My
kids are summer camp veterans. My
oldest, Ben, is 13 and is enjoying a six-week STEM camp called Explo at
Wellesley, in Boston. My daughter,
Olivia, is 10, and is at French Woods Festival, in upstate New York, a camp
dedicated to theater, dance, and the performing arts. After visiting both of
them recently, I wondered why there aren’t writing camps for kids.
Maybe
there are but I haven’t heard of them.
But imagine if such a thing existed?
You
may think of summer camp as time to play sports, swim in a lake, and dance by
campfires in the woods. Some traditional camps offer just that. Many others are specialized, such as tennis
camp, boating camp, dance camp, or as in the case of my kids, a STEM or theater camp. Many camps touch nature and nurture the
curious child on his or her way to making friends and learning to live in a new
community environment.
I
didn’t go to camp as a kid. My camp was
the streets of Brooklyn, New York circa late 1970’s, early 1980’s, where I
entertained myself by going to the beach, biking, watching every Mets game on TV and
seeing a few in person, throwing a ball against a brick wall, playing stickball and paddleball, tossing water balloons out of my sixth-floor apartment, building my coin collection up, hitting the air-conditioned
movies (sometimes seeing 2 or 3 in a day), going to Kings Plaza (a dumpy mall),
and walking the animated streets of the city’s most populated borough.
So,
imagine a camp for kids that balanced outdoor play time with swimming, sports,
hiking, etc. and classroom time to write and explore the wonderful world of
creativity. Kids who gravitate towards
writing can experience a deeper exploration of books and the various forms of
writing, from poetry, essays, news articles, blog posts, and short stories to the
many genres of fiction and non-fiction.
It
wouldn’t merely be like school. No
grades. Just fun. Let these kids dream and nurture their
writing souls. I’d go to a camp that
only demanded I write, read books, and play ball while making friends.
All
kids need to get out of the house and away from their devices, TV, and what I
call intellectual junk food. No
distractions, no parental interference – just unbridled pursuits of fantasy,
curiosity, and passion for each camper.
Maybe,
I should start a book marketing summer camp. That would be funny – but very
useful. I would start with adult
attendees first. I’d make it a
three-week intensive boot camp.
I
knew at an early age that writing was my thing.
By age 10 I wrote regularly in a diary and was doing a zillion
extra-credit reports at school. I was
prolific – and I haven’t put the pen down since then. I may have written well over 1,000 press kits
for books and nearly 3,000 blog posts.
But
would a writing summer camp be ideal for young minds? I think so, provided the instructors afforded
greater flexibility in what they ask of the children. They don’t want to just imprint one style of
writing or way of doing things onto kids.
No, what they want is to bring out the unique voices and ways of expressing
themselves.
Writers
can be lonely people, no matter how many friends they have. The best writers are very emotional and
sensitive to what others say, do, or think.
They will sacrifice doing things for writing about others. They will dig deep to feel-even if it’s pain
and not joy – if it can help them write.
So having a camp where like-minded kids can gather to support each other
and see that they are not alone would be tremendous.
These
kids would be great at writing letters home, too!
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