Kids spend hours having fun at day camp, their summer schedules brimming with swimming, boating and aiming for that bull’s-eye. Through all the laughs and memory-making, though, they’re also getting something else: a boost to their social development. “Because there is so much social interaction, you see an acceleration of kids’ friendship skills, conflict resolution...

Inclusion is a core value shared by many summer camps, and in recent years there’s been a lot of discussion in the camp community about how to help transgender and gender-nonconforming youth succeed. Tom Rosenberg, president and chief executive officer of the American Camp Association, says the group is doing more every year to support...

For thousands of teens, the ideal summer camp has nothing to do with roasting s’mores over a fire. It’s about devoting an intensive week or two — or maybe the entire summer — on a college campus, immersed in the world of policy debate. Researching and practicing arguments in a top-notch university library. Getting a...

Whenever I send out a resume, I am skeptical about what the words “overnight camp counselor” might mean to the person reading it. What do people who have not gone to summer camp think my five summers as a counselor communicate about me? Do they find it silly I even included it? To me, it...

When her first baby was ready to eat solids, Briana Cushman turned to the same food many other parents have — rice cereal. Early on, though, the rural Dubuque mom began second-guessing her approach. Especially when her son’s iron count came back low. “I was already cooking from scratch for my husband and me, and...