton@wsj.com
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