As a kid, summer is the best time of the year! A long break from school, beautiful weather, and an opportunity for a world of fun and excitement. As a kid I remember riding my bike around with friends for hours on end, showing up at friend’s houses and pulling them outside to join in the fun. I remember spending hours outside each day playing games with friends, finding new adventures, and spending a few weeks at a camp where I had the opportunity to meet new people, explore my interests, and learn valuable life skills to take with me as I continued to mature. For many of you, the memories of summer as a kid may be very similar! Current and future generations of kids have a much different outlook on summer however.
Technology has advanced dramatically since our days of riding bikes, playing games, and participating in activity based summer adventures. Summers now promise hours of movies, scrolling through social media, and playing fortnite (or other video games… but lets get real, it’s fortnite). Left to their own devices, kids now days will magnetize to their technology for the entirety of the summer! I can’t blame them, technology is pretty incredible, but it’s stealing summer away from these kids and robbing them of those opportunities for growth that many of us remember so fondly from our childhood!
A little technology is a great thing. Our kids today are more knowledgable and better connected than we ever were as kids. The downside is that in turn, they are missing out on opportunities to build essential life skills that are fundamental in our development into adulthood. The good news is, just as technology has been advancing and drawing our kids attention, summer camps have also been advancing and are better than ever before. Introducing Camp Adventure and Camp Extreme at Historic Banning Mills!