And Beware the Deranged Counselor
As you wrestle with choosing a camp, a counselor has a few tips for your kids: use soap, lose the Gameboy, and don't get mad if someone calls you Bam-Bam.
(Photo by Janet Jensen/Tacoma News Tribute/MCT)Dear Camper,
This is your counselor writing. I know summer is still several chilly months away, but let me tell you a few things before you embark on what could be the best time you've ever had. While there is no way to guarantee summer camp will be a life-altering experience, there are some things you can do to make it, at the very least, fun.
Let's get something straight: You are going to camp. Don't freak out; you are not likely to have to live without electricity or running water or to be eaten by bears. However, it is likely that you will find camp quite different from your present reality (unless you now sleep in a room with 10 other people and are awakened each morning by a bugle). While replacing your TV schedule with "activities" may seem scary, remember that this is a chance to reconvene with something called "nature." You're at camp; you're supposed to rough it! Today, "roughing it" means no video games or iPods or computers. If you can't part with your electronics for a few weeks, at least make an effort to fill some free time with activities that don't rely on battery power. I do not doubt that you will be surprised by what you find while swinging from the zip line, playing ping-pong, or paddling around in a kayak. You won't regret it; just remember your sunscreen and bug spray.
Roughing it is a slippery slope for some campers. Hygiene is usually the first thing to go. I am still not sure why my campers (boys, in particular - surprised?) spent so much time pretending to wash their hair when it would have been quicker to actually wash it. It was always clear that their hair got as clean in the shower as it did from swimming in the lake. In other words, not very. Camper, do everyone a favor and occasionally use some shampoo. Falsifying cleanliness comes in second to the energy campers spend on hoarding food. The sight of a dining hall filled with campers poised to grab the first roll out of the breadbasket is as ridiculous as it is Dickensian. It's unsettling to see these survival instincts emerge so unnecessarily. There's plenty of food, so eat, and save your strength for when you will really need it - say, in a game of basketball or when you're swimming for dear life in the snapping-turtle-infested lake (at least they're not bears, right?).
Of course, there is much to camp beyond basic survival. Contrary to what you may believe, camp is a place where your primary responsibility is to have fun. It is a place where you will have a nickname (something like Bam-Bam or Wee Wee; you never know what's going to stick); it's a place where you'll do crazy things (perhaps dress in drag or take up wakeboarding). The environment is such that odd personalities and quirks are held in high regard. Are you able to chug milk faster than anyone you know? You'll be a hero in your bunk! Are you willing to eat a massive bug? You have an act for the talent show! Quite simply, camp's a place where pretty much anything is possible, where you can challenge yourself knowing you're among friends and find fun, excitement, and laughter in the most unexpected places.
Finally, don't believe everything your counselors tell you. Even me. Truth be told, when my campers ask to hear a story, I usually make one up as I go along. My epic stories about the man with hooks for hands, the hermit who lives under the cabin, and the aforementioned snapping-turtle-infested lake are, alas, not true (gotcha!). They are little masterpieces, nonetheless, that will live on through oral history. Stories pulled off the tops of counselors' heads quickly turn into camp lore and are passed from bunk to bunk, then down through generations of campers shivering in their sheets from fright. If it's too scary to believe, it probably isn't true.
That can't necessarily be said for the story about the campers who disobeyed their counselor, but I'll tell you that one tomorrow night.
Love,
Natalie
Natalie Bailey, a freelance writer in New York and recent counselor at Camp Manitou in Oakland, Maine, still uses bug spray on occasion. Send comments to magazine@globe.com.
