Last night, most campers spent time with their cabin groups or together with their camp making a group contract about how they wanted to live together for the month or the summer. Today, they were packing their personal gear and group food for their first backpacking trips; walking goats and collecting eggs; swimming in the lake and making clay pots; singing rousing songs and sitting quietly in Silent Meeting.
All of this is happening without technology!
In the 21st century Farm & Wilderness offers a unique – and much needed – break from the 24-7 news feed. And this break extends to you adults as well. Many of us are accustomed to monitoring our children whereabouts and safety through their phone. And suddenly there is no feed. We understand that this moment might be uncomfortable.
Date: 6/30/2019
If you are like me, you sent your kids to camp so that they could have fun and make friends, but also so that they could learn new skills, face challenges, learn to take care of themselves, and experience the sometimes uncomfortable compromise required to live in a community with many different people. Camp is not just a destination but a journey. And, it is a journey that your children are on without you. At its end, they will have their own camp stories to tell, and often a much better understanding of themselves.
All that said, should we have any health or social concern, I want to assure you that we will reach out to you personally. And, should you have questions about your child and their care, by all means, be in touch with their lodge head, nurse, assistant director or director. And if you don’t hear from us, please know that your camper is busy living those reasons you sent them to camp.
They have begun their journey, and I can assure you that they will have many wonderful stories of their own creation to tell before it ends.