The astonishing thing about our children is how they live in
the moment—waiting, gauging, reflecting—these are
left for another time, for the person each of them will become.
Capturing the memories of summer and particularly of new situations
and friends from camp becomes a guessing game for parents of
right place, "right time." Likely these moments express
your child's newfound confidence at exploring the world
and trying new things, making friends, and challenging themselves
in ways they hadn't thought possible. This new confidence
will spill out as they share their camp experiences in the course
of everyday activities while traveling in the car, over a meal,
or around the house—and these memories will be nothing
short of extraordinary.
As August comes and we turn our attention to squeezing out the
last sweetnesses of summer, the memories of camp begin to surface. In
fact, it hardly takes any time at all before those new experiences,
friends, and activities become an indelible part of the fabric
of summer.
Memory should never be about what we have lost but what we carry
in our hearts forever, the abundance of riches in the small group
of youngsters grasping each others' hands on the way to
the park, the leaves and pods that a child so deliberately positioned
across the page decorating a drawing for a parent, the camp dog
who secretly was "a special friend" and he knew it,
and the moment when a splash into the pool left everyone speechless
just like a firecracker lighting up the sky. And the quiet
times, too, the sounds of lights out, the covers rustling, the “good
tired” after a hike, the sun glistening across the pile
of towels at the lake, the songs on the bus with thirty-seven
verses.
Memory indeed serves us well— and for our children it
provides an important bridge to adulthood. When difficulties
or challenges arise memory promises that things will get better,
and cultivating these memories of childhood is an important act
of helping children grow into resilient and secure adults.
Childhood needs a healthy dose of memory from time to time, and
as your children's capacity for memory increases, sharing
their summer is the perfect model of connectedness, belonging,
taking risks, and, most importantly, growing up. Camp is the
ideal backdrop for childhood with its celebration of imagination
and accomplishment, its freedoms for our young people to shout
and wave their arms, and even the tiredness that comes when the
fields are dark, the swings are still, the lights are out, and
they are satisfied, filled to overflowing with a sense of being
truly alive in the world—not half bad for a summer.
Camp is all about taking healthy risks, exploring possibilities,
and making memories that never let us go. And it's about
next year, always next year.
Top of page |
|
|
