Getting kids out of cyberspace and into the FRESH AIR

Need reasons to liberate your kids from cyberspace, and send them to outdoor camp? How about this: 46 per cent of Canadian children spend three hours (or less) a week in active play, according to research from Active Healthy Kids Canada. Worse yet, 63 per cent spend their free time sitting in front of TV and computer screens, AHKC reports.

That’s the bad news. The good news: There are great outdoor residential camps available that will bring even the most sedentary, tech-obsessed children into contact with the great outdoors, and transform them into fresh-air lovers for life.

YMCA Camp Kanawana

The YMCA’s Camp Kanawana is one such camp. Founded in 1894, Camp Kanawana has resided at its current 500-acre site, complete with forests and three private lakes, since 1910. It is located just outside St-Sauveur, about 70 kilometres from Montreal. “Our location is absolutely stunning and protected,” said Sean Day, the camp’s director. “But even though our camp enjoys a wonderful heritage, it is also up-to-date, with new cabins for our younger campers that gives each one a window to see and hear the outdoors.”

As befits its natural location, Camp Kanawana offers a full range of outdoor activities to both male and female campers ages 7 to 16. They include kayaking, canoeing, swimming, water trampoline, rock climbing and a ropes course, plus co-operative games and activities that teach kids about nature and sustainable development. Add campfires, time spent together in Kanawana’s modern facilities, and canoe-camping trips and leadership programs for older campers, and this historic outdoor camp is a great place to send cyberspace-enmeshed kids.

“Actually, we are a technology-free zone,” Day said. “Our philosophy is ‘Dirt time is better than screen time.’ So we don’t allow the Internet, computers, tablets, smartphones, gaming devices, and other electronic distractions. If we find them, we put them away for the duration of the child’s stay at Kanawana.”