I'm a firm believer in summer camp.
It's this place where there are no parents.
Camps illuminate the ways in which childhood was transformed.
I'm John Glenn Hill, this is Explain It To Me, and today on the show, we're going to camp.
Summer sleepaway camp, to be specific.
Nerves are normal,
whether it is your first summer with us or if you've been to overnight camps before.
I was so fortunate to go to sleepaway summer camp for two weeks.
Bye, guys.
I always imagined that sleepaway camp would be adventurous and life-changing,
kind of like in The Parent Trap.
These long-lost twins meet each other for the first time at camp and decide they've got one shot to reunite their broken family.
I wish I may.
I wish I might.
My wish come true tonight.
Despite the fact that I never went to sleepaway camp, I'm very familiar with the concept.
So how did camp get to be such a big deal anyway?
I called up Leslie Paris to tell us.
She teaches at the University of British Columbia and wrote a book called Children's Nature,
The Rise of the American Summer Camp.