Once upon a time, there was summer camp.
Parents sent their kids away for 8 weeks. They played sports, swam, did arts and crafts, had campfires, made new friends, complained about the food, and went back again, year after year.
Now there are lacrosse camps, water skiing camps, dance camps, adventure camps, write your college essay camps, music camps, riding camps, robotics camps, community service camps, and scores of others.
There are plenty of traditional summer camps, of course: all-boys, all-girls and coed. But 8 weeks has shrunk to 7. Or 6 1/2.
Or 3.
Some kids pop in and out. They’ve got travel baseball showcases, soccer tournaments, and many other demand on their limited summer time.
How can parents make sense of all the options?
They can call Melissa Post.
Melissa Post (far left) and Tripp Lake friends (from left): Alissa Tofias; Sara Immerman, whose daughter now goes to Tripp Lake with Melissa’s girls; Dr. Tracy Brenner, a Westport mom and child psychologist, who trains camp staffs on how to best work with today’s children, and helps kids with camp readiness.
Many Westporters know her as one-half of WestportMoms, the multi-pronged social media platform that keeps so many women looped in (and sane).
Melissa has also spent nearly 10 years as a camp consultant. It’s a year-round gig, and it gives her a multi-faceted look into a business that accounts for $70 billion a year.
Westport contributes more than its share to that figure.
Melissa had just left a startup, and was raising twin 2-year-olds and a 6-month-old, when she went to the 100th anniversary celebration for Tripp Lake. She’d been both a camper and tennis counselor at the traditional all-girls Maine camp.
Melissa Post (far left) as a camper on Visiting Day at Tripp Lake, with her mother and younger sister.
A friend she met there who runs Camp Specialists needed a representative in Fairfield County.
Melissa loves camp. She likes to talk. She was a natural fit.
She spends hours with families of prospective campers. She learns their ages and interests, then dives deeper.
What kind of camp would be best: traditional, sports, arts, religious? Do they want a rustic setting, or a camp more upscale? How long a session? Single gender or coed? How much can parents spend? (“Camp is a luxury,” Melissa acknowledges.)
She then provides a list of 8 to 10 camps, out of the 200-plus she works with. She answers questions, as they help make decisions.
There is no charge. Camp Specialists is a referral agency. They earn a small commission for every camper who enrolls.
Melissa and Fred Post, with their daughters at Tripp Lake. They attend the same camp she did.
But why use Melissa? Why can’t parents just ask around?
“People don’t tend to go to camp with friends,” she explains.
“Camp is a special break from the regular environment. You can be a different person at camp. You make different friends.”
Plus, Melissa says, most parents don’t know all their options, or even what they’re looking for.
Since she began, she’s seen a “dramatic” change in the camp world. There are many more specialty camps, with new sports-specific ones cropping up constantly.
Westport families are taking advantage of camps’ new shorter options: 3 1/2 weeks, 2 weeks, even just 1.
The tightened school calendar, desire to take family trips, and demands of other activities like travel sports teams have all cut into the long-sacrosanct full summer camp experience.
A summer camp staple.
Still, Melissa says, “a lot of Westport parents want their kids to experience nature, in a setting without a lot of amenities. They want their kids to be around people who don’t judge them on what they have.
“People historically thought of camp as a Jewish thing,” Melissa notes. Now, she says, 2/3 of the campers she places are not Jewish.
The growth of technology has increased the need for camp. One mom told Melissa, “My kid is in the closet with his laptop. I have to send him to camp.”
“Kids are truly disconnected at camp,” Melissa says. “It’s an adjustment, but they love it. They don’t have to constantly check in.”
Especially since COVID, she’s noticed a rise in children’s dependence on other people to solve problems. “Camp is a place to gain independence, and learn to figure things out with just your counselors and friends.”
Post-pandemic too, parents are more safety-conscious than ever. They ask camp directors — and Melissa — about everything from food allergies to security.
Safety first, at Camp Laurel.
The camp season has begun. But Melissa is not chilling by the water, relishing a child-free summer.
This is the time when prospective families visit camps, planning for next summer. She helps them figure out where to go.
Melissa also visits camps, and talks to directors.
She knows 3 directors especially well: Jem Sollinger of Camp Laurel, and Camp Manitou’s Jon and Sara Deren. Both camps’ winter headquarters are in Westport — on the second floor of the same Brooks Corner building.
But Melissa does not push those camps to Westport parents. And the directors don’t, either.
“They’re very careful about over-extending their reach in this area,” Melissa says. “They don’t want their camps saturated with local kids.”
Sollinger and the Derens even encourage people to talk to her about options beyond their own camps.
They — and Melissa Post — pitch a big tent.
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