TLT-SWG Blog This - Clippings & Comments

Camp E-Mailaway


#pfmnav {background:#0D3159; color:#fff; font: 11px Arial; text-decoration:none; margin-bottom:15px;}
#pfmnav .pad {padding:6px; width: 760px;}
#pfmnav a {color:#fff; text-decoration:none;font-weight: bold; }
.wp_pipe {font-weight:normal;}

NEWS OPINIONS SPORTS ARTS & LIVING Discussions Photos & Video City Guide CLASSIFIEDS JOBS CARS REAL ESTATE
') ;
// -->
= "04210000" && now ');
}
//-->
') ;
if ( ( adTemplate & TOOLBOX_RIGHT ) == TOOLBOX_RIGHT )
{
if ( document.getElementById )
document.getElementById('toolbox_ad_right').style.display='block' ;
}
// -->
') ;
document.writeln ('' );
}
// -->
if ( show_doubleclick_ad && ( adTemplate & BIGBOX_FLEX ) == BIGBOX_FLEX )
{
placeAd('ARTICLE',commercialNode,5,'',true) ;
}
dcmaxversion = 7
dcminversion = 4
Do
On Error Resume Next
plugin = (IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash." & dcmaxversion & "")))
If plugin = true Then Exit Do
dcmaxversion = dcmaxversion - 1
Loop While dcmaxversion >= dcminversion

') ;
}
// -->
.correction {
margin-top:8px;
padding-top:10px;
margin-bottom:8px;
border-bottom:1px solid #CCCCCC;
padding-bottom:10px;
font-family:arial,sans-serif;
font-size:11px;
color:#333333;
}
.correction strong {
color:#CC0000;
text-transform:uppercase;
}
Camp E-MailawayCompanies Offer New Ways for Parents To Keep in Touch
By Kim HartWashington Post Staff WriterSaturday, July 8, 2006; D01
When Laura Roy sent her two nieces to summer camp in Southern Maryland, she equipped them with stamps, stationery and pre-addressed envelopes. Two weeks later, the postal service hasn't delivered any letters from them.
Instead, Michelle, 11, and Danielle, 8, have been sending handwritten notes to Roy's e-mail inbox, telling tales of canoe trips and cold showers at Camp St. Charles near Newburg, Md., and she replies with e-mailed messages of her own.
"I don't think I would have received too many through the mail," said Roy, a D.C. resident who was worried that her nieces would be homesick at their first overnight camp. She has printed out all of the letters and plans to keep them forever. "It's a treasure -- something in their own handwriting instead of just a plain old e-mail printed out."
For the past several years, kids have been able to receive e-mails at camp from their parents and other loved ones, often handed out with the regular mail at mealtimes. But technology companies are rolling out new ways for kids to report home, including scanning images of handwritten notes, sending digital photos, and posting live video of kids playing kickball.
While technology can alleviate homesickness for antsy campers -- and lessen anxiety for parents -- some camp enthusiasts warn that such constant contact defeats the independence-boosting spirit of summer camps and keeps kids too plugged in when they should be frolicking outdoors.
Several Internet-based companies provide these features for camps, which often don't have the resources or the know-how to share video or photos online. New York-based Bunk1.com hosts photo galleries, organizes parent e-mails and sends handwritten letters to parents' inboxes. Ecamp.net, owned by Thriva LLC, offers similar services, as well as video messages with webcams. Camp Channel Inc. sets up cameras for online streaming video of camp activities.
Camp Staunton Meadows, a small co-ed summer camp in Clover, Va., posts more than a hundred photos on its Web site for parents to view and print, distributes about 50 parent e-mails to campers, and sends about 30 handwritten replies to parent inboxes with the help of Bunk1.com each day.
"Parents have really enjoyed being to able hear back from campers on the same day," said Andy Adams, the camp's director. "By the time parents get home from work, replies are in their inbox telling them what their camper did this morning or how the ropes course was this afternoon."
However, the system comes with a few challenges. Letters written in pink pen -- a favorite among female campers -- don't scan well, and some of the male campers have to iron the wrinkles out of letters that have been stuffed in pockets.
With a dial-up Internet connection, uploading all of the photos takes some time, but the galleries have been "a huge hit," Adams said. The photos, however, sometimes open the kids up to parental scrutiny.
"We get great calls from parents asking 'Why is my daughter wearing the same shirt she wore yesterday?' and 'My son has a Band-Aid on his elbow -- what happened?' " Adams said.
Many camps are going high-tech, according to the American Camp Association. This year, 82 percent of accredited camps have Web sites and 92 percent have e-mail addresses -- up more than 50 percent from five years ago.
Still, the majority of camps do not offer such tools, said Bette Bussel, executive director of the American Camp Association's New England chapter. Because camps have varying levels of technological involvement, families can choose which approach works best for them, she said.
Christopher Thurber, a psychologist who is spending his 26th summer at Camp Belknap in New Hampshire, said no technology is used at the camp except for the occasional stereo in the cabins. Kids write traditional letters to send home, and they save photos and stories to share with parents at the end of the summer.
"I think there is great value in bringing kids away from things they have the other 10 or 11 months out of the year," Thurber said. "Because the possibility exists to write a letter every day, some parents are writing four or five e-mails" a day.
He urges parents to "get out of the instant-message mode" and correspond with their campers two or three times a week. "That still promotes self-reliance and independence and cuts that digital umbilical cord."
Ari Ackerman, founder and chief executive of Bunk1.com, agreed that campers should have limited access to technology. His company's service allows kids to write their letters on pre-printed stationery with their parents' e-mail addresses encrypted into barcodes. The campers write letters and then pass them to counselors to fax to Bunk1.com, which scans the letters and sends them to parents' inboxes.
"It provides a one-way window into the child's world," he said. "Parents are on the computer, but kids are outside playing ball where they should be."
At Camp St. Charles, where Michelle and Danielle are finishing their stint, campers are not allowed to have cellphones, televisions or MP3 players. But most of the camp's 155 campers write home on Bunk1.com's stationery.
"Our kids are not anywhere near the technology," said Laura Hall, the camp's director. "We just offer the high-tech tools for the parents. I think it's the perfect balance: Parents get that quick turnover that technology offers and the kids get the back-to-nature break from technology."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
') ;
// -->
Ads by Google
Build a Computer at CampKids build their own computer and take it home! 6 locations.www.kidsntechnology.net
Adventure Links VirginiaSummer, Overnight, Expedition Camps Rock Climbing, Caving, Kayakingwww.adventurelinks.net
The Camp WizardSearch New York, Pennsylvania and New England accredited summer campswww.campwizard.org
') ;
if (! ( ( adTemplate & AD_LINKS_BOTTOM ) == AD_LINKS_BOTTOM ) )
{
if ( document.getElementById )
document.getElementById('ad_links_bottom').style.display='none' ;
}
// -->
if (document.domain != '') {
rs = (typeof thisNode != 'undefined')?thisNode.split("/")[0] + "/" + thisNode.split("/")[1]:null;
if (typeof thisNode != 'undefined' && rs.split("/")[1] == 'undefined') rs = thisNode.split("/")[0];
DM_addToLoc("thisNode",rs);
DM_tag();
var DM_CSID = "J05531";
var DM_UIDS = 3;
var DM_CHN = document.location.hostname;
var DM_PIX = "pix01.revsci.net";
var DM_BPIX = "pix01.revsci.net";
var DM_UIDD = document.location.hostname;
DM_addToLoc("thisNode", rs);
DM_tag();
}
placeSiteMetrix();
var SA_ID="wpost;wpost";