I filled out and signed an application yesterday. No, I don’t have a child that I am trying to get into elementary or high school next year. Nor was it an application for seminary or yeshiva. Instead, at my daughter’s behest, I was filling out an application for her to attend camp.

When my daughter first approached me regarding the application, I thought she was joking. I mean, it’s November, right? Camp doesn’t start for another what, eight months? There’s over a month left until we get to Chanukah, for goodness’ sake. But alright, I filled it out, which, I am glad to say, made her day. Or maybe even her next eight months. Who knows.

The point here is that I believe that things have gotten completely out of control. Why on earth must I, along with hundreds (maybe thousands?) of other parents, start committing ourselves to paying huge chunks of money to camps before I even paid up my children’s tuition bills? And how did camp season turn into a whole-year affair? When I was eight, camp applications weren’t even sent out until Pesach time. Now we’re getting them in November. Truly mind-boggling.

But perhaps worst of all is that this constant pursuit of summer is interfering with the education of our kids. The period between Sukkos and Pesach is generally the most productive as far as education is concerned. In that time-frame, there are multiple consecutive months wherein a child attends school and receives an education. That time, in my view, is sacred. It should not be disturbed by thoughts and plans for summer vacation or any vacation. There is a reason that schools hate when families go on extravagant winter vacations – it takes many children a long time to get back into a school schedule upon returning. In the same vein, children should not be firing up their plans for the summer practically before winter even begins. It distracts them from their studies and makes it more difficult for teachers to do their jobs.

Additionally, there exists tremendous peer pressure on children to attend the same camp as their friends. Classes often get split into social groups based on what camp a child will attend. Call it ridiculous, but it is the reality that our children live with. It was true when I was a child, and it remains true today, and it is, of course, a bigger issue amongst girls. Now, with applications being sent out shortly after Sukkos, our children our being boxed into specific social groups for the majority of the school year. That isn’t healthy for a child’s social or academic development.

I am thinking that perhaps I made a mistake. Maybe I should not have mailed in the application. Would it have been smarter to make them wait a bit? Probably not, because it would have been on my daughter’s mind until I did, but it’s still a thought I’ve had. What should be done, however, is that camps should stop sending parents applications so early. Camps are not schools – they don’t have to coordinate with every other school to ensure every child is placed (which they still aren’t, but that’s not for now). All camps need to do is fill up their slots. If all camps stopped accepting applications before, say, March, it would improve our children’s education and social lives.

Instead of applying for camp, can we apply for some common sense?