Summer Camp Changed My Life

Sending your kids to sleepaway camp is a gift

By Natalie Singer-Velush

Summer camp changed my life.

I still can’t say exactly what it was about camp that turned me into a different girl every summer. But somewhere between the sweaty city limits of my boring urban childhood universe and the mountainous, leafy world north of my hometown of Montreal, a switch flipped. Suddenly, I wasn’t a not-very-popular girl whose parents were divorced, who was laden with homework and a mortifyingly uncool coat, waiting for the bus in the slushy, frigid winter.

I was free, mixing with a different crowd of kids from dozens of different schools. The usual cliques were nowhere to be seen. I had a duffel bag full of awesome camp gear: desert boots, unionsuit pajamas with a rear that unbuttoned (!), a yellow raincoat, plaid lumber jackets and wool socks, all purchased on the cheap from an Army surplus store. And there were no parents — the only authority was our counselor staff, whose members were just a few years older than the campers and so very cool.

It didn’t look like much when you first arrived, my camp: a weathered wooden archway, a dirt path, just wide enough to admit a maintenance truck — or an overheated school bus, its windows yanked down to circulate a warm summer breeze, the chatter of 70 kids flying out into the dusty country air.

Right now, countless parents are weighing whether enabling their children to live away from home for a spell at sleepaway camp is valuable, doable or wise. What trouble will they get into away from parental supervision?

But as I had considered when to send my two girls for their first overnight camp experiences, I’d argue that camp teaches the kind of values and character development that parents most want for their kids. Kids learn to function and thrive independently, developing skills that might make the difference between your kid succeeding in life after high school despite challenges and ending up back in your basement after “failing to launch.”

The time and space to explore boundaries, and to learn to manage freedom smartly and safely, is priceless. Give your kid time away, and they will give it back down the road tenfold. It will help them become leaders, develop grit and character, learn empathy for others and tap into their dreams.

I experienced a lot of firsts at camp: My first swim across the intimidating maw of a real (big!) lake. My first time sailing a boat on my own. My first bout of homesickness. My first time acting in a play. And during my last summer, my first real love. We zeroed in on each other at the Saturday-night social that first week, my heart thumping nervously, his drumsticks sticking out of the back of his jeans pocket. That sweet first romance, under the impossibly bright stars of a mountain summer, will be with me all of my life.

But I also did things I never would have done in real life: I completed multiple five-day canoe trips — mini-excursions away from regular camp and into the true wilderness, navigating past a suspicious moose, building a fire and cooking meals over it. I tackled my fear of bodies of water. I wrote chants and led teams and wore body paint and tried archery. I opened myself up to some of the deepest friendships I have ever known. I learned to shower next to spiders.

Most importantly, I tapped into a community — a family — that stretched back long before me, that helped anchor me to my own life: The family of my camp, with its generations of wooden plaques and rustic rituals, its dirt paths and canvas tents, and its magical grasp on my heart. ■

Natalie Singer-Velush is a writer and communications manager. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two daughters and enjoys beachcombing, reading, feeding people and exploring the Pacific Northwest with her family.