The Winter Solstice, Flinging and Slowing Down

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One of my favorite days of the year is the winter solstice—not for its long hours of dark, but for the turning point it marks as the days grow longer.

My mind turns to June and July and sitting on rocks above a lake watching the sunset, or gathering around a campfire while the sun still lingers above the distant mountains or even rising with the bugle and jumping into the lake, the sun well above the horizon. Today marks the turning point towards those long camp days.

I am so enamored of the winter solstice that I eagerly check the sunrise and sunset times to confirm that the days will indeed be lengthening come tomorrow. This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Math is actually required, albeit simple arithmetic. Unless I visit one of the websites that list the length of day down to the second, removing the need for any calculation at all.

The sun actually began setting later on December 15 in Boston, but sunrise also continues to occur later right on until January 6. Curiously I wonder if that has anything to do with the 12 days of Christmas, but I digress. So how is it that we experience a longer day (here in the northern hemisphere) even as sunrise continues to occur later?

Because the earth’s orbit around the sun is an ellipse and the earth is closest to the sun near the winter solstice, the earth is actually traveling faster in its orbit now than in June. So if you feel like you’re flying faster this time of year, well you are, astronomically speaking. During a single day’s revolution, the earth travels a greater distance along its orbit this time of year than it does during our summer.

Consider that you are standing on the earth, facing directly toward the sun at point A. The earth rotates through one day and simultaneously moves along its elliptical orbit. Consequently point A after one day isn’t quite facing directly toward the sun. The earth needs to rotate a tiny bit more for A to be facing the sun again. This corresponds to the sun rising just a bit later. And at the other end of the day, the sun is still in view and the earth needs to rotate a tiny bit more before sunset is experienced. This corresponds to the sun setting just a bit later.

Tomorrow sunrise will be a bit later than today, but sunset will be later by a smidgeon more and voila, tomorrow we will have daylight for nearly a second more than today.

Tomorrow I will relish that second. As I feel myself being flung faster past the sun at greater speeds this time of year, I can look forward to slowing down during the long days of summer camp.

Gift Ideas for Summer Campers

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Looking for a few gift ideas for the summer campers in your life?
Well, look no further. Whether you are finding gifts for your own children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, you can create a gift and presentation sure to please.

First, consider the activities your child loves most at camp. Is he a sailor? A hiker? A woodworker? A nature enthusiast? Tailor your gift selection to the particular interests of your camper. Here are a few examples.

Hiker:

• New backpack
• Head lamp
• Day pack
• Hiking Guide to the White Mountains, Green Mountains, Appalachian Trail or wherever your camper hikes
• Compass
• Water bottle with camp logo
• Wool socks—not exciting, but necessary

Sailor:

• Sailing gloves—look for fingerless kayaking gloves for a less expensive and equally effective option.
• PFD
• Water-resistant watch with a timer
• Sailing rules book such as Dave Perry’s Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing

Wood shop enthusiast:

• Swiss Army Knife
• Reference books for carving

Nature Enthusiast:

• Compass
• Pocket Naturalist Guides (animal tracks, night sky, wilderness survival and many more)
• National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Night Sky
• Nature Journal
• Sketch pad and pencils
• Day pack

Kayaker:

• Kayaking gloves
• Spray skirt
• PFD
• Dry bag

Second, encapsulate a camp memory as a gift. For instance, frame a summer photo from camp. Many camps have photos available for download or sale on their websites. Or ask your camper’s friend for a high resolution copy of a fun friends photo from the summer. Make a high quality print and frame it in a friends themed frame from Target, Amazon or your local photo shop.

You can also capture memories in a playlist tailored to camp. If your child’s camp has recorded songs you can start with those, add in traditional camp songs like ‘Titanic’ or ‘Little Green Frog’. Or take a theme like friendship and create a playlist around songs about friends.

Capture a year’s worth of memories in a calendar full of camp photos. Include special dates like opening and closing days for camp, and birthdays of camp friends.

Third, remember to visit your child’s camp website. Many camps sell items with camp logos such as caps, water bottles, journals, and stickers.

Lastly, don’t overlook the gift of a summer at camp. If you send a child to camp you can make a presentation of the ultimate camp gift—you are giving a child the time to be immersed in a new environment, bond with friends, build self-confidence, learn new skills and live life lessons. Create a personalized card to give your child as a reminder of the gift of summer camp, wrap it up and present it with intention.

In the middle of the winter, a reminder of long summer days at camp is an ideal gift for your summer camper. What are your best ideas for gift giving to campers? What would you like to receive as a camper?

Giving Thanks for Camp Friendships

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Wind-filled sails. Cool morning dips. Friendships for a lifetime. Humorous pranks. Bugle calls echoing. Cooking over a campfire. Self-confidence. Brilliant sunsets. Images flash through my mind as I recall my youthful days immersed in an 8 week sleepover camp each summer. In every image I see a smile—a friend laughing next to me as we sit wrapped in towels on the dock, a giggle after taps as we try to hoist the counselor’s bed into the rafters, a silly grin as we both reach for the last doughnut. Of all of the gifts I received from camp the greatest continues to be the friendships.

I am thankful for the crystal clear moments of bliss with buddies I savor in my memories from those sun-dipped camping days. I am thankful for the longevity of the camp friendships offered to me through adolescence and into adulthood. I am thankful for how easily I can reconnect with campers I haven’t seen in several decades, as if we just furled our sails yesterday and headed our separate ways. I am thankful for how my camp friends have embraced my husband. I give thanks that I have been able to offer my daughters their own summer camp experience and hope their camp friendships will be as enduring as the friendships shared with me.

Camp Themed Halloween Costumes

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Sure you see it as just the camp uniform—but to your child’s classmates and neighbors it’s an exceptional Halloween costume and exceptionally easy for you.

Simply add a few elements to your child’s camp uniform for a quick, inexpensive and easy to move around in Halloween costume. Shorts may be chilly for trick or treat in northern climes, so start with jeans, camp shirt, ideally with a logo, and a camp jacket or sweatshirt. Add hiking boots and hiking socks for footwear, put on a headlamp (handy when trick or treating in any case) or wear a camp logo cap and carry something that represents your camper’s favorite activity. Your camper can carry a tennis racquet, wear a hiking back pack, hold a length of rope in a coil if she sails, take along a wood craft if he’s a shop fanatic, put on a life jacket, or make other personalizations.

Perhaps your camper’s costume will interest neighbors in considering summer camp for their children. Regardless, the price is right, just open up the trunk and get out what is needed, dress up and head out.

How do you take advantage of the investment you have made in camp uniforms in the off-season?

Preserving Camp Memories

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As the days shorten, think about encouraging your camper to collect photos and mementos from camp to put together in a scrapbook. The first step is uploading the photos from the camera to the computer! The longer the photos stay on the camera, the greater the risk they will be lost.

Once the photos are available there are a myriad of options to choose from both on-line and in multi-format scrapbooks.

1. Online service providers including MobileMe (for Mac users), Picasa Web Albums, Shutterfly.com and many others that provide free formats for online photo albums that can be shared.
2. Online retailers including MobileMe, Shutterfly.com, myphotoalbum.com that produce soft and hard bound books in addition to online photo albums.
3. A scrapbook into which photos and other mementos can be affixed
4. Photos sleeves put into a 3 ring binder and filled with photos

The quickest to produce and share with friends are free, on-line web albums. The privacy of the online album can be set so you can select who can view it and even supply a password for viewing.

If you want an album in your bookshelf or sitting out to page through, then most of the online albums can easily be transformed into a hardbound album. The cost for these albums range depending on the number of pages and whether the book is soft or hard bound. A typical hard bound book generally starts at $30, but there are often promotions be run be different sites so it is worth waiting for a discount before ordering.

Hard bound photo albums take more time to create which can be a fun project for a cold, rainy weekend. Make sure you purchase acid free supplies (album, paper, glue, stickers) to ensure the photos won’t deteriorate excessively. Hard bound albums also can more easily accommodate non-digital mementos such as a ribbon won or a cabin list.

And for the traditionalist, there are always photo sleeves. Photo sleeves are 3 hole punched format plastic sleeves that can hold 4 or 6 4x6 photos. These can be purchased at stores like Walmart, Target and Staples. Slip them into a 3 ring binder and you have a very quick and easy hardbound photo book.

Regardless of the format chosen, have your camper write down names of cabinmates, counselors, places, and other names to accompany the photos. If he or she is really inspired, your camper may want to write a few short memories of specific camp events— the final baseball game, the 4 day camping trip, cooking s’mores for the first time.

What suggestions do you have for preserving camp memories?

A Trunk Organized Now is Hours Saved Next Summer!

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Update your trunk list now!

Now is the time to update your trunk list for next summer. Forget to put in sunscreen? Did every other camper have address labels but yours? Were none of those green socks worn? Update your camper’s trunk list now and you will give yourself a break next summer when you get ready to pack again.

First, hopefully you have the list on your computer. If not, now is a good time to start one. As your camper unpacks her trunk, listen to what she wishes she had and look at what was never used. Sure some items like a raincoat may not have been used this summer, but clearly should be included next summer regardless. But if the 100 roll of postage stamps you sent returned home nearly intact, just all gummed up, maybe you only need to send a couple dozen next summer—or just put them on the envelopes in advance.

Update the packing list AND add a note so you’ll remember that you have already updated the list. Wash and neatly fold any camp uniforms and return them to the trunk for storage if they aren’t worn during the winter. But take out of the trunk any lotions including sunscreen, shampoo, soap or anything that could leak or scent the entire contents of the trunk. If you leave the flashlight in the trunk remove the batteries. If you leave envelopes in the trunk be sure not to leave the trunk where it’s humid.

Next June when you open the trunk to pack for summer camp again, you’ll be glad that you left it cleaned out and organized.

Leaving Camp Trunks Shut. Big Mistake. Big. Huge.

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Like two porch dogs, the camp trunks lay quietly, side by side, waiting until their owners would return. I certainly wasn’t in any particular rush to open them and be greeted by an onslaught of laundry. Surely no need to immediately wash 8 pair of navy Soffee shorts, 8 striped Ts, 6 solid Ts, 2 navy blue sweatshirts, 2 beach towels, hmm, beach towels. Should I reconsider? No surely with the sun this summer they couldn’t possibly be damp.

Last summer when my girls camp home from their seven weeks away at camp, I required them to immediately open their trunks and pull everything out. After the rainiest summer I could remember, I knew the contents would be a wonderful breeding ground for mildew. The summer before that, the campers were sent home with “Welcome Your Child Home” letters that included a warning that there had been a substantial outbreak of lice during the final week of camp—charming—their suggestion was to immediately wash and/or freeze the contents of the trunks. So we dutifully emptied the trunk of its contents more or less pouring everything directly into the washing machine.

Then came the summer of 2010—endless days of sunshine, only a minor outbreak of lice, no food stored away in trunks. I thought we could just put the trunks aside for a few days, chill, not stress over unpacking. And we did. Remember Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she returns to the original store that wouldn’t serve her? Big Mistake. Big. Huge? Well, that was my reaction when I opened the trunks 4 days later. That nagging notion that the towels could indeed be damp? I had neglected to take into account that in such a beautiful summer of sun, of course a dip on the final day of camp would be in order. Where better to put a dripping wet suit and the accompanying towel but in the top of a trunk before shutting the lid? Big Mistake. Big. Huge!

End of Camp Transitions

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The day to pick up your daughter from camp has finally arrived! You wake up early, getting ready to go like it’s your first day of school, finding the car keys and hitting the road in time to arrive precisely at 9 am. You can’t keep the smile off your face as you eagerly anticipate the big hug when you see her, all the stories she will want to share, and getting ready for your family vacation together. So when you step out of your car at camp and she’s nowhere in sight you’re a bit let down, but not too much, she probably just needed to run back to her cabin for a forgotten towel. Looking around you see clumps of girls, a few smiles, a lot of tears, lots of cameras and group hugs as other parents load up their cars with trunks and sleeping bags and the accumulations of a summer at camp. Ah ha! You spot her coming through the pines arm in arm with another girl, laughing together! You wave to her, she spots you and immediately her laughter stops, her shoulders slump and she says something quietly to her friend. Are those tears you see building in her eyes? Tears of joy at seeing you? Likely not if she has enjoyed her time at camp.

If your daughter has spent previous happy summers at camp, then you likely recognize bits and pieces of this scenario as they have played out in your life on camp pick up day. We all hope our children find companionship, independence and confidence in their lives. Yet we still sigh as we watch our children achieving these milestones without us.

Balancing your need for interaction with your daughter’s need for transition is not easy. Here are some suggestions I have received from camp parents over the years.

• Give her space and time to say her good-byes, but don’t prolong the parting. Just as when you dropped her off, better not to linger excessively
• Let her stay quiet in the car, play her favorite radio station and don’t try to start a conversation
• Have a new magazine or two waiting at home for her
• Have a few outings in mind, but let her have several days at home before departing for a family vacation. This is helpful not only because she needs the downtime, but also because her immune system may have gone into overload the last few days at camp with little sleep and high stress. So give her time to recharge
• Similarly, no need to have the hair cut, orthodontist appointment and eye exam all on the day she returns from camp
• Other than the wet towels and bathing suits which may mildew in her trunk, give her the time and space to unpack as she’s ready
• Have meals at home— perhaps make her favorite dinner or dessert

• Have lots of fresh fruit on hand—a variety of fresh fruit isn’t always available at camp
• Let her sleep!
• Ask her to join you and her siblings in a card game or other game she enjoys, but don’t pester her if she chooses to pass
• Listen to the stories she wants to share rather than trying to guide the conversation to the questions you want answered

Given the time and space she needs to transition she will return to her place in the family—perhaps with more confidence, new skills and greater cooperation.

If you have picked up a daughter from camp, what has worked well in your family getting ready for pick up or in the first few days home?

Easy Care Packages

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The thrill of seeing your name on the package list or the anticipation of pulling open the package can be the highlight of mail time at camp. Often it doesn’t matter what is in the securely taped box, just who it is addressed to. Some camps have a strict no packages policy and those that allow packages have rules on what can and cannot be included. Many camps restrict food of any kind from pretzels to gum. So it’s important to check with the camp before putting together a care package for your camper.

If the camp does allow packages, remember that it’s the excitement of receiving the package usually more than the contents that has the biggest impact on a camper. Often I have heard my daughters say, “Auntie sent me a package!”, but rarely have I heard them specifically mention any contents by name.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started many of which can be found at convenience or drug stores:

• Silly Bands—THE hot item for summer camps 2010
• Activity books (word puzzles, brain teasers)
• Stickers
• Comic books
• Magazines
• Thread for friendship bracelets
• A cute water bottle (wash it out first as it’s doubtful your camper will)
• A deck of cards
• New stationary or note cards
• Photos you printed out from your visit
• A small stuffed animal
• A sploosh ball, frisbee or other small toy

The easiest way to mail a package is with the postal service’s Priority Mail flat rate box or envelope if all of your items are flat. After you purchased your gifts, pick up a box (or large flat envelope) at the post office to send them. Check www.usps.gov for sizes and rates.

If you have the time, it’s fun to receive a package with the contents in colorful wrap—use tissue or glossy magazine pages to wrap up small items individually. Affix post-it notes with fun messages, riddles or knock knock jokes to each item. Number the items in the order they should be opened to make the entire process an activity. Regardless of how the package is sent, it will be a treat to be received.

What ideas do you have for camp care packages?

Calling the Camp Director

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You’ve just received a distressing letter from your camper—she’s homesick, or a cabin-mate has been teasing her, or she’s never been picked to captain a team. Or you see a photo on the camp website and her hair looks like a rat’s nest—does it ever get combed? Should you call the camp? Call your camper? Write her a letter? Send an email?

With the explosion of communication between camp, camper and parents, it’s not uncommon for a parent to quickly place a phone call or send an email every time a concern is raised. Certainly it’s important to raise issues that may have gone unnoticed or unresolved. Sometimes it’s necessary simply to calm your own parental anxiety.

However, before sending that email or placing the call, put the incident in perspective. Her hair is a mess in a photo? Is it a mess in every photo? Are you usually the one who reminds her to comb her hair before school or combs out the tangles for her? Would it be beneficial if she could learn to brush her hair herself? Are there significant health or safety concerns if her hair continues to be tangled?

Perhaps your daughter has written you about being teased. Teasing can often go undetected beyond the tormentor and the target. Such a situation may well warrant a calm phone call to the director to discuss what your daughter has written as well as to listen to what the director has heard from the cabin counselors. Remember that every communication should be two-way—air your concern, but also listen to what else has occurred and how the situation may already be resolved.

This is particularly true for homesickness. A homesick incident written on a Tuesday, mailed on a Wednesday and not received by you until Friday may be entirely forgotten before the letter was even in transit. A composed phone call with the director can help calm your anxiety and offer you additional insight into how your daughter is currently faring. Most camp directors have dealt with a variety of homesick campers and have been trained in strategies to best manage each individual’s situation. Raising your concerns with the director can be helpful for you, your daughter and her counselors.

Also keep in mind that every camp has its own policy on communication between the camper and parents. Many camps work to keep camper phone calls at a minimum, if they are allowed at all, as phone calls can be disruptive to the child’s camp experience and inhibit the child’s independence and self-confidence. So more often than not, if you have a significant concern about your child’s well-being, it is far better to contact the camp office rather than your camper.

There are unquestionably times to contact the camp and the camp directors want to ensure that your daughter is experiencing the fullness of camp. On the other hand, camp is also about learning independence, self-confidence and new skills. A new skill may be learning how to shoot an arrow, or it may be how to brush your hair yourself, make your bed or get along living in close quarters with others. So when an issue arises, take a moment before calling the camp office or sending an email and put your concern in perspective.

Tips for a Sucessful Camp Drop Off

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Taking a daughter to camp, especially the very first time, can be as exciting and worrying for the parent as it is for the camper. The key to a successful drop off on the first day of camp is to ensure both your and your child's needs are met in the transition. For your child, she needs to integrate with her peers and make a connection to camp life so she has a focal point other than the goodbye. Whether your child is clingy or independent, you need to balance giving her space and support to make that camp connection. Your child can sense if you are distressed about leaving her, so it's also important for you to assure yourself that your child is in good hands. 

A few tips for balancing your needs and your child's needs on the first day of camp:

• Meet her counselors— learn their names.

• Meet any cabin-mates who are around. 

• Introduce yourself to other parents—this gives your daughter time to connect with her peers on her own.

• Help your daughter arrange a few items—maybe a photo she has brought from home, a jacket or laundry bag hung up. This setting up is truly more for the parent than the child. A parent wants to visualize her daughter’s space. For a camper, setting up is just a transitional pause before merging into camp life.

• Well run camps will have transitional activities for the arriving campers whether they head directly to a meal, an activity or gather for a craft. When it’s time for her to integrate into the flow, let her go. No need to fuss over how the pillow is arranged on her bed or whether her flashlight in conveniently located.

• Leave a card and small gift—a book, card game, activity book—for her on her bunk as a surprise when she returns to her cabin. 

• Say goodbye quickly, don’t linger. Once you have said goodbye, it is time for you to leave.

• Smile as you depart—you want your daughter to think of you as happy that she’s at camp.

Taking a Daughter to Camp

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Preparing for my daughter’s summer at camp was easy; meeting the reality of a good-bye was exceedingly difficult. I wanted a bear hug and “I’ll miss you Mama.” She wanted a quick hug and a kiss and a chance to melt into the new found group of girls.

It seemed the snow bank was still knee high at the end of our driveway the day she began packing her trunk. Each afternoon after completing her homework, she’d ask, “Can I go up and pack now?” The first several times she asked, I quizzically responded, “But your trunk is packed.” “Not the new underwear you bought me,” she’d reply. Or, “I have a newly sharpened pencil to pack.” And so it went for an entire month of anticipation. Each day pulling everything out and rearranging the entire contents as the newly acquired item always seemed to need to be packed on the bottom of the trunk.

The day before we were to drop her off, she became very quiet. Perhaps the reality was beginning to settle on her. By lunch the day we drove to camp, her vocabulary had diminished to “No thank you” and “I’m not hungry.” I made her favorite meal for lunch— she managed to eek one noodle from her fork to her mouth before uttering, “I’m not hungry.” The butterflies were gathering.

When we got to camp the first stop was a check in with the nurse. The nurse, being friendly, asked what my daughter was looking forward to doing at camp this summer. “Making a friend,” was her quiet reply. Tears filled my eyes; this would certainly be a difficult good-bye. Would she make a friend? Would she be happy? Would her counselor put her covers back on when they fell off at night?

At her cabin she selected her bunk without any fuss and although I wanted to help her unpack and get settled, she simply wanted to change into her uniform and head to the playground with 2 other girls in her cabin. I worried when she only put one blanket on her bed (it gets cold in Maine at night!). I wanted to arrange the photos that she had brought from home and hang up her laundry bag and bathing suits and towel. She quickly changed, selecting footwear to match her cabin mates and headed out as a camper. We followed, her sister and father and I, and although we were close behind we watched her move farther and farther from us, finding her own way, understanding the need to belong and looking for a way to belong. 

How did your drop off go?  Who had the most difficult time saying good-bye?

Quick Tips for Writing to a Camper

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The rest bell rings and campers race to the mailboxes to see what awaits. Samantha Saylor arrives first and grabs the stack of envelopes from the S box, quickly reading through the addressee names.

“Santos, Smith, Santos, Strickland, Surrey, Santos, Smith, Shen, finally Saylor!, Santos, Santos, how many friends and family does Santos have?!, Shen, Sargent, another one for Saylor, Santos, Steinberg, Santos”

Samantha hands the stack to the anxiously awaiting Strickland and heads off with her two letters. The high point of mail time has passed—sorting through the envelopes and finding the envelopes with her name on them. Even opening and reading the mail can’t eclipse the excitement of reading through the addressee names.

So take this as your first tip in writing your camper—mail, any mail, is better than no mail. And the contents of the letter or postcard are far less important than the fact that correspondence has been received. Still, writing about your commute to work, or grocery shopping will pale in comparison to a note including a funny story about trying to pick blueberries in the rain or fixing the leaky faucet and getting soaked in the process.

Here are some quick tips for writing your camper this summer:

1. Write short, frequent letters rather than long occasional notes
2. Include interesting flat items such as a newspaper comic or a photo
3. Sprinkle in a few riddles
4. Take some time to doodle
5. Include a short, funny story. Nothing happened on your commute to work or in your office? Find a few short jokes to include (there are plenty to be found on-line) or relate a story from your childhood.
6. Comment on your camper’s most recent letter—great job on learning how to serve in tennis or how cool that her cabin mate is from Montana.
7. Include a game like hang man, tic tac toe, or 20 questions on a second sheet of paper that the two of you can send back and forth over the summer to play.
8. Remember to write so your camper can read—many of the under 12 set cannot read cursive and that goes for many teens as well these days. 4 paragraphs of loopy handwriting will quickly be scanned for the signature at the end.

P.S. post scripts and post post scripts are always a big hit!

What writing tips for campers do you have?

10 reasons to send your daughter to summer camp

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At Summer Camp...

Friendships last a lifetime.

 When the heat wave hits there’s a cool lake to dive into.

Campfires can’t be beat when shared.

It’s easy to find a quiet place to read a book,

Or a busy place to play with buddies.

Learning how to live with others is essential.

There’s a great sense of accomplishment

in learning a new skill

Or in achieving a goal together.

            The nights are as spectacular as the days.

But most importantly, every child should have the opportunity to soar!

Have a question about sending your daughter to camp?  Ask it here!