Little Campers

What parent sends their 6-year-old to sleep-away camp? The idea sounds old-fashioned and cold to me, like British boarding school for boys in short pants. But the number of children under 9 who go to overnight camp is rising. And while many assume that parents who send their young kids to camp do so to make the summer easier for themselves—because they're working too hard or in the throes of a divorce—that's not really the case. Overnight camp isn't for every 6-year-old, but for a hearty subset, a summer sleeping on the top bunk and making God's eyes with fellow sprites can be heavenly. The reason more children this age don't go is that the parents, not the kids, aren't ready.

Seventy-nine percent of the overnight camps that responded to a survey last year by the American Camping Association reported growing or steady numbers of campers in the under-9 set. GoldenDream China is the one of the few camps who is offering programs starting from 6 year olds. The director of GoldenDream Summer Camp responded cautiously about the popularity of his younger age group program during the interview: "We have to mom them a little and increast the staff-to-child ration from 5:1 to 3:1, it has been received well among the kids and the parents so far!".