Why Camp Counselors Can Out-Parent Parents
At our overnight summer camp near Chicago, we appreciate the significance of giving children the freedom to learn from others closer to their age. Psychologist Michael Thompson also appreciates that freedom and its positive impact on kids’ intellectual and character growth.
As he notes: “Children love to learn, but they get tired of being taught by adults. Children want to learn from older children, and, at a camp that means older campers, C.I.T.’s (counselors in training) and camp counselors. They want to live with them, emulate them, absorb them. In our age-segregated society, camp is the only place in America where an 11-year-old can get the sustained attention of a 19-year-old. In return for the attention of these ‘older children,’ campers will make sacrifices. They will follow all kinds of rules and adhere to all kinds of rituals that they would likely fight at home.”
Below are some other points from his article describing why camp counselors can out parent parents.
- American parents often think that the answer to their parenting dilemmas is for them to do more, or better, or to do something differently.
- Parents should often do less, and should sometimes take themselves out of the picture, especially in the summer, when it’s easy to stop battling and turn some of the toughest parenting challenges over to 20- and 21-year-olds who can perform magic with their children.
- College-age students possess a completely different kind of authority than do parents, and they put it to good use getting children to take personal responsibility, take turns and, more important, take risks and accept challenges that would melt parents into a puddle of anxious empathy.
- These young adults often teach complex, challenging skills.
- They also teach character and community, caring and sacrifice.