The Gift of Camp
With the holidays upon us, we have spent a lot of time thinking and talking about the meaning of gifts and gift giving. We recently participated in a conversation about the challenge and balance of teaching our children about gratitude while navigating through the Holiday Season. Parents were sharing how they are teaching their children about the gift of giving back. Many of them were spending one night of holiday shopping, with their kids, for gifts to give a child they had “adopted” through a school program. Some families were volunteering at food pantries or spearheading toy drives while others were using this time to teach the difference between “wants” and “needs” amidst the realities of the world we live in today.
The conversation we participated in left us thinking about many things, especially the incredible gift that all of you give your children each summer, the gift of Camp Watitoh. While camp is a tangible place, it provides an intangible experience that no toy, video game, hover board, or iPad can ever do. Each year, you give your children the gift of independence, of friendship, of personal growth, of resiliency, of being part of a community and family. We are not sure there is a more valuable or meaningful gift that you can offer.
We hope that in this season of giving, you might enjoy engaging your children about the amazing opportunity that they have each summer and the gift of camp. You might ask them questions about something new they learned about themselves, something they had to compromise to make living with others easier, a skill they developed, or a new friend they made. If this will be your child’s first summer at camp, you might begin the conversation about what they hope to get out of the experience and what they are looking forward to the most.
As parents, we are committed to providing our kids with experiences that will better prepare them for the future. By giving your children the gift of Watitoh, you are giving them the opportunity to become their best selves, and in turn, they give back to all of us by becoming better people, better citizens, and better contributors to the world.
Have a happy and safe holiday season.
