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Advice: Letters FROM Camp

Published July 25, 2009 Letter-writing advice , Letters FROM Camp , Letters to camp , Links to other sites 1 Comment
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I started this blog because it’s so hard to find ideas about writing letters TO camp.  But there’s no shortage of parental advice and concern about letters FROM camp.  Check these out:

  • Decoding letters from camp. A recent New York Times post, “Letters from Sleep-away Camp,” included Randy Wedin’s decoding of his kids’ letters and their evolving sentiments.
  • No news… The Summer Camp Handbook advises that “No news is good news when it comes to kids at camp.  If you don’t receive any letters from your child while she’s at camp, you’re not alone.”
  • Downs and Ups. In the blog, Life the C Train, Clare’s “Letters from Camp” chronology perfectly summarizes the parent/child letter-writing experience.  If your child has never been to camp before, this is a must-read.
  • Letters = Love. Amy Howorth guest-wrote for Parent Talk Today.  She told how she dutifully to her kids at camp, which her kids did not of course reciprocate.  But all was forgotten when her son wrote, “Thanks for sending me the letters mom. It made me feel loved.”
  • Letter from a shopaholic. If you’re a shopaholic, it’s probably a safe bet that your kid is one too, even at camp.  Check out Camp Letters – An SOS Letter from Summer Camp.
  • Visiting Day. A touching story from several years ago.  Every parent will relate to this story of letters and visitng day.
  • Funny letters back and forth. Mike Sacks’ funny — and very sarcastic — letters to and from camp – I recently linked to this funny post too.

Dog Letter #2

Published July 22, 2009 Funny , Letter ideas , Letters to camp , Sample Letters 3 Comments
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So I just wrote my daily email to my camper.  Yikes – my dog had more to write about than I did.  In fact, his letter was 3x as long as mine.  If you’re looking for a letter-writing idea, try taking a different perspective, such as that of your dog as I did in an earlier post. Here’s today’s letter:

Dear Mikey,

It’s Fido here. Mom took for a long walk in the morning and gave me breakfast. I waited in the crate for Dad to let me out. Dad actually took me for a five-minute run and at one point, I actually ran ahead of Dad – that was fun!

Dad went out so I went back into my crate. When he got home, Dad let me out. At around 3, I barked at Dad. It’s like he just doesn’t get me – I was b-a-r-k-i-n-g. Obviously I wanted something. But what was it? Well, I just wanted a nice walk to survey my domain. Anywho, he figured maybe I needed to do my business, so he took me for a long-ish walk up and down the street. No business…. But it was great to get out for some fresh air.

Later on, with everyone away, I was getting bored, so  I started jumping up and down and barking at Dad.  So Dad and I played fetch.  He tossed different toys and I ran furiously after them.  I love that feeling of running from one end of the house to the other, jumping over shoes and anything else in my way.  Eventually I was getting bored so I brought two other toys for Dad to throw.  But eventually I got bored with that too, so I just took my toy away and went to sit by the front door.  Sometimes I like “Fetch” and sometimes I just don’t.  It’s a dog’s life…

About an hour later, I barked again and jumped on Dad’s leg, so he gave me dinner. I love dinner! Hee hee hee… Dad thought that was enough for me – but he wr-ong!  I sniffed something tasty in the dining room, so later on I secretly jumped on a dining room chair and grabbed Mom’s bread bag from the table, ripped the bag and had bread for dinner too! I just don’t know why Mom leaves bread on the dining room table.

Later, Dad was sitting watching TV with me at his feet. I started to walk all over the family room and whine. No barking, just a whine and a whimper. Wow, he finally gets it! He thought maybe I had to do my business and that’s exactly what I did when he took me for another walk! That Dad – he’s the best even if I do have to bounce up and down and bark at him when I need stuff.

Can’t wait to slobber on you 4 weeks from Thursday. Hope you’re having fun.

Fondly, Your Dog Fidooooooooooooooooo


Funny Letters To and From Camp

Published July 18, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Check out Mike Sacks’ page full of funny letters back and forth to camp.  I hope they’re fictional…

Care Packages 101

Published July 17, 2009 Links to other sites , Sending packages to camp 1 Comment
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Do you really “care”? Is the size and volume of your care package directly proportional to the amount of love you have for your child?  Of course not!  But a care package can be a great gift that your child will appreciate.

Ah, care packages, always a camp favorite.  I remember that as a camper, I always looked forward to them.  And it’s amazing what can come in a good care package.  A care package is simply a package full of goodies (not necessarily food) for your camper.  The best ones are the ones you make yourself.  But companies offer convenient, pre-made care packages as well.

I recently came across an old but still relevant article on care packages from the Columbus Parent Magazine.  The article  includes a plethora of tips on care packages.  Among others, the article includes a suggestion for a “letter shower,” a package full of letters from your child’s friends.  That’s a great idea, especially for their birthday when they may be missing their friends.  You can also send pictures.

Also check out this excellent story from the Associated Press:  Summer camp care package: What to send tweens and teens.

Camp rules. Finally, remember that some camps have different rules for different types of “packages.”  Because of potential pest problems, many camps won’t allow food in bunks and thus care packages may not allow food.  Other camps limit the number of care packages so that other kids don’t feel bad when they don’t get care packages.  Our camp only allows one care package per session.  But they’ll allow needed clothes to be sent.  And they also treat most manila envelopes as regular mail, which is unlimited.

Remember: make sure that you have the correct address for packages at your camp.  Our camp uses a PO box for mail but packages have to be delivered directly to the camp.

The Last Word: Care packages are great and always appreciated.  But it’s the everyday, ongoing communication in letters, emails and faxes (where allowed) that helps your child to have a great experience day in and day out.

Stories of Fires, Hurricanes and Pirate Ships

Published July 14, 2009 Letter ideas , Letters to camp , Links to other sites Leave a Comment
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Parents’ letters to camp can get a little, well, monotonous.  If your letters are getting boring, you can always resort to creative stories of fires, hurricanes, pirate ships and daring rescues… See Rosie Hawthorn’s Kitchens Are Monkey Business blog.

Tip: Especially for younger children, you won’t want to cause concern, so make sure they know the stories are fictional.

Letter Reassurance

Published July 8, 2009 Letters to camp Leave a Comment
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Did you know that letters to camp is also about reassurance?

So much of the camper-parent experience is about reassurance.  Reassuring your child that they will have fun, that being away can be a great learning experience, that you care even when they’re away, etc.

A few years ago, we learned about another important reassurance: that we’d be able to write to our child regardless of where we were.  Two days after we dropped our daughter off at camp for the first time, we headed out for a vacation in Banff in the Canadian Rockies (a great vacation by the way).  Luckily our hotel had a PC with Internet access that we used to send emails.

We knew we’d also be sending at least one postcard too, which seemed to have surprised our daughter who wrote back in huge 3-inch letters, “Oh My Gosh, I just got your postcard from Banff,” an exclamation that has taken its rightful place in our family lore.

The takeaway: even when you travel, make sure to reassure your child that you will still be able to write and that you’ll always be thinking of them when you can’t.  And make sure to plan ahead – with paper/envelopes/stamps, addresses, and a connected PC at the ready.

@camp.com

Published July 6, 2009 Letters to camp , Links to other sites , Opinion 1 Comment
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Ah, letters to camp… Letter-writing is all about communication.  And since I was a camper sometime way before 1990, things have changed… and how!

My loving parents used to pack us off to camp on a bus and that was the last they saw of us until visiting day over three weeks later.  That’s just the way they did things back before 1990.  Now parents can instantly send email, sometimes even receive email from campers, send and receive faxes (policies vary of course), see pictures of their campers, read blog posts, and even see videos!  Check out Julie Kraut’s guest opinion in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for more thoughts.

Parents become experts at picking up little hints about their kids’ experience from posted phots and blog posts… who is she standing next to?  Why isn’t he smiling?  Why is the other kid in so many pictures when my kid is invisible? Problem is, we’re not really experts at deciphering this, and believe it or not, there really is no way to know what your child is experiencing.  Heck, it can be hard enough to tell when your kid is standing right in front of you, let alone in a picture from camp (OK, I’m exaggerating a bit but you get the point).

This became even more clear for me recently when I visited a great camp that’s similar to my own kids’ camp.  As I sat at dinner watching other kids happily sing songs, dance and engage in many special camp traditions, I realized just how few of the songs, dances and traditions I actually knew from my own kids’ camp.  And because I didn’t go there as a camper, I realized that I will never be able to fully understand their camp experience as they do. But I can see that it’s OK for my kids to have their own special and unique experiences.  Those experiences are just a part kids’ growth into independent individuals.  When they choose to share, they will.  And when they don’t, I’ll have to trust the highly capable people that run their camp.   

Remember, camp is really all about your camper’s experience, not yours.  The bottom line: for your child, the most important form of communication is the letter, email or fax that you send them.

www.LettersToCamp.net

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