I went to summer camp for ten years growing up, and when I was too old to be a camper, I became a counselor. Instead of making God's eyes out of yarn and twig for every member of my family, I taught other young souls how to give their hearts and crafts to Jesus. Instead of just following orders to jump off the tower and whizz down the zip line, I did the commanding. And instead of wigging out to camp songs made up of a serious of indistinguishable funny sounding, rhyming words, I stood in the middle of a circle of wigged out kids and led them all in one more chorus. It was heaven.
And part of the reason it was heaven was that I was in my element there. I was braver, funnier, more up on pseudo-Native American rituals at campfires than I was as a city kid on my block in Chicago, at home with my parents. My mom always said I came home from my weeks at camp a better version for me. I'm not saying that being parent-free was the sole reason for that transformation (surely the decreased fuel emissions and new friends and enthusiastic cheers about God and censored rock 'n roll had something to do with it), but being out of my element was rejuvenating, a fresh start for a kid bogged down by social studies and PE dodgeball and lunchroom cliques.
Now that I'm a parent, I wish for the all-out experience of camp, where anyone can self-dorkify to the tune of Boom! Boom! Ain't It Great to Be Crazy?. I would love a week to kayak and play tether ball and celebrate Christmas in July with a tube steak buffet. But am I nostalgic enough for all of that to consider hauling the whole clan to family camp? As great as I think the postcard for family camp sounds -- with single-family cabins and archery and adult activities, like stretching and yoga classes -- does it defeat the purpose? Is this an awesome opportunity for a back-to-basics family vacay or does it strip kids of the chance to find out who they are in nature, without iPods and X-Boxes and mostly, mom and dad?
And speaking of mom and dad, didn't the advent of summer camp arrive out of some parents need for kid-free week to work, play or just sit in the silence during the summer? While I am committed to find the right camp for my boy when he is a bit older, I don't think that will be a place his pops and I pack up to go along to as well. In the meantime, I will just help him practice up on the words to Your Mama Don't Wear No Socks! and start a mental to-do list for that glorious week, years away, when the kid's away and my husband and I are enjoying Parent Camp. At home. Alone.
