Screens pull kids in. Meaning calls them outdoors.
Every outdoor program now promises “less screen time, more connection.” True enough, camps deliver this, but it misses the real problem. When school friends gather in digital spaces, parents face an impossible choice: connection or isolation. While Trackers has weighed in on screen time, we want to offer something more positive for the New Year.
What kids today miss isn’t only outdoor activity. It’s the social connection and meaning that keeps us there.
When outdoor time carries belonging, shared purpose, and service, something fundamental shifts. Parents and teachers can’t endlessly pull kids from screens. We need networks that draw them toward something better. That shift rarely happens in a single week at camp. It comes from ongoing outdoor experiences that matter: adventures shared with peers and community.
Adventures that matter begin with independence. For many parents, freedom in the forest feels risky. I feel it myself. Even watching my own kids explore the forest in their small sibling pack, I’ve had to force myself to let go.
What I’ve learned from my own children and thousands of Trackers kids: independence stops feeling risky when competence is real. I let my kids explore the wild because they know how to move through woods safely, find their way home, build shelter, cook outdoors, track animals, forage wild plants, and watch each other’s backs. With the skills of a Tracker, freedom feels natural, not reckless.
Outdoor education must go beyond single weeks of skills training. Skills aren’t borrowed during a program. They must be carried forward. Mastery builds confidence. Confidence builds agency. Agency outlasts any program.
Independence requires community. Lasting motivation comes from having peers learning the same skills, sharing responsibility, holding each other accountable through real adventures. Trackers Teams form outside camp for this reason.
Trackers Teams are small groups of 4-8 kids who meet outside camp to practice skills through service: removing invasive plants for winter fires, cooking meals outdoors for family, mapping wildlife corridors, reclaiming local parks through play. Kids choose the adventure. Service creates meaning. This is the model outdoor education needs. Not initiatives that end when camp ends, but ecosystems that sustain themselves through the seasons.
The future can’t only be a week away from screens. It must be families connecting with families to build social networks that keep kids outdoors. Programs like Trackers plant the seeds: skills, values, identity. But a week of camp isn’t enough.
Our collective responsibility, both Trackers and the entire outdoor education field, is to change our model. We must facilitate family meetups, support Trackers Teams where kids connect beyond their week, host skill-share nights, and connect parents who cultivate independence together.
This requires families who want the same future for their kids. Parents who guide rather than manage. Parents who replace supervision with service. When families support each other, kids lead.
Our goal is more than a week beyond screens. It’s helping kids belong outdoors and families sustain it. That is how we Go Beyond Camp.
See you in the forest,
Tony Deis
Trackers Earth
Founder & Dad
Let’s Go Beyond Camp
Screens pull kids in because that’s where their friends are. The answer isn’t just “less screen time”—it’s building real-world networks where kids develop competence, find purpose, and earn independence with peers. Three ideas we’re considering:
Create an After-School Archery League: Intensive training where kids build competitive archery skills, track progress, and connect with a team beyond camp.
Form Weekly Trackers Teams Co-ops: Guides partner with parents to facilitate independent Trackers Teams for skills after school (a cooperative, not a program).
Converting Trackers SE into a Family Lodge: A gathering place for families to connect with food carts, archery, bouldering, axe throwing, fire pits, and play spaces.
P.S. We’re seeking architects and place designers to help envision this third space. We are even considering mini-golf. Reach out to help shape what’s next: hello@trackersearth.com.