Youth and Families

The Evolution of Day Camps

by Sandra (Sam) Thompson and Ellen Riedl

Day camps and after school programs conjure thoughts of organized park play time and art classes lasting one to three hours. Seen as no more than "something for the kids to do," parents might opt to leave their young ones at a relative's house instead while they finish a day's work.

But not any more.

A strong emergence of the single-parent family and financial demands for dual income households have riveted childcare into family lives as a necessity, not just an alternative. "Latchkey" kids are too frequently the results of unaffordable childcare or limited childcare hours. Demand is no longer the determinant to whether a childcare program will survive. Rather, the flexibility to change and mature with the needs of its recipients is the real key to success.

In the last ten years, park district day camps and after school programs have evolved to make a new presence in their communities by throwing their hat toward the day care arena. Young families are enjoying the range of options they find in these programs as a fun and exciting alternative to commercial day care for their children ages 3 to 15.

"My program. Extended Time [ET], started with 30 children in the basement of a school," says Thompson. "We now have 562 children, eight sites, waiting lists and a written agreement that every school built in the district will have program space for ET."

"When I started in recreation 18 years ago, we were thought of as only sports, playground programs and park facilities," says Sandra (Sam) Thompson, recreation supervisor in charge of day camp and after school programs at the Crystal Lake Park District. "Since that time, society's needs have changed and our responsibilities have grown."

Thompson worked in commercial day care before changing to a recreation supervisor. "I knew that the chain day care programs did not have more than one room with a capacity of 12 to 25 students. The day care programs could not meet the demand out there. It's more profitable for them to take fewer, younger children all day, all week than to offer a variety of schedule options for parents."

After being approached by representatives from School District 47 to develop an after school program, Thompson began to evaluate the possibility of offering programs that would truly meet the scheduling needs of parents. Programs would need to be affordable, flexible, safe and entertaining.

Under Thompson's guidance, the Crystal Lake Park District expanded its early childhood and preschool programs. Day camps evolved from one and two hour programs that traveled from part to park to full day—9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.—programs.

"The two biggest issues I needed to address when starting these programs were "Why should a park district offer childcare programs?" and "We are a nonprofit organization....What if we

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make a profit through these programs?" Thompson says.

"The profits, if any, could offset losses in other programs. And as for whether or not a park district should offer day care, I believe park districts are here to serve the needs of the people. Working with the school districts could allow us to provide an affordable solution for parents without moving their children from the safety of the schools for extended care."

In 1985, Crystal Lake School District 47 and the Crystal Lake Park District began to develop an after school program to involve students in safe, constructive activities until parental supervision was available at home, based on the result of a feasibility study conducted two years earlier. The surveys were mailed to school district residents to "examine the potential workability of a before, during and/or after school program to provide adult supervision for the latchkey children in (the) community, at no cost to either School District #47 or the Crystal Lake Park District." (Crystal Lake Extended Time Feasibility Study, April, 1983).

The survey showed 43 percent of the residents needed a five-day program, 50 percent were interested in care during afternoons only, and 29 percent needed morning care. Care after morning kindergarten was also requested.

In seeking similar programs to emulate, the districts searched across the country and found two models for after school programs that met their specifications: one in Virginia and one in California. Representatives from the school district and park district returned from visiting the model programs with groundwork in hand, ready to design a flexible program which would truly meet the needs of families in their area.

"My program, Extended Time [ET], started with 30 children in the basement of a school," says Thompson. "We now have 562 children, eight sites, waiting lists and a written agreement that every school built in the district will have program space for ET."

Designed for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, ET provides safe, reliable care for children and gives parents the comfort of knowing where their children are when they cannot be home. Every elementary school in the district offers an on-site location for the program with rooms equipped with many toys, arts and crafts, games and books for all ages. ET staff provides supervised recreational activities allowing time for sports, arts and crafts, movies, field trips, fun with friends and even homework.

In 1987, Thompson considered applying her extended time format to day camps to give parents a little extra breathing room in picking up their children at the end of the work day. An extended time camp format was offered for children of working parents from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Camp began with 40 children at one location.

"Today, we share our summer with 1,500 campers located at seven age-appropriate sites," says Thompson. "The need is definitely there. Now, in 1996, having a before and after school and camp program is the norm instead of the exception. Nearly 85 percent of my campers make use of the extended time hours."

Day camp and after school programs serve as a solution to many problems communities face including the elimination of latchkey kids and offering an alternative to gang activity and other forms of juvenile delinquency. For students, involvement in these programs leads to development of skills, self-esteem and sometimes a job.

"The wonderful part of my job," Thompson explains, "is I receive the children in the program at ages 3 to 5 and they stay with my program through ninth grade. At that time, I hire many of them as helpers, then counselors and some eventually as directors. After being in charge of the program for a long time and seeing how it perpetuates itself through its participants, our logo became Come Grow Up with Us."

Understanding the growing importance of day camp, after school and extended time programs in the community as more than a recreational outlet, Thompson joined with representatives from other park districts throughout Illinois in 1989. The group met informally for two years before petitioning the Illinois Park and Recreation Association to become the official School Age/Camp Committee.

"Our main purpose in the beginning was to help each other grapple with childcare issues and help other park districts start up their own programs," says Thompson.

Though before and after school childcare programs are needed in may communities, they may not necessarily be needed

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in all, Thompson notes. It's a matter of demographics.

"In the case of Crystal Lake, our city is one of the last stops on the commuter train route, so many parents commuting to and from Chicago need to leave much earlier in the morning and arrive much later in the evening because of train schedules. Children are left unsupervised until parents arrive unless a parent or relative is available after school."

Many park districts have considered trying day camp, preschool or after school programs in their area. They may soon discover how great the need is in their district for flexible childcare. Meanwhile, park districts that have learned to capitalize on their day camps and after school programs will continue to grow in size and popularity as a flexible and viable childcare option.

Sandra (Sam) Thompson, CLP, is the recreation supervisor and Ellen Riedl is the public information officer for the Crystal Lake Park District.

Perennial Issues for School Age and Camp Programs

• Starting a program (user fees, policies, operating hours, emergency forms and procedures, staffing and evaluation)

• Staff training and motivation

• Field trips

• Discipline procedures for children

• Dealing with parents

• Intergovernmental agreements

• DCFS regulations and licensing

• American with Disabilities Act (ADA) (how to comply with the regulations and the ways special recreation associations can help)

• Age appropriate activities (developmental needs and abilities of each age)

• Anti-bias curriculum (developing an appreciation for different cultures and ages)

• Safety issues for children and staff (bloodborne pathogens, tuberculosis and hepatitis shots)

Hot Issues Programmers Face Today

Inclusion—Preparing and training the staff for all children with special needs, whether behavioral or physical.

Behavior Disorders (BD) and Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD)—Labels given to many school age children. How do we deal with their discipline?

Prescription Drugs—Ridlin and other drugs that are prescribed or over-prescribed for children. Out of 100,000 children on these drugs, only 10 percent should be on them. Camps also face the problem of parents taking children off of these drugs for the summer after nine months of use.

Youth at Risk—Gangs have reached all communities to some extent. They affect grade school children as well as teenagers. All children are at risk in our society meaning they face difficult decisions and pressures at an earlier age. The schools provide positive alternatives to drugs and gangs during the day, but after school programs and day camps can provide positive recreational alternatives after 3:00 p.m. and on weekends.

Teen Programming—All the developmental needs and creative programming difficulties that we need to adapt to for teens in after school, nighttime centers and camps. Remember these are our same children. They're just maturing.

It Takes a Village—Due to society's increased mobility, lack of extended family nearby, and the need for two incomes to support the average family, it does takes a village to raise a child. Park districts can and should make contributions to the solution. "If not us then who?"

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