The Guardian – Hazel Davis
“Chris Green is coordinator of the Summer Camps Trust, a recently established charity (of which ATE is a member), which wants 1 million children participating in summer camps in Britain by 2040. “A week or so a year in a well-run residential camp, right away from phones, laptops and the pressures of the outside world, with the opportunity to play and share a laugh with others their own age from all over Britain, gives children a taste of what life in a happy community can be like,” he says. “Most children in the US, Canada, France and Italy think of their annual week at camp as the best fun of the year.” Green adds: “By giving children back some ‘real childhood’, so they spend more time playing in green fields, listening to stories and exercising their imagination, and less time posting messages on social media or sweating over quadratic equations, we might see fewer reports and articles on how miserable our children are.” He would even like a week on a summer camp to be compulsory in the UK to improve children’s mental health.” (more)