I still have a small bundle of olive green letters, tied with a ribbon, tucked into a box with other special childhood items. These are the letters my parents wrote to me while I was at Camp Tanadoona, a place that seemed so far away and yet — via the wonders of Google Maps, tells me it was actually 17.6 miles from my childhood home. It’s wonderful how when one is small, things just seem so large, so long, so inescapably far away. The letters, written mostly in my mother’s beautiful curvy longhand, talk of everyday life; how she got a new dishwasher, how my dog, Charlie, threw up a balogna sandwich in the kitchen (along with speculation as to who might have given it to him in the first place), and a discussion of the latest injury my brother, David, brought forth upon himself. There is also the cramped handwriting of my father, reminding me (embarrassingly) to check “my body” for wood ticks at the end of each day. Best of all, many of the letters allude to a surprise waiting for me when I returned home.
I don’t remember much about that camp, except that I rode a horse for the first time, and swam in a lake, the weed tangling around my toes. And that one of the girls in my cabin had an asthma attack and had to leave in the middle of the night.
Now, there’s a camp specifically for kids who suffer from asthma, and our writer,
Kelly Jo McDonnell, has assured us that Camp SuperKids is loaded for bear when it comes to ensuring the kids and their condition are the highest priority.
We are profiling a number of great camps in this issue — overnight and day camps, but also have provided a comprehensive list of resources for you to dig deeper into the experience of sending your child off to camp. And if the resource list isn’t enough for you, please find time in your schedule to attend the Minnesota Parent Camp Fair at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory on February 26 from 10 to 2. Over 80 camp representatives, along with some terrific entertainment, goodie bags, face painting and more, will be there to educate you about the possibilities.
At Minnesota Parent, we believe that sending our kids to camp so they can learn to be independent and succeed apart from the nurturing home environment, is a valuable lesson. We hope you think so, too.
