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I Spy
See Your Kids at Summer Camp
By Carma Haley Shoemaker
Attending summer camp is an invaluable experience that millions of children gain year after year. But, as a parent, sending your child to camp can often be an anxiety-filled time. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a way to see your child while they were at camp and communicate with them everyday, without spoiling their fun or embarrassing them? Well, thanks to Ari Ackerman, founder and CEO of Bunk1.com, you can.
"Imagine this: Your kids are hundreds of miles away at camp," says Ackerman. "They're swimming, sailing, playing tennis and horsing around in the bunk. You know they're having fun, because you just logged on to your computer and saw pictures of them in action. You also e-mailed your daughter on her great backhand and your son on his navigational skills with a tiller ... and they got your printed out e-mails the same day, not a week later! This is the concept and practice that Bunk1 offers."
Bunk1 gives parents a way to keep in touch with their children, while still allowing them the retreat that summer camp offers. "There are no computers in the bunks – kids aren't e-mailing home; camp life remains untainted," says Ackerman. "But Bunk1 is giving parents a window into their kids' camp world through daily photos on their camp's Web site. With the click of a mouse, parents can access the online photos of their kids, send one-way e-mail (which is printed out for the campers), view online newsletters, send camp-specific care packages, buy needed camp equipment and, after the camp season, purchase CD-ROM yearbooks."
Previous methods of communication between campers and parents often mimicked the days of the pony express. Letters would arrive too late or not at all.
"Communication once was the art of writing letters," says Ackerman. "This often took over a week to be delivered, as camps are generally situated in remote locations. In fact, at many one-week camps around the country, communication from parents was impossible, as letters would not arrive in time. Not to mention, there was no way for parents to 'see' how their children were doing until they came home from camp."