In the age of Facebook and Twitter, many children would rather make new friends in cyberspace than at a camp, especially during long summer breaks. But Hong Kong's internet generation is beginning to take to the idea - with nudging from their parents. There's more to camps these days than tackling an obstacle course and storytelling around a fire; the most popular ones are designed to broaden minds, build character and nurture self-reliance.
It was certainly excellent practice for boarding school, says Lung Kit-may, who sent two of her children to SuperCamp in Hong Kong. Her son Brendan, who is now in boarding school in Britain, went about five years ago when he was 10, and daughter Gabrielle attended when she was nine.
'Because it is residential, I felt it was a good experience where they could learn to be independent,' Lung says. 'Yet they weren't so far away that we were out of reach if they needed us.'
It was the first time away from home for both children, but apparently too much was going on for them to miss mum and dad. 'They came back more confident and more open,' Lung says.
Such thinking has contributed to an increase in children from Hong Kong being signed up for camps. The Hong Kong Institute of Languages reports numbers rising for its camps in Europe, Canada and the mainland. SuperCamp, which runs activities around the world including Hong Kong, also notes that 28 youngsters signed up for its programmes in the United States last year, compared with just one in 2000.
One reason for the rising popularity is that 'parents want their children to develop thinking skills - the ability to think for themselves', says Bobbi DePorter, co-founder and president of SuperCamp. 'At our camps they learn how to learn. Most kids say: 'Why hasn't anyone taught this to me before?'