Opening day is always fun, but for our one-week session, filled with so many first-time campers, it’s especially exciting. Everything is new. From the towering Hemlock and Poplars on the drive in, all the way down to the Illahee White uniforms worn by our smiling counselors, excited to greet them. Everything is new; Everything is breathtaking.
After the intentionally quick drop-off, campers said their goodbyes to their parents and immediately hopped into the bustling world of Illahee. They started unpacking their trunks in their cabin with the help of counselors, got their head massages (lice checks), took a camp tour with their new cabinmates, and then enjoyed a sit-down lunch in Tilley Lodge. This week, campers sit with their cabins for every meal. We always eat family style, and campers take turns showing up early to set the table and lay out the food. After lunch, we hopped back into rotations. Girls took turns on the Slip and Slide, playing games in the Rec Lodge, making bandana necklaces in the Busy Bee, and doing their swim checks in the lake. After running swim checks, I spent some time on the slip and slide with our 3 year old son Jasper. Mud and giggles everywhere; we mirrored the campers and had a good time.
For dinner, we held the traditional Illahee Sunday meal of Fried Chicken, rice, broccoli, and hot, buttery yeast rolls. Gretchen and Gordon’s dad (and Gardner’s grandad…), “Yoda,” joined us. It was a family affair, as camp always is. The girls enjoyed their food, and we finished the meal with hand-scooped salted caramel ice cream.
We waste no time jumping into fun for this session. After dinner, we all gathered on the Tennis Courts for Illahee County Fair! With bounce houses, face painting, llamas, a dunk tank, fortune telling, a dance party, and more, we had an absolute blast. Campers dressed up with another cabin to form a compound word. For example, one cabin dressed all in orange to be a “cone” and another dressed for “snow,” thus creating “Snowcone.” Our facilities director Barrett fired up the old John Deere tractor and gave everyone hayrides all over camp, too!
It was a silly evening and a perfect start to the Junior session. Campers are up in their cabins for showers and their first friendship circle, where they gather to reflect on the day and look ahead!
Just as it’s the first camp experience for many of our campers, it might be similarly uncharted territory for you as a parent. A few days ago, This Article was shared in our family group chat. For those of you who won’t get past the paywall, it’s a great analysis of how the age of hyper-surveillance parenting has slowly and drastically infiltrated summer camp. I highly recommend reading it. One of my favorite excerpts:
“For most of the 20th century, camps operated on a simple premise: Send your child and they will come back changed. The magical ingredient effecting that change was parental absence… Children without their parents were forced to navigate the world on their own. They learned to make friends without mediation (no play dates!), resolve conflicts without referees, and experience homesickness without rescue.”
– Russell Shaw, “The New Parent Trap.” The Atlantic
Yes, we at Illahee take a few hundred pictures a day to help tell the story of camp. Yes, Gardner or I take a moment each night after sending the campers to their bunks to write a bit about what made the day special or why we still feel like camp is so important. But our goal has been, is, and always will be making camp an amazing experience for our campers, and a place for girls to thrive WITHOUT the presence of parents. The transformative experience of camp is the meat; everything else is just gravy.
When I was a pastor, I would always meet with families who were interested in having their child baptized. In the Presbyterian (USA) tradition, this sacrament was typically done to infants. In our theology, it was important that these kids were recognized as claimed by God long before they could do anything to earn it. Equally important in our understanding of the sacrament, was the parents’ recognition that they cannot raise this child alone. By baptizing a child in front of a church, it was a claim that God, and God incarnate through the congregation, were going to play a part in raising this child, loving this child, and even correcting this child when needed.
In a way, parents are making a similar choice by sending your daughter to camp. The lessons she’s learning at camp, she probably couldn’t learn from you. The friendships she’s making would be hard to form with you peering over her shoulder, and the skills gained, confidence earned, and memories made are all possible because you were brave enough and loving enough to send her away.
We trade out the water from a baptismal font for plenty of mud on a slip and slide.
Both have their place.
Day is done.
Lucas