Summer camps are returning to elitist roots

“What are we going to do with the kids this summer?” More than halfway through July, some iteration of that question continues to be raised in homes across the nation as harried parents scramble to keep their kids occupied in the post-school-year months. Vacation can only go so far.

- Stephen Mihm, Tribune News Service

And while some parents may deliberately let their kids “rot” — basically, sit around and get bored — most opt for some version of a time-honoured tradition: summer camp.

We live in a world of constant, relentless change, but summer camp is one of those rituals that has survived, largely intact, for over a century. That's because our conviction that children should have time to “unplug,” make new friends, learn a skill or simply reconnect with nature is nothing new — which is not the same as saying it’s always been that way.

In fact, for much of the nation's history, most kids spent their summers working in the fields and factories with their parents. Times change, though, and so did ideas about childrearing, ushering in what one historian has described as the “invention of childhood.”