# Did Parents Back in The Day REALLY Send Their Kids to Summer Camp? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122 "2004-01-01T15:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/41 "2004-01-02T17:19:13Z")
If you look in the New York Times, especially in the Spring, you’ll find pags of listings for summer camps. They’re still around. I get the impression that camps were big in the 1950s because they were a way to get the kids out of the hot, sweltering city (a big contributor to those rounds of summer diseases noted above). Until the air conditioner became cheap enough for everyone to haqve, city culture was different – men (the earners back then) stayed in the city and worked, and sent his family out to cool retreats elsewhere. See the movie **The Seven Year Itch** , or read Alistair Cooke’s essay on thi (written back in the 1950s), “The Summer Bachelor”, in which e notes that the air conditioner was tolling the death knell of this custom. In any event, camps certainly continued after that, although I suspect that prices went up as the clientele shrank. I went to Boy Scout camp myself for a week every summer, but I saved up for it all year myself. Sadly, the camp is now gone. (sniff) ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/42 "2004-01-02T18:44:28Z")
BTW, re: only wealthy families could afford the whole summer. I actually attended my camp on “campership” ie financially assisted. I actually never knew that until I was an adult and wondered (retroactively) about the cost! My parents had their own business and were struggling financially. ---
**Author:** ![LemonThrower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LemonThrower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LemonThrower)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/43 "2004-01-02T18:58:19Z")
There was an excellent documentary of summer camps made in the early 80’s starring Bill Murray entitled “Meatballs.” ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/44 "2004-01-02T19:00:30Z")
When I was growing up in a suburb of St. Louis in the 60s there were two choices for camp; the “regular” camp, and Camp Don Dosco, which where kids who attended Catholic parochial school regularly went. IIRC, the program generally ran two weeks. I never went to Don Bosco myself. My parents said I could, but it didn’t sound like much of a deal, living in a parochial school-style environment 24/7, especially as the kids from my school who did go were, disproportionately, the bullies and misfits. I expect their parents wanted desperately to get rid of them for a few weeks. Jean Shepherd, some of whose stories provided the basis for the movie **A Christmas Story** , wrote a very funny story where his recurrent character Ralphie goes to summer camp. It is called, so nearly as I recall, **The Mole People Fight the Forces of Darkness**. Each barracks at camp was named for an animal, and his group was called “The Moles”. There is a very fine public radio show hosted by Ira Glass called **This American Life**. One of the best episodes is about kids’ experiences at modern day summer camps. ---
**Author:** ![syjstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@syjstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syjstr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/45 "2004-01-02T19:03:26Z")
Yes I remember growing up in the Projects as we called it. Low Income Housing or the Welfare. We were sent to Camp Takoda every summer for the whole summer. Five days a week. 8 hours a day. Had different tribes all with indian names and we all had nature trail hikes, and arts and crafts, boating, sailing classes and campfire stories at night etc. Of course we did have some Snipe hunting at night for the boys. All the camps were in NH. Other Camps here are Camp Wakonda and Camp Sebago. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/46 "2004-01-02T19:12:01Z")
Wow. I went to summer camp for most of my childhood summers, starting in about 1983 and ending in 1991. **Camp Sealth** (associated with Camp Fire USA), for week or two-week sessions, when I was 8-12. [http://www.campfire-usa.org/camp/index.htm](http://www.campfire-usa.org/camp/index.htm) **Camp Nor’Wester** (independent), for four-week sessions when I was 13-15. Hell, Camp Nor’Wester even had a “rival” camp, also a four-week-session type ([Four Winds](http://www.fourwindscamp.org/), also independent). > **[Home - Camp Nor'wester](https://norwester.org/)** > > Est. reading time: 21 minutes My mom and aunts also went to camp, and two of my aunts even went to Camp Nor’Wester. I loved, loved, loved every bit of it, and my Nor’Wester memories are some of my most treasured. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/47 "2004-01-02T19:17:05Z")
I was born in 1983, and went to camp for, like, 2 weeks once. I hated it. So much. That’s really most of what I remember about it. It was years ago, and my memory’s poor. I remember making play-doh and that cornstarch/water stuff, and sgetti over a fire. And being around a bunch of people I’d never met before, and counselors who wouldn’t let me call home. I must’ve been 10 or 11, first time away from family (I’d stayed with aunts and grandparents and friends houses and stuff, but never with people I didn’t know). I just wanted to call my mom to hear a familiar voice, and they wouldn’t let me. Horrible people. Poor homesick me. Never went to camp again after that. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/48 "2004-01-02T20:10:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*Up until the early 60’s parents had a powerful reason to send their kids off to camp: [polio] \*\* Right you are. And no thanks for reminding me about the summer I didn’t have to go to camp but got polio shots instead. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/49 "2004-01-02T20:46:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AcidKid \* > And no thanks for reminding me about the summer I didn’t have to go to camp but got polio shots instead. Hah! I got the drop of liquid on a sugar cube, just like the big kids in San Francisco. -Well maybe not _just_ like them, but it brought up pleasant images. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/50 "2004-01-02T23:03:09Z")
A large majority of Boy Scout troops (at least here, in the east) attend a summer camp every year. Our troop went to Camp Russell in upstate NY. Pretty much the expected camp activities (although many were integrated into earning a merit badge), with the Scout stuff providing a framework. Lots of stuff had an American Indian (or pseudo-American Indian) flavor. Good times, all in all. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/51 "2004-01-03T00:19:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SpoilerVirgin \* > \*\*_Camp Tawonga here I come > Right back where I started from_ > > In the mid-70’s I (and my siblings) attended summer camp for three weeks every August. I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area, and the camps we attended were all located around Yosemite, so we got to go on lots of hiking, camping, and horseback riding excursions there. I loved all of the camp activities, but hated the camp experience, mainly because putting a bunch of junior high kids together for weeks away from their parents with only minimal supervision from college kids is a recipe for disaster. \*\* I went to Tawonga in the mid 90s. I’m not much of a woodsman but it was fun because I was there with some friends. I also did Space Camp twice, and though I didn’t stay in a cabin or anything, I did get to do somewhat woodsy stuff like swim in lakes. More related to the OP, when my dad was a kid (mid 50s) he says his mom sent him off to camp for pretty much the whole summer (8 weeks). When I was 11 I didn’t like being away from home for more than a week, I don’t know how he did 8 every summer. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122/52 "2004-01-06T20:30:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > \*\*A taste of country life? They’re going to have to move a bit further north now. Like Algonquin Park. \*\* Ever since I saw the movie _Indian Summer_ I have wanted to go to a summer camp like that. Wasn’t it filmed in Algonquin Provincial Park? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-parents-back-in-the-day-really-send-their-kids-to-summer-camp/222122.md?page=2)