I was watching the Today Show this morning...

I don't normally watch the Today show when I wake up in the morning. My usual routine involves waking up (before my wife), making coffee (www.larrysbeans.com) and watching Sportscenter (www.espn.com) in the living room. My wife usually has the Today show on in the morning as she gets ready for work and this morning I happened to be in the room when they were doing a piece on summer opportunities that would take the place of camp. Now I realize that not everyone is going to send their child to camp, but summer camp is a very valuable experience for a child, and I think many people don't fully understand all that children gain during that experience.

Every day at camp I get to see children learning to be responsible by cleaning up their area of the cabin, by making their bed and by taking care of their chores for the day. I get to see campers being respectful of the world around them and learning to be better stewards of their environment. At camp Earth Day is not just one day a year: it is every single day. During each summer camp session, I get to observe children from different socio-economic, religious and racial backgrounds live together and become best friends. I get to see children work out their differences in a respectful and caring way. At camp, children have the opportunity to learn all of these skills, in the midst of trying new activities, making new friends, and playing outdoors. Obviously, camp is not the only environment in which children can learn these skills, but the summer camp experience is a great part of a child's development.

At the end of the Today show segment I understood that there are other things to do outside of summer camp, but I was disappointed that they reduced summer camp to a bunch of random activities. Camp is more than activities. It is an opportunity for a child to grow into a great citizen of this world and to become all they were meant to be. Be sure to give your child the gift of a life changing event...send them to camp this summer.

Your Camp Director,

Dave