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Not-So-Obvious Letter Ideas

Published July 27, 2008 Educational , Funny , Jokes , Letter ideas , Letters to camp , Links to other sites , News , Spiritual 3 Comments
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So it’s the middle of the summer and the obvious letters are getting, well, tedious for you and your camper. Check out these ideas. Remember, be positive and upbeat about you camper’s experience. While it’s great to share exciting news, you don’t want your camper to be jealous of you.

News

  • Really local news — “The smiths are moving in August”
  • Local news — local doings and goings on
  • Sports — local team scores and standings, baseball standings — http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings

Funny

Educational

Spiritual

Obvious Letter Ideas

Published July 27, 2008 Letter ideas , Letters to camp Leave a Comment
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So this whole letter-writing business is not always so obvious. Here are a few suggested topics. A note of caution – while you want to your letters to be informative and interesting, remember not to make your child homesick either. So make sure not to say things like how much you miss them, how it’s only 7 weeks until they will be home etc.

THE OBVIOUS
The Usual Suspects

  • The weather at home (always a safe bet). Best to NOT mention the hurricane watch posted for Mikey’s camp!
  • When you woke up
  • What you ate for breakfast (now we’re stretching)
  • What you ate for… lunch, dinner, snack, midnight snack…
  • Where you went – work, meals etc.
  • Interesting stories from work (really?)
  • Family news – “Aunt Cindy got marries last week in Akron.”

OK — So Maybe You Are Letter-Worthy!
Remember – this is not a contest with your camper. Interesting: good. Too interesting: bad. Life changing: really really bad… from a homesickness perspective of course.

  • Entertainment, movies, rock concerts (yeah right)
  • Leisure activities – walking, running, working out, biking, triathlons, iron man etc.
  • World trips

Letter-Writing Advice

Published July 27, 2008 ACA , Letter ideas , Letters to camp , Links to other sites , Resources 1 Comment
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You will find that many camp websites have advice for parents on how to write a letter to your camper.

  • For example, Camp Winnamocka in Arkadelphia, Arkansas advices parents to write letters that focus on the positive experience of the child, while appropriately acknowledging that you miss them.
  • The Whispering Pines Camp of Frederic Wisconsin advises parents to write thoughtful emails – one or two line emails are quickly disregarded by the camper.
  • Outside of New York City, Berkshire Hills Emanuel Camps reminds parents to send letters before campers go to camp so that letters will be waiting. See the section on Mail.
  • The Making Life Better website quotes the president of the American Camp Association, who encourages parents and children to write letters to each other because this is one of the opportunities to do so. The page also includes great advice on what to send your child in care packages.
  • Camp Hollymont of Asheville, North Carolina, tells parents to “Remember to write happy letters of encouragement and please do not use this as an opportunity to write about ‘bad news.’
  • The Summer Camp Advisor website advices that “Keeping in touch with your child begins even before she gets on the bus for camp and should continue the whole time that he or she is at camp.” Check out information on homesickness as well.

Multiple Choice Letter #1

Published July 26, 2008 Funny , Letter ideas , Letters to camp , Multiple choice 3 Comments
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Parents: Add your child’s name, fill in the blanks with X’s, cut and paste and you are good to go!

Dear Mikey,

Oh man! Mom said that I could not leave this morning until I wrote you an email. Can you believe it? I sure as heck am not going to spend a lot of time on this one! Well, I have been prepared for just such an “emergency” with my fill-in-the-blank email … so here goes. I’ll just put an “X” in front of my answers and I’ll be done in no time!

Dear ____________________,

Yesterday was a ___boring, ___exciting, ___wonderful, ___splendid, ___magnificent, ___messed up day.

Well, it all started when ___I woke up, ___I tripped on the phone cord, ___my boss yelled at me, ___Mom yelled at me, ___the sun came up, ___I got zapped by lightning, ___heard an incredibly loud thunderbolt over my head when I woke up!

Well, anyways, after I woke up, I ___went to the bathroom, ___tripped on your iTouch and broke it, ___thought about working out, ___worked out.

Then I ___took a shower, ___used soap, ___brushed my teeth, ___ate breakfast (at work).

It was getting to be ___time to go, ___late, ___afternoon, ___midnight so I ___went to work, ­­­___ went back to sleep, ___went to the doctor.

When I got there, I found out that ___I was just on time, ___no one else was there, ___I had a lot of work to do, ___it was actually a holiday, ___my office was closed.

But things got better. While I was there, I ___got a lot of work done, ___spoke to friends, ___polished my nails (ha!), ___had meetings (du-uh!).

In fact during the day, I had ___0, ___1 to 3, ___3 to 5, ___6 to 10, ___a bazillion, ___way too many meetings! And that was just during the first hour! Just kidding!!!!

Anyways, later on, I ___ate lunch, ___ate a snack, ___ate a cookie, ___took a long walk, ___found $10.

And then I went ___home, ___to the store, ___somewhere else.

When I got home, it was so wonderful ___to see Mom, ___to pet the dog, ___to make dinner, ___to wash dishes, ___to walk the dog in the rain, ___to read your letter! ___to get a letter from your sibling, ___to get a letter from anyone (even if it was not you!)

You’re probably wondering about the weather. Well, yesterday it was ___sunny, ___raining all day, ___raining for part of the day, ___cloudy, ___sort of cold, ___better than at your camp!

Well, that’s about it. When I think of you, I think about ___how nice it was to see you recently, ___how much I miss you, ___how much you dislike my emails, ___how much fun you must be having.

Love,

___Your only, ___Your favorite, ___your very best, ___Dad, ___Mom, ___someone else

The American Camping Association

Published July 26, 2008 ACA , Resources Leave a Comment

…is a great resource for parents of new campers. Check out their site: http://www.acacamps.org/
Parents’ info: http://www.campparents.org/

Dear Mikey….

Published July 26, 2008 1) Introduction , Overviews Leave a Comment

Unlike letters from campers, it’s no coincidence that you don’t hear much about letters to campers from their parents, family and friends. And there’s a good reason for that. Compared to their campers (like the fictional Mikey), parents, family and friends don’t have that much to say. After all, going to the same job, eating the same dinners, walking the same dog, watching the same TV shows are, well, not terribly interesting and well, not very letter worthy. I am not saying that my own life is interesting, but that, on its own, it is not necessarily “letter-worthy.”

[Confession:] In fact, that’s why I usually let my wife write our letters (via email). Every now and then (as in, rarely), something interesting happens so I write or chime in on the daily email letter. Or I get a creative bug and write an unusual or funny (or at least funny to me) letter. Heck, things have got so bad that I have even written letters from our dog (I will share one soon).

This would not be a problem except that when we ask them, our kids routinely say that they want a letter each day. Every single day. Not just every other day… not just when something interesting happens… not just when we go somewhere else… No, they want letters every day. And as caring parents (yes, other adjectives do come to mind…), we decided it was best to support them with daily letters.

So I started to think — and I realized that I was probably not alone in my lack of letter-worthiness. I know that my own Mom faced the same problem some years ago when we were campers. And she had 4 campers to write – and by hand no less. And I bet that you, or someone you know with campers, has a similar problem.

There is a better way — and this blog is designed to solve this pesky problem, so that we parents can ensure that our letters are, well, letter worthy! How? Through (dare I say) canned letters that you can customize on your own to meet your needs. Simply cut and paste a letter, drop it into your email (you do have email, don’t you?), add a few tweaks, and you are good to go. I will also offer some inspiration a well – interesting topics that you can write about on your own.

So check back soon for lots ‘o letters for “Mikey,” inspiration, and even a few laughs!

Steve

Hello!

Published July 26, 2008 Overviews Leave a Comment

Welecome to the “Letters to Camp” blog where we help parents write better letters! Check back soon for all sorts of great tools that will help you write scintilating letters to your campers.

Steve

www.LettersToCamp.net

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