BB Camp Electronics Policy

Summer Camp is one of the last places where children can truly ‘unplug’

 

Our Electronics Policy is designed to:

  • Encourage your children to spend more time off their beds and outdoors

  • Promote socialization between campers

  • Remove the divide between “the haves, and the have-nots” in each cabin

  • Reduce the stress associated with the damage to and theft of electronics

  • Give your children a much needed break from the world of technology

  • Ensure that your children are not exposed to age-inappropriate material

  • Reflect the extremely limited availability of power outlets in the cabin,

CELL PHONES

It is our long-standing policy that campers may not bring cell phones to Camp.

We believe that being at BB Camp is an opportunity for your child to experience a world beyond home and a chance for you and your child to practice “letting go.” “Letting go” allows children to develop autonomy, independence, and a stronger sense of self. It allows them to make new friends, take responsibility for themselves and their cabin-mates, problem solve, and mature a bit. This growth cannot be achieved when parents are only a phone call away.

Although cell phones have been strictly prohibited at Camp for many years, a number of families choose to ignore this policy. The consequences of this are disastrous:

  • leading to conflicts within the cabin

  • allowing campers to focus on their friends at home rather than their friends at Camp

  • enabling campers to call parents when they need advice instead of turning to their peers or counsellors

  • preventing campers from problem solving.

 

We feel cell phone use at Camp is counter to the values we teach and uphold at BB Camp and interferes with an important peer aspect of the overnight camp experience. Using a cell phone is not why you send your child here.

To send a very clear message about how strongly we feel about leaving cell phones at home, we have a zero-tolerance cell phone policy. If we learn that any camper has a cell phone in Camp, we will take it away and store it in the Camp’s Director office until the end of the session.

Please take the time to discuss this policy with your camper. In the past, campers have hidden their cell phones in their bags without their parents’ knowledge.

Portable Music Players

If your child must have his/her music at Camp, either to help with sleep or Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation, please send:

  • a CD player and CD’s,

  • an inexpensive mp3 player,

  • or an older generation iPod that does not have a touch screen.

We will not allow any MP3 players/mobile devices with touch screens. This way we can ensure that our campers cannot watch videos, TV shows, movies or access the internet. As such, campers may not bring any smart phones, even if the SIM card has been removed.

Digital Cameras

We encourage you to send an inexpensive digital camera or disposable cameras. (Make sure you pack enough memory cards and batteries.) Please discuss proper handling of the camera and how pictures should be taken of bunkmates only with their permission. Again, this is Camp, so please leave expensive cameras at home.

Other Electronics

No devices that connect to the internet, or that have touch screens are permitted at camp. Each cabin has access to board games and card games for down time in the cabin. These games, not hand-held electronic games, allow our campers to socialize, interact with one another, and build community within the cabin.