Camp is the one gift that I cannot afford to not give my children. Camp is their escape from our hectic schedule and the pressures of school, sports, and social media demands. It is the best excuse to take away the electronics I bought them, and allow them to connect with people, nature, and the world around them. Camp is how I show my children love, because what camp gives them in just a few weeks takes us, as parents, months to provide.
• Three Square Meals With Cabin Mates. Sitting around the table three times a day is something I only dream of doing with my kids. The conversations shared, the laughs exchanged, and the memories made around a table are priceless. Without phones, social media, or documenting the meal for the world to see, these meals just have to be experienced.
• Exciting Activities. Where else can you zip line through the trees, shoot a rifle, ride a horse,
•Traveling Everywhere on Foot. Camp is a little like Andy Griffith’s Mayberry; everyone knows everyone and there are great conversations to be had as you pass your neighbor when you travel through your day. If trees could talk, oh the stories they would tell of the laughter, joy, and inside jokes that echo beneath their lofty branches. No need for cars, cell phones, or texting. Anyone you need is just a few steps away.
• Connecting with Nature. The physical benefits of being outside are obvious, but children are happier and healthier when they experience the outdoors. Free play in natural areas enhances children’s cognitive flexibility, problem-solving ability, creativity, self-esteem, and self-discipline.
• Rainy Day Boredom. Technology has pro-vided a quick-fix for bore-dom, but without technol-ogy at camp, our campers learn to problem solve, get creative, and use their imaginations. When a rainy day cancels their activity period, they find new ways to smile, laugh and play – without looking for a solution on the Internet.
• Family. Living in a cabin unit, campers feel part of a close-knit community that accepts them and loves them just they way they are. The cabin unit – your family at camp – nur-tures the innate need in every one of us to belong and be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
Separation makes the heart grow…
After weeks away from home, my kids always come back a little bit wiser, braver, and taller than when they left. At camp, they’ve had the opportunity to interact with positive role mod-els who have taken time to listen, talk, relax, reflect, and think through daily life with them. My kids have learned to work selflessly within a group, to responsibly make their own choices, to discover, grow, fail, succeed, mature, and gain independence. The life skills they take away from camp are necessary tools on their path to healthy, productive lives.