It’s the moment she’s been dreaming of for years—and a difficult decision. Karma Bryan-Ingle registered her son, Evan, for his first session of overnight camp. Evan just turned six. Follow Karma in Our Kids’ new series, as she blogs about the small moments and milestones of family life, including preparing her son (and herself) for his first camp experience.
When I was a child, I spent many weeks of the summer up north canoeing and camping in Algonquin
Park (I learned to solo paddle when I was about 8!). Each year at Thanksgiving, you could find our family heading out from the Portage Store on Canoe Lake on a three-day canoe trip to Little Joe Island. I have several memories of paddling that journey with the cold wind blowing and the snow piling up in the canoe! It may sound like hell to some, but to me, it was a way of life. It was the only vacation I had ever known. And it was some of the best learning experiences of my life!
This photo was taken in the summer of 1979 at Coon Lake in Algonquin Park when I was eight years old.
Those camping trips happened for a couple of reasons. First, my family didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up, so camping was an affordable and fun way to spend our vacation time. But really the more important reason is because of something my dad did as a child… he went to summer camp! And the experience he had in those years at camp was one that shaped his life and one that he wanted to share with our family.
My dad has talked for years about how summer camp had such a profound impact on his life. How he didn’t have a fantastic relationship with his father and how the relationship he forged with the camp director, Kirk Wipper — former owner of Camp Kandalore and founder of the Canadian Canoe Museum — really made a difference to the kind of man he grew to be. It was listening to my dad for all these years that made me realize long before I was a mother that I would send any child I had to summer camp. I would give my child an opportunity to learn and grow as an individual in ways that are only made possible by going to camp.
Fast forward and now here I am and here’s the reason I’m writing this blog. I’ve just registered my son, Evan, for his first session of summer camp. Evan will be six on Nov. 20, so he’s starting young. And I have to be honest, although I’ve been dreaming of this moment for years, the decision to send him to live away at camp for one week was not an easy one. You see, Evan is not your typical almost six-year-old boy. He’s not wild and crazy and fearless (unless you count his love of roller coasters and snakes). He is, in fact, a very sensitive, shy and thoughtful boy. He’s the type of boy who wants to invite his kindergarten teacher to his birthday party now that he’s in Grade 1 (true story)! So the thought of sending him off to make his own way in the world (if only for a week) is a very hard one to wrap my head around. It’s probably going to take me at least the next eight months!
So, join me on this journey as I prepare him (and myself) for our first camp experience. I promise to make it as entertaining as I can, and I’ll try to share some advice I gather along the way. Feel free to comment and share your stories with me over the coming months as well.
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Did you send your child to overnight camp? Why did you make that decision? What helped you and your family prepare for camp? Share your thoughts and advice in the Comments section below.
Glad your son had a fantastic time at camp!
Age is not a factor for some kids in these cases. Check back on our blog for more from Karma on her experience.
Good for you. I still remember going to camp when I was a kid. (Bacon and hickory chips, campfire songs, jumping from top bunk to top bunk, friends, whispering in the dark….) It was forever ago, but I still sing those songs in the summer.
My son went to overnight camp for a week when he was seven or eight and loved it. : )
I'm sure he'll love it, even if he doesn't show it right away. It's important to get out to the outdoors, and create a connection with it. It'll be a life long gift.
looking forward to your next segment!
He'll love it! Camp Kandalore is such a great place…I just registered our daughter (who will turn 8 in Feb) for her 3rd summer at Kandalore. When we picked her up from one week try-out camp at age 6, she said it was the best week of her life!!
Thank you so much for your comment! It's so good to hear from other Kandalore parents.
My kids started going to Kandalore the year they were in Grade 1, and have been going ever since. My oldest 2 are now staff !! Once you get the Kandalore experience, it's like nothing else. Every time they came home from camp, they came home more mature, more confident, more independent. They have had "the summers of their lives" and have made life-long friends.
Thank you Brenda. This is exactly what I'm hoping for my son!
So I begged yearly to attend camp from the time I was 4 until finally at 7 the camp directors agreed to take me a year early! I was the youngest of two daughters and my sister had been going to camp for years. My parents evidently cried on the side of the road after dropping me off
— but they survived.
Me? I "forgot" about my family for the summer (six weeks) and LOVED it. I never looked back — though I did write letters home (some of my mom's most precious keepsakes when she was still alive). I am now a camp director — I found my life at camp and would not trade the freedom, independence, community living skills, friends, adult role models, love of nature and the out of doors, and self-confidence that camp gave me for any other life.
I have a daughter, now 33, who couldn't wait to go away to (as she became older)camps, live-away learning experiences, summers abroad, semesters abroad and then a vast amount of traveling. On the other hand, my son, now 31, never left my side growing up.
Each child comes with their own needs and we need to listen to our children enough to know whether or not it is too early, or simply not right. If you are sending him to camp to broaden his horizons and he is mature enough, enjoy yourself.
Thanks for your post. I sent my grandchild Alora (8) to Kandalore this past summer. I too wondered if she was too young, strange as I started attending sleep away camp at the age of 7. Without a doubt some of my fondest memories. I took Alora to the orientation day and I seemed to step back in time. Such deep positive emotional memories. Long story short she loved it!! And I mean loved it!! When I came to pick her up she was begging me to be able to stay, and promising me that if I sent her for a full month in 2012 she promised to get "A"'s in school. I must say she came flying in the door just the other day waiving her report card and a test…..with A's.
What a wonderful story! Great incentive to keep up the good marks!!!