Why All Kids Should Go to Camp - Part 1

This is the first in a series of articles that delves into why every child should have the chance to go to camp. If you have ever been to camp then you are likely as excited as I am to get into this.

If you have never been to camp, you have likely wondered at some point what all the fuss is about (although of course there are some people who have literally no idea). Without further adieu let's get started.

Part 1 - Camp teaches kids about themselves. Camp is a place where all children have the chance to explore themselves in the world around them, and with peers of their own age. Jeez that sounds prosaic, but the point is that the climate at camp (and I'm not talking about the weather) is such that it allows for children to open up.
It may seem that a degree of extraversion is forced on children at camp, but what happens is actually far more welcoming and liberating than that.
You see, at camp children encouraged to be themselves and to allow others to do the same.

Through this process they learn about what that means in the first place.
Indeed, this is one of the more challenging existential questions that faces us, of who we are.

Nietzsche has a cute little quote that is pertinent here: "be who you are." The point is that this is no easy task. I don't know about you, but I experience ridiculous self-doubt and what I would call vanity, or inhibition, on a daily basis.
Indeed the very fact that I do not go outside dressed like Luke Skywalker on a random day (simply because it is fun, and fun lengthens our lives and makes it more fulfilling) is a sign of this vanity.

The point is that at camp children can dress up like Luke Skywalker, and there is no problem with that.

That may seem to not apply directly to the so called 'real world'; however, it does build up a sense of being allowed to be who and what we choose to be (without hurting anyone else in the process).