When I was growing up, kids didn’t have the constant electronic tether to their parents that they do today. It caused the inevitable problems of course – for instance, never knowing where my brother was at dinner time (and having to call everyone in the neighborhood to find out), going to the wrong mall entrance to get picked up and missing our mom, not knowing when she’d get there to pick us up, etc.
Posts Tagged 'Musings'
A Good Disconnect
Published July 19, 2012 Electronics , Letters to camp , Musings , Opinion , Overnight camp , Parenting 1 CommentTags: Cell phones, Email, Hollee Actman Becker, Kidsicknes, Letters to camp, Mashable, Musings, Overnight camp, Parenting, Slate, sleepaway camp, Suburb Babble, Summer camp, Time
Kids @ Home
Published August 20, 2011 Letters to camp , Musings , Stories Leave a CommentTags: Kids at home, Letters to camp, Musings, Parenting, summercamp
My kids came home from camp on Thursday. Each year that day has a certain rhythm to it. So I’d like to share that day with you: from silence to chaos and back again. Here goes.
6:20 am. Silence. The dog nestles up to me – for him, I’m just another warm body. “Honey, time to get up so we can leave at 7:15.” Still quiet…
6:30 am. Sniff, sniff: I smell nothing but broken plaster around the new windows in the kids’ rooms.
7:23 am. Leaving the house to pick up our camper. GPS says we’ll be there at about 9:18 am, 18 minutes after the gates open for final pickup.
8:00 am. Discussing with my wife how our kids feel that this is their worst day of the year, since they have to leave camp. We’re happy to have them home but I’m not sure I’d say this is our best day.
The kids’ best day is the day they go to camp. And that’s why that day is our worst day. Although after ten summers, we’re kind of used to it by now. Or numb – not sure which.
The Last Email
Published August 18, 2011 Letters to camp , Musings , Stories Leave a CommentTags: Letters to camp, Musings, summercamp, The last letter
It was now 9:55 am on Wednesday, August 17, and the daily email was due by 10 am or it wouldn’t make the cutoff.
Type, type, click, click, send. Off it went. Seconds later, I received notification that the email to our camper had been received by camp. And that, well that, that was it. The final email letter of the summer. Our tenth summer. Continue reading ‘The Last Email’
The Last Letter Should Never Be A “Z”
Published August 19, 2009 Letters to camp , Musings Leave a CommentTags: End of season, Guest contributors, Letters to camp, Musings, Overnight camp, Parenting, Summer camp
It’s hard to believe but this morning, I actually sent my last email for the season. I think I’m going to miss the morning rush to craft an interesting letter filled with humor, support and daily updates – all by 9 am, 6 days a week.
I’ll admit, I had to resort to some unorthodox practices… fill-in-the-blank and form letters, letters from my dog (some translated, some not – as in wuff wuff wuff); crazy dog adventures (the dog thing seems to come up a lot in my letters); new and amusing spin on my daily activities; barely legible 8-point font so that I could include material from my wife, my dog, my son and myself; new jokes to include (see my last two posts 1 2), and a lot more. Yes, every day has been quite action-packed – before the 9 am deadline. And through it all, I worked hard to make sure that my letters – from first to last – never ended with a zzzzzzzzzzz!
So the last letter has been written for the season. But summer 2010 awaits! I know you’ll want to be thinking about next year’s letters (which could number as many as 50), so we’ll continue to write through the “winter” months – the seemingly endless stretch between summer camp this year and next. So when next summer rolls around, you’ll be more ready than ever to write well-crafted, supportive, meaningful, and humorous letters to camp.
And if you’d like to add your own advice, let us know by commenting below. We’ll contact you so you can contribute a post.
Letters to Camp 
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