Choice Does Not Equal Chaos

I remember many years ago when Stu made a presentation at a camp conference about the Campus Kids “Camper Choice” programming system and half the people walked out of the room within the first five minutes because our level of choice was simply not possible in their minds. That was good for those who stayed because they got to have a really good discussion about the benefits of giving kids choices.

Kids are intrigued and excited about choosing their own activities. They are a bit skeptical at first because getting choices is not something they are used to. But they get excited when they realize that every day we help them plan what they want to do the next day — as an individual, not as part of a group vote or assignment. From the campers’ point of view, this is a very good thing. It’s freeing and fun. It’s having control of their camp experience and making it what they want it to be. It’s the great feeling of having independence and responsibility.

Adults also agree that Camper Choice sounds like a good thing, but they often have more question about it. Examples are:

HOW DO THE CAMPERS DEAL WITH ALL THOSE CHOICES?
We organize the choices by age division and into activity periods and the bunk counselors help their campers make their choices. Our system is organized. Choice does not equal chaos.

DOES MY CAMPER HAVE THE OPTION TO DO “NOTHING”?
The answer is “mostly no”. There are three activity periods in the morning, three in the afternoon and one after supper (before the evening programs) and campers all choose something to do each of those periods. The answer is “sometimes yes” because a camper who wants to take a break from doing organized activities every period can choose “afternoon shade” or “evening shade”, which is unstructured play time. Check back next week where we will blog about our shade activity.

WILL MY CAMPER TRY NEW THINGS IF NOT FORCED TO?
Most likely “yes”. Campers tell each other what they’ve been doing and they influence each other to try new things. And, since they can try something once and then not go back, they are willing to take the risk to try something new. They learn that it’s worth trying and there’s not a single camper who doesn’t develop at least one new interest at camp.

WILL MY CAMPER HAVE TO FIND HIS/HER OWN WAY AROUND CAMP?
No! It’s true that the bunk group doesn’t do its activities all together because each camper makes their own choices. However, the foundational safety rule at our camp is that every camper is always with a counselor. So we have a time-tested system for getting our campers to each activity with the counselors. Come out to camp in the summer and watch our activity changeovers; they are very interesting.

Camper Choice is at the heart of our philosophy and programming and we wouldn’t be Campus Kids without it. When people ask, “Are you a specialty camp?” I say, “Yes! We specialize in giving kids choices.”

If you have any questions about this aspect of our camp, please drop me a line or give me a call. I’d love to chat with you about it.

Tom