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JOSEPH REISERT: Maine summer sleep-away camps not just for kids from away

Now that another school vacation week is just about over, it’s time for parents to confront the next great child-care challenge: What to do with the kids for summer vacation.

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My wife and I are fortunate to have jobs with flexible schedules, but we find the weeklong school vacations a constant struggle. Sometimes one of us can take time off. Sometimes, visiting grandparents lend a hand. And sometimes — too often, really — we take them to what we call, “office camp.”

“You can be like Harry Potter’s helpful house elf, Dobby, but in the office,” I suggest. Unfortunately, at “office camp” the children are less like the exuberant Dobby and more like Sirius Black’s sullen and resentful elf, Kreacher.

For the summer, fortunately, there’s a better option: good, old-fashioned summer camp. There’s a lot to be said for day camps: They provide wholesome, structured and supervised activities for children, typically involving athletic activity and time spent in the outdoors.

Parents, however, also should consider the traditional, Maine sleep-away camp.

Parents from around the country send their children here, to our beautiful state, for the summer. And Maine has an extraordinary variety of camps — independent, single-sex camps; church-sponsored camps; camps connected to colleges and schools; camps dedicated to music, to sports, or to the environment, and so on.

While some of them can be very expensive, some are modestly priced, and sometimes financial aid is available.

Though to people from away, Maine is practically synonymous with “summer camp,” a lot of Mainers are reluctant to send their kids away to camp.

My wife and I were reluctant, at first. We could see the appeal of not driving back and forth to drop the kids off at camp every day and were drawn to the idea of an extended period of time alone together, something we haven’t had much of since the children were born.

Even so, like many parents today, we found it hard to let them go away. We feel, as every parent does, the powerful urge to protect our kids, to shelter them from any possible danger, harm or unpleasantness.

In the end, though, that urge is self-defeating. However much we may wish that our children remain their young, adorable and affectionate child-selves forever, they grow up. And if we want them to be mature, independent and responsible when they reach adulthood, we must afford them opportunities to exercise their independence.

Sleep-away camp provides an ideal opportunity to allow your kids a taste of independence in a safe environment. Away at camp, children have to look after their own belongings. They have to make decisions about what to eat and how much. They get to make decisions about which activities they’ll pursue. They have to find a way to get along with their cabin-mates and fellow campers. Of course, there are teenage counselors and adult supervisors around, but, with campers living together 24/7, a lot of choices they make on their own.

Another advantage of sleep-away camp is that the kids get to spend early mornings and evenings in the outdoors. Sunny summer afternoons are a treat and as easily enjoyed at day camp as at sleep-away camp. But there is something truly magical about seeing the early-morning sun rise over a lake. And no one should miss out on the chance to be out in the woods as night falls.

What better way can there be to overcome fear of the dark than to spend a dark night in the forest with friends, learning to identify the sounds of owls, frogs and other forest creatures?

Perhaps it was just our kids, or the day camps they attended, but they never established any deep or lasting affection for those camps. The kids found them enjoyable enough, and lots better than office camp, but they established no deep connection.

By contrast, sleep-away camp is an immersive, transformative experience. Each camp has its own traditions, songs and rituals, and our kids came back eager to share their camp lore and looking forward to deepening their connection with the place where they had spent such meaningful time.

Children have few opportunities to feel that connectedness with any institution larger than themselves, so the loyalty that camp inspires gives them a first taste of a virtue that is too rare in today’s world.

And, did I mention, sleep-away camp means less driving and more “alone time” for the parents?

Joseph R. Reisert is associate professor of American Constitutional Law and chairman of the Department of Government at Colby College in Waterville.