Wekeela 2021: They Did It Again

 

E has been home from sleepaway camp for about ten days now. It's been a whirlwind of chaos, Axe-bombing and laundry. I would've written sooner, but if you've read my previous blogs about the return home from camp, it's sort of like having a newborn and going from zero to one again. The first year his bags consisted of twigs, dirt, rocks, a ton of crap that wasn't his and much of his stuff gone missing. Last year was somewhat better after I looked like that Taylor Armstrong meme with the cat the first time. This time was leaps and bounds above the past two times but still involved wet towels and foul smells. 

Enough about me and how I'm affected by his return. I'm focused on the negative aspect of his return because there's so much positive about what goes on there are camp for him. People who don't get camp always ask if I'm ready for him to come home. If I miss him. If I'm excited for him to come home. I don't really know how to answer truthfully without them thinking I'm a sociopath. I know they don't get it but the real answer is a big fat no. Why? For WHAT? What is he coming back to? 

Should he come back to roam around downtown, going to CVS to buy candy to shove in his face? Can't do that at Wekeela. They don't allow packages and don't allow parents to send candy. Even though parents decided to just do their own thing this year, trying to hide candy contraband in tampon boxes and pillows. Too bad they got caught, candy confiscated, life threatening allergies of other campers they weren't thinking about, avoided. I'm happy to have a camp that doesn't allow packages. One less thing to think about and less garbage for him to put into his body. He does that enough for the ten months he's here.

Should he have come back to endless news of the Delta variant of Covid raging, things shutting down again, and people getting sick, when they had a lovely little bubble of wellness, not even having to think about Covid? I loved not having to think about where he was, what he was doing, who he was with, and the possibility of any virus transmitted.

Or, should he have come back to the wettest, grossest July in NJ since like the early 1900s, where I couldn't even go to the town pool? Although now, he's come back to pretty much the same weather in August that we had in July. 

He left on the last day of school, June 24. We don't start school until September 9th. When people say to me- "I can't believe you send your kid away for the whole summer", they clearly have no idea what they're talking about. He comes home generally around August 10-12th. That means he basically has another whole MONTH of summer before school starts here. He basically gets TWO summers. An awesome time at camp, then a whole month to be bored enough here to be so grateful he gets to go to camp. So for anyone in NJ on the fence about sending your kid, which you don't even have to do for the full seven weeks, but they STILL have SO. MUCH. TIME. to...summer with you. Trust me, I have plenty of time to tell him to pick up his stuff, be home by a certain time, be a chauffeur, etc,

So far, he's been back ten days. He's been in a theater camp this week, thank goodness, from early morning until mid-afternoon. Then he comes home and if I don't tell him to go do something, where do I find him? On his phone. There are no phones, no video games, and no internet access at Wekeela! I didn't have to read texts, receives FaceTime calls to my phone (don't ask), and hear the pinging of group texts all day and night. 

He has rules for screen time and phone use when he's home. But for seven glorious weeks I didn't have to even look at that thing. It could've been a deck of cards. He didn't look at it. We all ignored it. He was seven weeks phone free and better for it. I have the screen time thing set on his phone but I haven't gotten around to changing it from when he was in school. Like I said above, he left for camp on the last day of school. I never had to set it for during the school day hours. I don't have time to police him all day. If I don't think about it or he's not in front of me, like today, he gets away with more time than I'd like until I get to changing it. It's just an annoyance I wish I didn't have to deal with. 

Back to camp. This was a crazy summer. There were employee shortages everywhere. I know restaurants had that problem and then I heard about camps. A friend of a friend had to pick her kid up after six days at sleepaway camp in New Hampshire because they didn't have the staff to keep the camp running. I read an article in the New York Times that said there were numerous camps that had to close because of staff shortages. Camp is not somewhere you want them getting by on bare bones. Another camp I know with what I thought was an impeccable reputation had like thirty-five cases of Covid run through the camp. All I know is that Wekeela went on for the seven weeks with enough staff to stay open, fully operational, and no Covid. 

This summer was the first time E had any of his friends from town come as campers. Three of his friends came for the three and a half week second session. I was a little nervous how that would be since this is his place. However, it turned out great. Two of the boys are his closest friends. He was friendly with the third boy but they weren't close. It turned out they became very bonded after being there together and now that boy is going for the full seven weeks next summer. And he was the one whose mom was the most unsure he'd want to go back because he'd never gone to sleepaway camp, wasn't that keen on going in the first place, and just doesn't get that excited about much. But, he LOVED it and had the best time. 

Especially, in this weird time of Covid, I feel like sleepaway camp is one of the best, most important gifts you could give your child. After a year and a half of virtual or hybrid learning, fear of getting sick, possibly losing friends and loved ones, political fighting, etc, kids don't even know how to relate to each other. It's like in Footloose at the dance when the kids are all just sitting there until Wren gets everyone up. Kids who used to be somewhat normal, or whatever is normal for tweens and teens, don't even know how to talk to each other! They've barely been in the same room for eighteen months or so. It's really sad. There has been a huge uptick in anxiety, depression, anger, lack of confidence, etc. They need a win. The win can simply come in the form of normalized socialization. Now that we're going back to uncertainty in what school will look like AGAIN this year, they are going to need camp more than ever.

If you're going to send your kid to sleepaway camp, you want to send them to a place who has managed to do it really well over basically two Covid summers. Kids are really messed up emotionally from being schooled virtually, being home with their families almost full time. Who knows what they've been dealing with since this mess started in 2020. To be able to send your kid away to some kind of normalcy, where they can re-learn how to interact with their peers of both their own gender and the opposite, is priceless. It's something we'd have taken for granted in the past, but so needed more than ever now. 

Every summer my son comes home there is more and more personal growth. This summer was no different. He said he had a great time. He wishes he was still there. Three out of three of his friends had a great time. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. All four boys are bonded in a different, better, stronger way than before they left that only comes from living together for that time, in that special camp way. Sharing their inside jokes, color war, and of course, wearing each others clothes, much to my chagrin.

Every time someone says to me- "I could never send my kid away. I'd miss him/her too much...". My answer is always- "It's not about you". And it isn't. Sure. I miss him. But I also know what I'm doing for him. Giving him. It's a gift of independence and maturity that I couldn't replicate in any other way. It's also the only time in his entire life, I know he's fully taken care of, and I have absolutely nothing to do with it. And being able to grow at Wekeela, where they teach and believe in becoming better people- I couldn't be sending him to a more amazing place. 

The only thing I hope for in the future, is being able to return to having visiting day. Since Covid, B sort of became adept at using the hair clippers and E could definitely use a mid-camp haircut. Plus, I LIKE TO GO THERE. B thinks foregoing the trip to Maine is totally fine. I LIKE IT and I WANT TO GO. It's our one chance to see him in his element and I enjoy it. 

If you're ready for your kid to have the summer of their lives, and then by extension you to have the same, I'll be happy to talk your ear off about all things sleepaway camp, Wekeela, and E would be more than eager to hook up with your kid to do the same. Psst- Earlybird enrollment is now open - I know you probably think it's really soon to be thinking about next summer, but it certainly isn't. Before you know it, you'll be wondering what your kids are going to be doing and it will be too late. I'll never forget learning this lesson in pre-school. Signing E up for only three days going into the 2's class because "he seems so little". Only to get there and he totally could've done all five days. Except I was shut out by then. I had to scramble to figure out what to do with him for those other two days a week because he wasn't a "sit around" kind of child, ever. Grab your kid's spot now! Camp Wekeela

Thank you Cafluns, Wekeela, and Maine, for yet another amazing summer!