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yes, I let my 7 year old go to camp, so what?
Two things happened over the weekend that shows me how much Rachel is really growing up. These things also showed us how much we have grown as parents too!
“I’ll give you my email address to give to your new friends from camp. Or maybe we could just get you your own!?!”
I said these words over breakfast on the morning that Rachel was leaving for camp. I hadn’t really thought about it before that. Craig and I agreed that this wasn’t a bad idea. Unfortunately, we ran out of time before we left to make her her own email address, but we will.
This will give her a little independence and a lot of responsibility. We will work with her to stay safe, but have fun at the same time.
Last night a comment on Facebook (which has since been deleted), really got under my skin. Someone posted that they felt that Rachel was too young to go to camp and that she couldn’t imagine letting her son go. Her son is almost a year older than Rachel. So because she is hesitant, she feels it’s okay to publicly question my parenting choices? I explained that I had gone to camp when I was 6 and Rachel is now 7 1/2. Her response was “would she jump off a cliff if you did?”
Give me a break!!
I would not send my kid to a place if I didn’t trust them. I would not send my kid to camp if she didn’t want to go. There are many things that I have done in my life that I would love for my children to experience but if they don’t want to then they won’t!
Why do I have to defend my choices for my kid? I don’t!
And if Rachel wanted to jump off a cliff, and I knew it was safe, maybe I’d let her! I recently jumped off a cliff myself.
And climbed up one (thanks to Ford Canada!) …
I can’t keep my kids in a box. They need to explore the world…with us…and without us. I can’t shelter her forever. By letting her go out into the world, it will show what successful parents we are, that what we have taught our daughters will help them be successful when we’re not there for every step….or jump.
big kids and little kids are a lot of fun! [w/ video]
Craig and I spent the weekend with 9 “big kids” from our church’s Senior Youth Group (grades 9-12). It was a lot of fun! We headed to Emerald Lake campground on Friday night. After checking in, the kids got to work setting up their tents and getting organized. We had a late dinner followed by relaxing around the campfire.Saturday was spent at the lake. They had huge, blow up water toys! There were trampolines, log rolling, teeter-totter and rock-climing-type thingy (not sure what it was called). The kids spent a lot of time trying to run from the big trampoline to the smaller one across the “moonwalk” to get to the smaller trampoline on the other side. A few kids were successful…but we all had fun trying to get across.
We also jumped off the cliff. That was a LOT of fun!!
Dinner was late that day with an even later campfire. A few kids stayed up chit chatting around the fire until the wee hours of the morning.
After a few hours sleep, we got up and started packing. The sprinkles of rain kept us moving because no one wanted to be stuck outside if it decided to rain harder. After a quick stop at Timmy’s we were on our way home.
I did hop in the pool for a bit and helped Rachel learned to dive! We started on one knee and after 3 times doing that, she tried from her feet! Way to go Rachel!!!
It was a great weekend!!
and come September I will remember our camping days and friendships true.
If you didn’t go to summer camp, or maybe specifically Girl Guide camp, you might not know that the title of this blog is a line from a camp song.
Linger is one of the songs that we would sing at the end of a campfire, especially on the last campfire of camp.
I’m so excited for her! Rachel is going to get to do a lot of new things at camp this summer…more than just learn new songs.
On OurKids.net there is a nice article about singer-songwriter Amy Sky (one of my favourite artists) where she talks about her time at summer camp:
And when she comes home from camp, she’ll have a whole new list of songs to sing, and a lot of memories to go with them.
gearing up for camp — teddy bears and all
With only one month until the end of school, the race to be ready for camp is on!
I’m sure parents everywhere are making lists and checking them twice! It’s amazing how much stuff one little person needs when they go away.
Rachel’s going to Muskoka Woods and they were very smart to include a list of “what to pack” on their webiste:
- Hat Bathing suits (no bikinis)
- Towels (beach and shower)
- Underwear and socks
- Pajamas
- Several modest shirts/tops and shorts
- Several sweatshirts and/or sweaters
- Jeans and/or sweatpants
- Jacket, raincoat and rubber boots
- Flashlight
- Sunscreen
- Insect Repellent
- Toiletries (shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant)
- Pillow Blanket/Sleeping bag/ Sheets
- Labelled water bottle
- Lockable suitcase or trunk
- Spending/trust account money
- Do not bring valuables such as MP3 players, jewellery or cell phones as Muskoka Woods will not accept responsibility for lost or stolen items.
(And don’t forget to label everything — Mabel’s Labels – Labels for the stuff kids lose!® )
But Rachel has her additional items that she won’t leave home with out:
- China – her stuffed dog that she’s had since forever
- Books to read
- notebooks for journalling or doodling