Nan wrote:
On Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:39:20 GMT, "StephanieTheGoofy"
wrote:


"Barbara" wrote in message
roups.com...
greccogirl wrote:
L. wrote:
greccogirl wrote:

My god, what the children of the world do, before cell phones? I
guess
they were just abused by having to go to camp without a phone!
ROTFLMAO

A lot of them got in trouble and had no way to contact anyone for
help.
I want my child to have the means to contact me anytime, anywhere,
regardless of anyone else's policies.

-L.

A lot of them? Doubtful! I went to camp all my life and never "got
into trouble". I didn't know anyone who did! A child doesn't need a
cell phone at camp, unless they are too immature to be there in the
first place, or possibly his parents are too immature to let their kid
out of their sight.

Well, aren't you lucky! You never met anyone who was bullied at camp.
Or who was placed with a group of kids who smoked/did drugs/were
sexually promiscuous, and really didn't know how to get out of the
situation. Had a counselor who harrassed them, or left the kids on
their own while going out to smoke/yadda yadda. Was abused or
molested. Otherwise faced a situation that s/he couldn't handle on
his/her own. Well, that doesn't mean that those things don't happen,
or that kids should be forced to face those things without parental
assistance.


I wonder if it is possible to adequately screen for the right camp. If this
**** was going on, I would not want my child in camp, with or without a
cellphone.

It's possible, but it would take effort. I wouldn't want my child at
a camp where this type of thing happens, either. It's the parent's
job to find an adequate camp, and to teach children how to handle
situations.

You can try, but no matter what, things can happen.

One attended the same local day camp for several years. We did a lot
of investigation of the people running the camp, their policies in
selecting counselors, safety, we spoke to other parents, we knew (and
One knew) a lot of the kids there; we spoke to the counselors before
camp began. But there were STILL two incidents last year. One
involved an overnight trip. We asked about the arrangements, and were
told that counselors would be in the cabin with the kids at night.
Technically true. They just weren't counselors from our camp. One's
counselor left in the late afternoon, and a stranger who just happened
to be associated with the same organization running the camp took over.
There is no way I would have allowed my son to go overnight had I
known this. Nothing happened, but still.... The other involved a
child (not mine) who was hurt in an activity and asked to call her
mother; the counselor decided it wasn't serious, and denied her
request. The child required emergency attention when she got home.

As to teaching kids to deal with situations, sure; great idea. But
sometimes, they just can't. They're still kids, after all. One has
learning differences. If you didn't know that, you'd never realize it
in casual (and sometimes even not so casual) contact. What sticks out
like a sore thumb, though, is that he gets pulled out of class for
therapy. I've always figured that would make him a prime target for
teasing, so we've spent a lot of time discussing strategies and what he
should do. But faced with a kid who would simply say nasty things to
him every time he walked by, One didn't put it together. Would the
school have put up with it had they known. No. But they didn't know.

Things just *happen* no matter how careful you are. You can't control
it all. Some people weigh those risks and decide that their kids need
cell phones. Some weigh the risks and don't send their kids to camp
(school, whatever). And some people weigh the risks and decide that
the benefits of losing the electronic leash are greater than the risks.
I don't think any of those decisions are inherently wrong. It may
even depend upon your kid and his/her age, (We know kids who went to
overnight camp for 8 weeks as soon as they turned 7. The issues they
face are clearly different from 15 year olds. In fact, I'd be less
worried about a little munchkin without a phone than about a teenager.)

Barbara