{"id":6542,"date":"2023-02-01T21:21:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T02:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mlparentcoach.com\/?p=6542"},"modified":"2023-02-01T21:21:25","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T02:21:25","slug":"summer-camp-conundrum-let-them-play-or-send-them-to-educational-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/summer-camp-conundrum-let-them-play-or-send-them-to-educational-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer camp conundrum: Let them play or send them to educational camp?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-12 columns entry-content__output non-vc-entry\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><b>Q:&nbsp;<\/b><\/i><i>How important is it for children to go to educational camps over the summer as opposed to playing or participating in sports?<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>A:&nbsp;<\/b>What a great question. It feels a little unreal to me, but the sign-ups for summer camps are already in full swing for many places, so what better time to ask this question than now.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\" data-testid=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">My knee-jerk reaction is: The point of childhood is play. You send the child to a play-based camp, and we don\u2019t even need to ask this question. But the answer to this query depends on many factors: the age of the child, their temperament, what they want, what you can afford, what is possible and what is appropriate for your child\u2019s development.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">Because I don\u2019t know the age of your child, let\u2019s start by asking, \u201cWhat is the definition of play?\u201d Although it feels very much like, \u201cYou know it when you see it,\u201d the best and brightest in the field have trouble defining it. I particularly like this quote by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/sg\/contributors\/scott-g-eberle-phd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scott G. Eberle<\/a>, an author and expert on play: \u201cPlay is a roomy subject, broad in human experience, rich and various over time and place, and accommodating pursuits as diverse as peekaboo and party banter, sandlot baseball and contract bridge, scuba diving and Scrabble. Play welcomes opposites, too. Play can be free \u2014 ungoverned by anything more complicated than choosing which stick is best to improvise a light saber \u2014 or fixed and codified, as in those instances when soccer players submit to scrupulous \u2018laws.\u2019 Play can take active or passive form and can be vicarious or engaging \u2014 and so we recognize [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\"><a class=\"fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-glossy fasc-rounded-medium\" style=\"background-color: #5b7d7f; color: #ffffff;\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/parenting\/2023\/02\/01\/summer-camp-play-sports\/\" rel=\"noopener\">View this full article in The Washington Post<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">Looking for more parenting support? Click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/meghanleahyparentcoach.vipmembervault.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">Sign up for my<a href=\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/new\/new\/newsletter-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&nbsp;Newsletter here<\/a>&nbsp;to get this in your inbox every week!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Q:&nbsp;How important is it for children to go to educational camps over the summer as opposed to playing or participating in sports? A:&nbsp;What a great question. It feels a little unreal to me, but the sign-ups for summer camps are already in full swing for many places, so what better time to ask this question than now. &nbsp; My [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,35,301],"tags":[259,1396,270,273,584,762,585,13,592,591,3,1252,10,593],"class_list":["post-6542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting","category-routines","category-washington-post","tag-back-to-school","tag-camp","tag-children","tag-development","tag-meghan-leahy","tag-meghan-leahy-advice","tag-on-parenting","tag-parent-coach","tag-parenting-advice","tag-parenting-tips","tag-summer-camp","tag-summer-plans-with-kids","tag-washington-post","tag-washington-post-parenting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - 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