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Summer Camp, Already?
Benefits outweigh the trepidation for first-time camper's parent.
Bryan Gottlieb
Red Thread Editor
ust as I resigned myself to the
fact that it's going to get much
colder outside before I can again
break out the Coppertone, the topic of
summer camp for our oldest child enters
the conversation.
"Are you kidding?” I half-ask my wife,
Amy. "It's not even Thanksgiving yet.
Besides, I still think she's pretty young
to go away to summer camp." The young
"she" in question is our 7-year-old, Bella.
While I know many kids from her class
are planning on going away to camp this
summer, I still think 7 is young. But, I
could also imagine Bella loving it and hav-
ing the time of her life.
Practically speaking, she's totally ready
on an emotional level to go away for a
couple of weeks. She's notoriously inde-
pendent (except, of course, when she's not)
and has a good sense of self; she's also no
wallflower.
The topic of camp arose because many
of the more popular Jewish summer
camps are offering informational meet-
ings prior to opening their registration
for next summer's sessions. Amy asked
whether the three of us should attend any
of them to learn some of the details.
Amy loved camp. She was a camper
from the time she was a toddler — her
dad was a camp doctor for several sum-
mers — and then a counselor well into
her teens. She says, given the opportunity,
she'd go even now.
I know that love is real, too, because she
always gets animated recalling different
stories, describing what Shabbat was like
or the great camp songs she learned —
and still remembers.
Amy attended two camps: Camp Stone
in Sugar Grove, Pa., and Camp Ramah in
Ontario, Canada, which are also the camps
we've narrowed down for Bella to choose
from. Stone and Ramah are affiliated with
the Orthodox and Conservative move-
ments, respectively.
I, too, went to camp: Camp Walden. And,
while there was no shortage of Jewish
campers attending, it wasn't a "Jewish"
summer camp. My alma mater was your
prototypical upper-middle class bucolic
encampment in northern Michigan.
I liked camp, but I didn't love it; in fact,
my first year I hated it. I still remember
that first summer when my dad made me
wear my "Camp Walden" T-shirt and my
"Camp Walden" shorts to the bus for the
five-hour ride up to Cheboygan, Mich.
(I'm still mortified, nearly three decades
later.)
My mom still gets a chuckle telling
the story of how that summer I was so
homesick that I drew our next-door
neighbor a map and directions on how
I could be picked up. While I don't recall
doing that, I applaud the younger me for
the ingenuity.
Bella, on the other hand, takes after
her mom in the adventure department.
She was ready to go to camp last sum-
mer, but even Amy agreed that she
should wait a year. So, eager to attend,
the two of them went to the Stone
information session. Amy said Bella
was ready to sign up after the first 20
minutes.
"Daddy, did you know that at Camp
Stone we can stay up until 11 p.m.','
Bella asked rhetorically, while relishing
the possibility. "And, Daddy, we can ride
horses for three straight hours?'
"So, what about Camp Ramah?" I ask.
"No, I think I want to go to Stone."
"Because."
Either way, there seems little, if any,
hesitation on her part. Of course, four
of her cousins and several friends are
going to Stone, too, which likely adds to
her confidence. Even though I attended
neither, I am at least familiar with
where Ramah and its secular neighbor,
the venerable Camp Tamakwa (see the
movie Indian Summer), are located
— having gone portaging in Ontario's
amazingly serene Algonquin Park years
earlier.
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Learning Independence
We narrowed the choices to the two,
even though there are countless offer-
ings to be found, based upon their prox-
imity to Detroit, Amy's familiarity with
both and that each weaves a strong Jewish
influence into their programming.
"Camp is the perfect place for a child
to learn how to do things for herself that
she might not do at home says Dr. Jen
Friedman, a clinical child psychologist
who lives in Huntington Woods. "The
24/7 nature of camp provides a unique
setting to develop more intimate peer
relationships. It also promotes identity
development, self-management and the
ultimate fostering of independence — it's
a fantastic Petri dish of maturity:'
I expect Bella will have an amazing
time wherever she ultimately decides
Bella Gottlieb, 7, of Huntington Woods got a taste of camp this summer
at Camp Michigania.
to go. Despite my own mixed feelings, I
recognize that the experience of attend-
ing summer camp gives Jewish children
from disparate backgrounds a collective
experience — relatable to anyone who
went regardless of which camp attended.
The summer camp experience is but one
of a million common threads that tie our
Jewish diaspora together.
Naturally, given her age, we recognize
the potential for some short-term anxiety
before she leaves or once she gets there.
And, apparently, it's all good.
"Homesickness is developmentally
appropriate for new and young campers,
but even older campers get homesick:'
says Vic Norris, senior director and co-
owner of Camp Tamakwa. "I tell parents
don't worry about the kids who miss their
parents; I worry about the ones that don't."
Tamakwa, like most other camps,
employs different protocols to address
homesickness, which Norris explained
tends to peak during downtimes like rest
hour and before lights out.
"We give those kids a lot of attention,
praise them for their achievements daily
and give them lots of TLC, but remain
firm in making sure they remain active
and try all the activities," says Norris, also
the managing partner at Hertz Schram PC
Summer Camp on page 52
December 1 ® 2011
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