Bekah (right) and her friend, Sarah, at camp.
Recent newspaper articles across the country are chronicling the down turn in summer camp registrations. Of course, camps aren’t exempt from the effects of our current economy. In fact, Camp Luther’s summer camp registrations were down about twelve percent at the end of February. (A statistic we hope turns around in the next few weeks.) A recent New York Times article entitled “Cutting Back on the Kum Ba Yah” discussed some of the changes parents and camps are making regarding summer camp. The article drew ire from camp professionals across the country as it focused on the economics without discussing the spiritual, psychological, and relational value of the summer camp experience.
So for my first post of this blog, I thought I would ask the question. Is camp worth it? Is it worth the cost, the effort to register, the travel to and from camp, working out summer schedules, the worry, the tears (the parents, not the kids), and everything else involved? Is camp worth it?