One thing you missed. Back in the good ol’ days, moms were at home and didn’t send their kids to camps all summer long.
We’re home, and there are no kids to play with.
It’s a pain to schedule “playdates”.
I work in a place that provides those summer camps for the local kids. The kids are supervised all day. Even if they go to the restroom an adult must be escorting them to and fro! Even the ‘nature camps’ don’t allow for the expenditure of energy & adventure that a bit of off trail hiking would provide.
They go home at night! Yeah!
But, but, one little girl who is the daughter of the director of the camps is sent away to camp(s) nearly every week of summer. In a huge way, I feel sorry for this little girl. She doesn’t get the chance to develop local childhood friendships, her big sister leaves for college next week and they have not spent any time together. She is a lovely child, well mannered and all but appears very shy to me.
It seems to me in a lot of cases the camps are just oversized daycare centers for older kids.