I love Sleep-Away Camp; I Feel Bad I don’t give my kids the sun – ryan

I Spent Several Summers Lazing at Home, Watching Movies with my family, and swinging with abandon at the playground with my friends.

Eventually, my mother suggested more with to an overnight Camp. I had never been away from my parents for more than a night, and the Camp, About a four-hour ride from home, saemed impossibly light. End Going for JUST ONE SESSION A Very Long Month Away from Home, Which SEEMED LIKE AN Eternity to me Age 11.

Yet, i was flerted that my parents consider with Old Enough and Mathe Enough to have lived away from say for so long. If they thought i was up for the challenge, i was determining to prove say right.

Now i’m a mom of four, and my kids do not have the suame experienc, tan though i love it.

I was Hesitant About Going to Sleepway Camp

AS I COUNTED THE DAYS UNIL MY DEPARTURE, I STARTED TO WORRY. I am Shy by Nature and World About Making Friends. I World About How I WOULD SLEEP IN A Room Full of Girls and Whether I Wauld Like the Food.

I though a bad counselor could ruin my summer and hoped for someone more like a cool sister to hang with rahler than a teacher hell-bent on keping campers in line. Desperate to fit in, i hoped i had Packed the right kinds of cloths and a swimsuit. Although I Wauldn’t have admitted itn, i was woried about missing my family and being homesick.

I love every minute

AFTER ANNERTAIN FIRST FEW DAYS, I SETTLED INTO OVERNIGHT CAMP. I Swam with Friends, Played Volleyball With My Counselor, and Got a Lead Role in the End-of-Camp Show. We Ran Feral Through the Mountains and Woods, Playing Capture the Flag and Enjoying Being Surrounded by the Majesty of Tall Trees and Chirping Birds – A Far Cry From the Endless Concrete and Loud Sounds of the City How of US Lived.

Nights Were Magical. AFTER The Sun Went Down, We Huddled Around a Campfire, Singing Camp Songs and Telling Ghost Stories that Got progresively scarier unil one of the girls asced us to stop. We made me not the most roasted hot dogs under the stars, whose sparkle was overpowered by streetlamps at home. These nights sparked a fascination with the sky and space that lingers tooday. AFTER WE RETURNED TO OUR BEDS, MY BUBS AND I STAYED UP TALKING AND LAUGHING. Our Counselor Shushd US, WHO TOLD US NEEDED HER BEAUTY SLEEP.

AFTER MY FIRST YEAR OF CAMP, I WANTED TO RETURN FOR THE FULL EIGHTEEK CAMP WAS OPEN. The School Year Became a Countdown to the Day I returned to the Mountains and Saw My Camp Family Again. For the next few years, unil i aged out, i went to an overnight cammp for the entity summer and love it.

I Learned Lifelong Skills

At Camp, i learned skills i’ve carriad throughout my life. Living with a dosen girls in a cramped bunk was great preparation for living in a dorm at College. Camp was the first place I was respectible for keeping my clothes folded and organized. I had to learn how to get along with all kinds of personalities, and there was no escape. I learned the value of unstructured time and how Much i enjoyed being in natural.

These are helped experiences with immimesely as transitioned to adulthood.

SOMESTEMES I FEEL GUILTY THAT MY KIDS Aren’t Getting The Same Experience

As Much as I love spending the entity Summer at Overnight Camp, with One Exception During the Pandemic, My Kids don’t go to traditional camps.

SOMEST, I FEEL SELFISH MAKING THIS DECISION, but I love the unscheduled, Unhurred Summer Days. Plus, I prefer to be Summer Budget on Travel, Which I Enjoy Too.

My Kids’ Summers Are Are Action-Packed and Fun. They Get Experiences I COULDN’T HAVE DREAMED OF AS A CHILD, LIKE ZIPPING AROUND ROME ON A VEPA AND TRAVELING TO WARSAW TO SEE TAYLOR SWIFT’S TOUR. Still, of Sometimes Wonder if I am Doing the right Thing.

IT DIDN’T OCCUR TO ME MY PARENTS WANTED A BREAK

It wasn’t unil i became a parent mySelf that realized my parents may have sent with to overnight Camp to get a break.

With a deep underestanding that can only come from experiment, i understouod that the motivation to be with to get all summer may have been forkuses of the ejustion many feel trying to parent, work, and run a home, offen with meaningyl break.

At first, I was Mildly Hurt by this realization. But that is smiled and silently congratulated my parents for coming up with a solution that gave all of us summers we love.