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An average four-to-six-year-old can only absorb one or two simple, isolated concepts in 60 minutes, and that too, if delivered through play, songs and story. Perhaps the idea that plants need water or that we must not litter the ocean because plastics harm marine creatures. In contrast, 13 and 14-year-olds can probably learn the historical causes of the First World War, map the opposing alliances, and analyse the immediate political aftermath.
This is not just guesswork. It is the result of cognitive tests and mapping the focus and retention children bring to new knowledge. And, the reason why I’m pointing it out, is that the babysitting season is here, when we throw such closely-studied stats to the wind and bundle our kids, willy-nilly into the most convenient ‘summer camp’, often regardless of the thought and preparation that has gone into it.
By May each year, schools and clubs start prepping their premises for the extra income stream they call summer camp.
Mind you, I too have been in the same position as the hapless parents of today and packed off my kids to dubious camps each summer.
Like the ingredients list in fast food or fizzy drinks, the activities list for summer camps is more or less standard and interchangeable. Unfortunately, the capabilities of most organisers is not guaranteed.
I have visited so-called ‘summer camps’ which were just one large hall with a decidedly ratty carpet and close to a couple of hundred children doing ‘art lessons’ on the floor.
No supervision, just a set of crayons and an A4 sheet of paper, so don’t think your kid will blossom into the next Monet.
These days, some camps sneak in a few hours of serious-sounding stuff such as Vedic Math or Coding to make parents feel they are getting more bang for their buck.
The children, of course, are devastated by this resemblance to everyday school!
Most activities follow a similar lackadaisical absence of planning, as you find out on the last day when you attend the summer camp Open Day.
All the kids get on to the stage to display what they have learnt, be it the ubiquitous Bollywood dance or some serious offkey singing of movie patriotic numbers.
Perhaps we should be grateful that there are non-negotiable rules about safety and activities like swimming and field trips are strictly monitored.
Am I being the cynical person who slams summer schools because she is done with them? Admittedly, it is easy to find fault when you no longer need their services. But I find myself aghast at my younger self, that I seriously let my kids waste approximately 72 precious hours of their life (that’s three hours per day x an average of 24 working days a month) when even being bored on their own would have been more constructive.
All I’m saying is that there should be an official supervision of what these here-this-season, gone-tomorrow, summer camps are offering, how efficiently and what common standards they follow.
Surely, when we entrust our children to them for a month or more at a time, we owe our kids that much.
There should be accountability and quality factors built into our children’s summers.
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