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By Jim Parry
 What we as camp staff are trying to do
is make a lasting, positive impression.
We want campers to make friends with their
bunk mates. We want them to remember the
camp song. The camper should learn good
habits, have good character, a sense of
real companionship, and experience the
value of hard work and play. Dear old Camp
[your camp's name here!] should be
in their heart, as long as they live. And
they should love the trees and water and
trails and views. We all should sigh at
the end of the camp session, and say, "I
love this place."
This Last
Child In The Woods book, its
subsequent Children
& Nature Network foundation,
and the movement of "Leave No Child
Inside" are all fairly
straightforward to us in the camp industry. We get it. We know that children
should be outside, that is our business! We know that the things kids learn at
camp are some of the healthiest, most profound things they can learn. Still,
we should take note of how the rest of the world is waking up to what our intuition
tells us.
Research is proving the value of children
being outside. Kids who spend more time
outdoors are healthier, less obese. Higher
test scores are associated with children
who are outside more. Children with outdoor
experiences have a deeper understanding
of the world and are more likely to be
involved with environmental issues. There
is a positive relationship between being
outdoors and mental health, and good
behavior. There is evidence of an innate
human affinity for other living things,
called biophilia. Perhaps, most importantly,
research is showing that camp leaves
one of the most profound, lasting, and
positive impressions on a child. We have
a lot of power!
And the risk of avoiding this issue is
clear as well. A society that has severed
its relationship with the natural world might lose sight of our very dependence
on it. Our economy is based on our ecology. Ultimately, every material thing
comes from the earth. Biologists believe that we still have not catalogued every
living thing, perhaps 80 percent of species. What solutions are left to discover?
And, if we are responsible for the extinction of some solution, then what? Joni
Mitchell comes to mind here:
"They took all the trees, put
them in a tree museum,
They charged the people a dollar and half
just to see them.
Don't it always seem to go that you don't
know what you've got ‘till it's gone
They paved paradise, put up a parking lot."
Caring about the natural world is good
for humanity; it's also good in
itself. Isn't camp the antithesis
(even if your camp really is mostly cement!)
of a paved world? We camp people prefer
actions and examples to preaching.
So it is incumbent on us to not lose sight
of what makes camp different from other
children's programs. Those of us
who have leaves to touch, touch them. Fresh
air to savor, savor it. Sunsets and starry
nights to inspire, let them.
I think a few things can get in the way
of deliberately kindling a relationship
between children and nature. Safety is
mom's (who, we are told, most often
makes the decision about sending a child
to camp) first issue, and though this is
certainly apt, our inclination to protect
a child is to take them away from the risky
outdoor world. We show our age when we
tell our younger colleagues what we did
at camp when we were kids! We are competing
not with screened windows but with Windows™ computer
screens. We have to fill registration,
and one way that works is to thrill campers.
Motorboats, climbing ropes, skateboards,
air conditioning, zip lines, stage lights,
soccer goals, even full schedules might
obscure a child's view and attachment
to nature. Finally, our national deficiency
in natural science shows in the lack of
experienced staff who apply for camp jobs;
hiring a naturalist is harder all the time.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not
saying we need to become Camp
Luddite,
with Bonding With
Mosquitoes, followed
by Seeking The Indigenous
Edible Nuts and Fruits as the only scheduled activities.
Still, if we are to be intentional about
changing the lives of children, there are
things we must and can do.
We have an obvious, but important kinship
with the Children & Nature Network.
The first thing we must do is remember
our attitude and share by example what
drew so many of us to this "business." I
am confident that part of that draw was
a love of children and the outdoors.
Next, our activities—formal and
informal—should work toward our efforts.
We would rather campers get to know the
seed pods of a redbud tree, instead of
iPods. Do a little more than you do now.
Let's leave an impression on our
children, one that lasts! What follows
is a complete online resource to connect
your campers to nature, including detailed
lists of ideas and suggestions for environmental
programming at camp from book resources
and ACA publications to the YMCA of the
USA's ICARE initiative.
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