I was recently at the United Methodist National Camp and Retreat Leaders Gathering. Peg Smith, CEO of the American Camp Association (ACA) was giving a keynote address and shared a startling factoid. The radius of play for a child has shrunk from one mile to 500 feet. I’m old enough that my childhood days reflected a time when I spent entire days outside and could easily wander a mile from home. I grew up in suburbia, but there was still plenty of safe space for us to play. I think we all understand that we live in a different world and there’s a reason you don’t want your child wandering off on her own. Still, it raises the question, what effect does the shrinking of our physical world have on us, even as our virtual world grows exponentially?
Richard Louv coined the term, “nature deficit disorder” in his book Last Child in the Woods. He argues that contact with nature is important for healthy childhood development. He contends that lack of exposure to nature is a major component of the increase in childhood trends such as obesity, attention disorders and depression. Peg Smith, in a blog post that also appeared in the USA Today, chronicles the negative impact that the lack of positive play has on children.
I believe, absent of positive play, we are seeing children manifest social and emotional behaviors that are developmentally underdeveloped. They are not prepared to work with others or participate successfully outside of the family unit. They have not learned to manage conflict or solve problems in cooperation with others. Yet, maybe most disturbing, they have not had a chance to exercise their creative and innovative muscles — the opportunities to make mistakes, reflect, persist, and survive setbacks or defeat. This is the “grit” discussed by many, including Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed: “Overcoming adversity is what produces character. And character, even more than IQ, is what leads to real and lasting success” (2012).
It’s ironic that our focus on helping our children be the best they can be may actually make them less capable of dealing with a rapidly-changing world; less likely to be the innovators that our society needs. Music lessons, athletics leagues, scouting and after school activities, to name a few, can do wonders for children’s capabilities. But, while these activities do offer chances to make mistakes, to survive setbacks and to learn persistence, the focus on performance can actually make children LESS able to respond to adversity and to persist toward new breakthroughs. And we shouldn't kid ourselves, when it comes to grades, athletics and extra-curricular activities, our kids feel pressure to perform.
Stanford University Psychology Professor, Carol Dweck, has done groundbreaking research on performance goals versus learning goals. A Leadership Now blog post gives a great summary:
Performance goals are about “winning positive judgments of your competence and avoiding negative ones. In other words, when students pursue performance goals they’re concerned with their level of intelligence: They want to look smart (to themselves or others) and avoid looking dumb.” A person usually does this by playing it safe.
Learning goals are ones that are about increasing your competence. “It reflects a desire to learn new skills, master new tasks, or understand new things—a desire to get smarter.”
What she has found is that an overemphasis on performance goals – wanting to look good – can foster a helpless response. In a 1988 study they found that “many of the students with performance goals showed a clear helpless pattern in response to difficulty. A number of them condemned their ability, and their problem solving deteriorated.
“In sharp contrast, most of the students with learning goals showed a clear mastery-oriented pattern. In the face of failure, they did not worry about their intellect, they remained focused on the task, and they maintained their effective problem-solving strategies.
“When children are focused on measuring themselves from their performance, failure is more likely to provoke a helpless response. When children are instead focused on learning, failure is likely to provoke continued effort.”
Camp is all about fun and learning. There are games and sometimes there are competitions, but it’s rarely about performance. It's almost always about skills development and fostering community. The things that happen at camp help children learn to persist in response to a variety of challenges, all while having the time of their life and while making great friends. It’s hard to explain to those who haven’t experienced it. Campers grow in confidence, independence and social competence in just a few short days. Parents notice it, as evidenced by these parent evaluation comments:
He definitely gained a sense of independence & responsibility.
Also she shared the experience of getting to know a boy in the group who was somewhat different than the rest the group and how nice it was that everyone worked together to make him feel included and a part of the group.
He was in a small group so he had to get along with different personalities and do things outside his comfort zone.
I believe she continues to become more independent and spiritually enriched every year she stays at Pecometh
Every year she becomes more sure of herself as a Christian & a young lady.
I feel she gains independence and deepens her spiritual walk.
Who would want to send their child to a place where they’ll be outside their comfort zone? The primary reason parents send their child to camp is for FUN. We get that. And kids have LOTS of FUN. What keeps them coming back is the depth of the summer camp experience. What campers, and their parents, discover is that the growth experiences they have at summer camp are deeply meaningful and lasting.
People who know camp, know the value. However, what we’re finding out now is that this value is more important than ever. If our future is dependent on developing people who aren’t afraid of failure, who can take appropriate risks for the sake of innovation, who can work with others on a team or in a community to solve complex problems, then the value of the summer camp experience cannot be understated.
Steve Baskin captured this beautifully in a TEDx San Antonio talk last year. He contends that:
- We live in a world defined by technology and the change it creates
- Success in today’s world requires a specific set of skills
- Summer camp, which is devoid of technology, can be one of the best places to learn these skills
I believe Baskin correctly identifies that, paradoxically, the hyper-connectedness that technology enables also isolates us from real connections; real relationships. Like me, Baskin hasn’t shunned technology, he’s embraced it. He’s just pointing out its limitations.
Baskin cites the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), an initiative of some major companies that includes Apple, Cisco, Ford and Intel, to name of few. P21 has identified the skills needed in today’s wired world. They’ve defined the centerpiece as the learning and innovation skills they call the 4C’s: critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. What Baskin and most of us camp people know is that summer camp is a place where these skills are developed intentionally. Everything about camp, from fun activities to outdoor play to friendship to community helps children build relationships, solve problems, resolve conflicts and develop creative solutions together.
At Christian camps like Pecometh, we go a step further, as we build this on a spiritual foundation that goes beyond self and extends to one’s faith development. We see this in the number persons who go to camp, work at camp, then go into service as teachers, social workers, pastors, youth workers and missionaries. Most will tell you that camp was foundational to who they are today. We think that is, as they say, priceless.
Topics: Camp