Alexander Prudnik: "Children's recreational camps are a state responsibility."

      24 October 2025 13:12 Society

      Senior research fellow at the Institute of Political Psychology Alexander Prudnik spoke about the importance of organizing children's summer camps in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

      He emphasized that children's camps are a crucial element of the national projects "Family" and "Youth and Children." Demand among the population for organized summer recreation for children is extraordinarily high. Moreover, Prudnik noted, this demand only increases as society develops.

      "One of the social laws is the lengthening of childhood and its significance in the process of societal development. The transition from traditional to industrial society was marked by a sharp increase in attention to the institutional organization of childhood as a way of life. From this followed, for example, the creation of special children's organizations in all developed countries," the expert reminded.

      Prudnik noted that in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, due to certain social changes, the importance of centralized organized children's recreation significantly declined. But at present the need for this form of summer health-improving recreation for children has again begun to grow.

      "In fact, an energetic restoration of the lost infrastructure of the children's summer camp system has begun. The social demand for this is formed not only by parents but, no less importantly, by the children themselves and, most importantly, is fully recognized as an important task by the state," the expert added.

      The return of the issue of children's summer health-improving recreation to the center of public attention is determined by three main factors, Prudnik believes.

      First, the current lifestyle of children, with its low physical activity, makes it necessary to create external conditions for their full physical development. Second, access to social networks has led to a deficit of direct communication between children, with virtual communication increasingly replacing real interaction. Third, modern systems by which children and young people receive information lead to the destruction of a unified cultural and value space on which society is based. "This phenomenon is defined as an 'informational sect,'" the senior research fellow at the Institute of Political Psychology said.

      According to Prudnik, today young people select only what interests them at the moment from the wide variety of information, join virtual communities around shared topics, and isolate themselves from other information and other communities.

      "Children's summer camps are the most effective means of overcoming these negative trends in children's socialization. This task is so important for our country that the possibility of introducing a system of universal free children's summer recreation should be considered. At first glance such an approach seems utopian; however, one should not forget that universal free secondary education once also seemed impossible. Children's rest and health-improvement camps are a state responsibility, so the state itself should bear the main costs of its implementation. For the image of the Nizhny Novgorod region it is very important that in this movement it is in a leading position, demonstrating to other regions how to effectively implement this project relying on its own internal material and organizational resources," the expert concluded.

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