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ON THEIR LUMPY BEDS, the littlest campers lovingly pawed the take: Doritos. Twizzlers. Oreos. Yodels. It was like Halloween without the legwork. Snickers and Fritos lay in heaps on the top bunks, Pringles and Skittles on the bottoms.
Paparazzi parents circulated, adjusting videocameras to capture the initial stage of sugar shock. Never have responsible parents seemed so delighted at the display of so much junk food. "Chocolate bars are his favorite thing," said Jill Levine, who had just flown in from St. Louis with her husband, Rick, to see their 8 1/2-year-old son, Andrew. It had been four weeks - the longest they had ever been apart.
"I missed you," Andrew said, flashing a smile smeared with Hershey. "We missed you, too," said his mother, her heart melting faster than the chocolate.
Across the Adirondacks, the Berkshires, the Poconos, it was the same story last weekend: Incursions into mountainous regions by large volumes of high-calorie foodstuffs. Strategically aimed at the heartstrings of the impressionable populations. Devotedly transported hundreds of miles by caravans of sedans and station wagons to legions of children suffering from letter-writer's cramp.
Visiting Day at sleepaway camp. For thousands of parents in the metropolitan area, it is one of the most hallowed of summer traditions. And as time-honored rites go, The Laying On of Candy is one of the day's most sacred events. Throwing dental caution to the wind - and camp directors into a tizzy - parents show up with enough processed sugar to reduce a Nutrasweet executive to tears. They bring other goodies, too: Supersoakers, Umbro baggie shorts, Team USA basketball shirts.
"You've got to cram eight weeks of spoiling into one day," said Gary Bettman, 8-year-old Jordan's dad, who lives in Rockland County and works for the NBA, as he watched over the family shopping bags at Brant Lake Camp, an eight-week camp for 330 boys, ages 7 to 15, on a hill 20 miles up the road from Lake George. "It's what we call the parents' scavenger hunt," added Shelli, Jordan's mom.
But don't be fooled by the lavish gifts. Visiting Day is not really for kids. Most of the damp eyes on that perfect afternoon did not belong to little boys away from home for the...