Write better, funnier, more interesting letters to your camper
Ahoy mateys – wishin’ ye a happy and celebratory Columbus Day!
As you write letters to camp, it’s always a good idea to mix it up with new and clever material – jokes, stories, interesting facts etc.
Here’s a fun topic that any camp-age boy will eat up: pirates. And what better topic for Columbus Day since Columbus and pirates alike rode ye olde giant sea between the continents.
Let’s face it, by now you’re an expert at this whole parenting thing. After all, if your camper is at overnight camp, they’re at least 6 (at the young side) years old. And chances are, you probably have more than a few great ideas of how to write GREAT letters to your campers!
So when it comes to writing letters to your child at camp, what’s worked for you? Continue reading ‘Discussion: How Do You Write Great Letters?’
Let’s face it, this whole camp letter-writing thing does not come naturally in this age of 140-character spurts of insight. Heck, putting pen (quill?) to paper seems downright, well, medieval!
And the letter-writing requirement only multiplies the longer your child is at camp (our kids spend 7 weeks) – and the more kids you have. My poor mom wrote 4 letters 6 days a week. She told me that she spent entire mornings writing them. The worst part – the more she wrote, the less she had to write about (she couldn’t talk about her mornings after all!)
But it’s OK. You’re not alone. We’ve all been there (and if we haven’t, well then something’s not quite right). Heck, I think of letter writing as a battle of wits. I spend the entire summer trying to outwit my kids with clever, funny, witty stuff in each and every letter. By this time of summer, I’m zapped! Trying to squeeze humor out of routine is tough. Inventing stories is hard. It got so bad last year that I left the letter-writing to my dog.
Need ideas for more interesting letters?
Try humor or injecting interesting tidbits or mixing it up.
Although it’s not always easy, letters to camp is not a war or attrition. It’s an act of love to your camper. Inject love and humor and authenticity and you’ll have great letters to camp.
Yesterday I listed kid-safe joke sites. Following is a list of general sites that have a mix of kid-friendly and not so kid-friendly jokes. But most of these sites have a great selection of appropriate jokes so you’ll want to check them out. The best sites are at the top of the list.
Broad selection of general jokes without sections dedicated to kids.
Resources:
More funny stuff from the Letters To Camp Blog.
A Letter A Day Makes A Happy Camper
Keep your camper laughing with funny letters to camp! Campers always love to get jokes from their parents. Jokes lighten your camper’s mood and help to build a shared connection between you and your child. What’s more, your camper will enjoy sharing jokes and laughs with their friends. In our family, we try to include a joke in each daily (!) email we send to our kids at camp.
Make it relevant. Remember to tailor your joke selections to the interests and sensibilities of your child. If your kid follows politics, send political jokes. Interested in computers? Send computer jokes, etc.
A web of jokes. You can draw from your own arsenal of jokes or you can find more jokes on the web. In most cases, it’s easy to cut and paste jokes, riddles and pictures from these sites directly into your typed letters and emails. You’ll also find that the ability to browse and find jokes varies greatly from site to site. The best sites include a multitude of categories with links to specific titles for each joke.
Joke of the Day? You choose. It’s tempting to just go to a joke of the day website and cut and paste the day’s joke. But the jokes tend to be uneven so you’re better off browsing for a an interesting joke.
Resources:
More funny stuff from the Letters To Camp Blog.
Next: More joke sites – tomorrow.
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
Dear Mikey,
This is Fido! “Wuff.. huff… flibbit…. Wuff wuff wuff slurp drool slurp!”
Oh, you need me to translate? That means… “I sure do miss you! The place is not the same without you. But I’ll save a great big slurp for you when you come home!”
Anyways, it’s been a busy day around here! This morning I went for a nice long walk. It was fun because I chased a few squirrels. I chased my tail too – but I could never catch it! I came home and had a great breakfast of yummy dog food… you would have loved it.
Later on, the mailman came by to drop off a package. But I barked really loudly so he jumped and DROPPED the package (ah ha!). I thought it was funny but the package contained the crystal bowl that Mom had ordered and it broke and she was not so happy. I don’t know why, but I spent the rest of the day in my crate….
Well, I’ll bark at you soon! Hope you’re having fun.
Love, Fido
Letters to Camp 
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