You send your kid *where* for the summer?

It’s that time of year. There are endless graduations, recitals, art shows, teacher appreciation breakfasts and end-of-year parties. I don’t know about you, but I’ve probably had this conversation 10 times over the last couple of weeks as I mill about after said piano recital/art show/teacher-appreciation breakfast, drinking warm punch and eating iced grocery store cookies. It goes like this:
Adorable mom: So what are your summer plans?
Me: We do this *camp* thing. You know, oldest private boys camp in the country, northern Wisconsin, 111 summers, fourth generation, husband’s family, etc. [this is the abbreviated version] AM: Wooowww. That’s so cool! How many boys do you guys have?
Me: 110 or so per session. We have two sessions, a three week and a four week and many boys go for all seven.
AM: [look of terror crosses her face] Woah…four weeks? I could never send Howie away for four weeks. [Ok, almost no one is named Howie, I totally made that name up.] Well, I could see how your son could do it, since you guys are there all summer with him. What do your girls do while you’re there?
Me: Well, the baby is with a babysitter during the day, but our nine year old daughter goes to girl’s camp for four weeks.
AM: (GASP + look of terror) Four weeks! Don’t you miss her? Doesn’t she get homesick?
Me: I miss her like crazy! But after the first week, I adjust. She was homesick for the first week last year and we got the sweetest, most hysterical letters from her. But after that first week, we hardly heard a word from her. I figure it’s great practice for college. Plus, it’s been such a confidence builder for her. I can’t tell you how proud of herself she was when she came home. School isn’t her favorite, but camp, man, she’d live there year-round if she could. She is so excited she gets to take skiing this year!
AM: (considers this) Hmmm. Skiing? That’s really, really cool. You know, my dad went to summer camp in New York when he was a boy. What’s your website address again?
Moms and dads, you guys are doing a BRAVE thing. You are sending your child off to camp this summer. To a place that may or may not be known to you. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: it’s fierce. Remind yourself and your son that this a bold adventure and that, yes!, he might be homesick, and yes!, you’ll miss him. But he’s going to have so.much.fun. He’s going to learn.so.much. And you’ll all come out on the other side, counting down the days until next summer.
And on that note…
I ❤ CH // tracy b.