Leaving for sleepaway camp is, for many children, a major step toward independence. Today, when cellphones keep parents and children in nearly constant contact, the fact that most camps have phone-free policies makes breaking away even more of a challenge.
Camp-age kids, by even 10 or 11, are used to texting and being in frequent contact with their parents, said Christopher Thurber, a clinical psychologist who focuses on youth development and summer camp. How we communicate has changed the nature of attachment, and it complicates the separation that kids and parents go through, he said.
According to a Pew Research Center study, teenagers send and receive an average of 67 texts per day. Kids are on their phones in school, in restaurants, on vacations and even in bed. For many, sleepaway camp remains one of the last oases, largely untouched by technology.
To prepare to detach for camp, Dr. Thurber recommends families try one tech-free day per week over the month before camp, with no recreational screen time. Its good to practice some withholding from real-time digital communication and learn to not reflexively reach for cellphones, he said.
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