Our Kids
Glen Herbert - Editor

Glen Herbert
Editor/Writer, Our Kids Media

August, 2020


It’s as true as it is worth repeating: kids need camp. As the editor of the annual guide, that’s a message that I work to include in each edition: camp is fun, but it’s more than that. It’s fun that you can take seriously. Johnny Wideman, executive director of Willowgrove Day Camp, recently commented to me that the benefit of camp is “finding yourself surrounded by this new kind of ethos. It gives a general reset to your values, to what you feel is important. … [it’s a chance] to actually connect with other people, empathetically and compassionately.” He adds that he feels it provides “basically all of the building blocks we need to make our communities and the world better.”

That’a a powerful message, and whether kids are canoeing together on a lake, coding together in a lab, or even sharing a craft online, that’s an aspect of camp that’s worth repeating. It’s also why we’ve chosen it to be the lead topic in the next edition of the guide.

To that end, I’ve been interviewing camp directors, counsellors, and camp alumni, asking them about the things that make camp more than just a fun experience (as important as that is) but essential to child emotional and social development. I’d like to share insight into how camps encourage self-regulation, independence, responsibility, courage, resilience, interpersonal skills, curiosity, creativity, physical literacy, generosity, tolerance, and faith. How they set up kids to contribute productively to their communities and their world.

So that’s something I’d like to ask you: What makes camp important? How was it important in your life, and what do you hope to impart, above all else, to your campers? Of that list of traits above, which do you feel is the most important, the one that above all you’d like to pass along to young people? You can respond with thoughts to this email, or contact me directly at [email protected].

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