Homesick and Happy: How Time Away from Parents Can Help a Child Grow

Ever consider sending the kids away in an effort to make them loving, productive, moral, and independent young adults? School psychologist Thompson (It's a Boy!: Your Son's Development from Birth to Age 18) makes a strong case for the tradition of sleepaway camp and examines how time away from parents can be one of the most productive and formative experiences of childhood. He argues that children feel in charge of their own growth at camp and illustrates how children will interpret their experiences through a parent's reaction as long as a parent is present. Parents who orchestrate their child's connections with others only confirm a child's sense of incompetence. He examines how this "Golden Age of Parental Attention" is undermining kids' sense of accomplishment, and extols the benefits of camp rituals, such as shared meals, electronic-free activities, and a multigenerational community.