Camp, for the Win!

As I write this, we are knee deep into spring break. A really long spring break. We’re on modified year round here so the two weeks and change is creeping by in the home stretch. And I’m exhausted. I feel like curling into the fetal position in my closet where no one can find me while my kids beat the ever loving crap out of each other, and pray that my husband comes home on time today.

Deep breaths, ok, so maybe not every day is like this, some days we had fun. Like last week. Last week was glorious. Why? Because my kids weren’t together. Like, at all. They had camp and camp is the greatest thing ever invented. You know that question: “Who would you want to have dinner with if you could pick any famous person?” I’d pick the guy who came up with the idea of camp. He’s a genius. And he was obviously a stay at home parent. So maybe it was a woman. I digress.

A few weeks back I was casually talking to some friends at school pick up and mentioned how elated I was that camp was starting the first day of spring break – golf camp for Garrett, engineering camp for Sawyer. I was looked at with glares of terror. “Why would you send them to camp, that’s a whole two weeks you get to spend with your kids? They are growing up too fast.” Mommy shame seethed in my stomach. But I just smiled, with no reply. Were they right? Was I selfish to send them away, knowing I could be with them instead? 24/7…for 14 days…please tell me I’m not alone here, that’s a lot of idle time. Idle time for them to hit, punch, scream, complain of boredom…my children are good kids. They are loving, kind and smart. That being said, they are 3 years apart in age, different genders and well, they don’t like each other very often these days. They will one day. They really do love each other but if left in the same room for too long…it’s not pretty.

The first few days of camp I felt guilty. The judgment my friends didn’t mean to put upon me, but did, inadvertently, had made me a bit heartsick. Then the remarkable happened. Garrett left his golf lesson on day three, having had much one on one time with his coach and having hit his targets with pride and confidence. He was so happy with himself, his self-esteem — through the roof. He spent the 30 minute car ride to pick Sawyer up chatting about his amazing day. Seeing Sawyer at pick up, she was equally as pleased with herself. She had built a Mindstorm Robot. She was laughing and doing a competition with her new friends. Friends she would never have met without camp. My kids hugged and spent the minuscule remainder of the day being friends. It was perfection.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn’t such a bad Mommy after all. Here’s the moral. Maybe your kids don’t fight (yeah right), maybe your kids are pleasant to be around all day everyday (doubtful), maybe your kids are perfectly content doing nothing (c’mon now), but mine aren’t. It’s just the hard truth. And camp is a wonderful opportunity for them to learn specialized skills, dabble in things they are passionate about and improve their communication skills with new instructors and fellow campers. It’s not a punishment, it’s quite frankly a privilege. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll step down from my soap box…and go see who’s screaming in the playroom.