Supporting Pre-Teens and Teens: How Summer Camp Builds Confidence and Belonging

Happy Sunday to you all,

My Sunday morning exercise today was on my exercise bike as my rehab from knee surgery continues. I am now on Day 24 and starting to feel more and more normal every day so fingers crossed I will be bouncing around like Tigger by the Waukeela Christmas reunions.

I am not on the exercise bike long enough to have the really deep conversations that I have with myself on a normal 2 or 3 hour cycle. Something, however, was on my mind because I have been thinking about it all week. When I see new registrations for next summer pop into my inbox, there is a sense of excitement and anticipation; is it a new camper or returning camper, is it mini, junior or senior alley, amongst other considerations. Naturally, I am excited by whomever it is, but particularly so when it is a CIT or Scotch pine who is in their ninth or tenth year as a camper.

That is when it dawns upon me that 'Oh my Gosh, I have literally watched that camper grow from a seven year old young girl, scared to be away from home and crying for her Mom & Dad into a seventeen year old young adult, who will be partly helping us run the camp this year and who will be choosing which schools they would like to attend next year. The transformation is really quite remarkable and one that you as parents or guardians, may not see quite as starkly as we do. Most of you will see your kids every day, with some exceptions of course, but we don't see them from one summer to the next unless they come to the reunions. So we see a whole year of growth in one minute.

I then check the panorama photos for that camper's first year and the illusion is complete. The metamorphosis from child to adult is there for all too see and we have watched this young person go through almost every stage of childhood. Obviously, we are not there to see infancy through the early childhood years, but once the camper enters first grade, we watch them travel right through grade school through their Junior High school year. As educators, what an incredible privilege it is to see them pass through middle childhood, pre-adolescence and finally through adolescence itself and on into early adult years.

Helping our young campers navigate their way through this tricky and troublesome journey is one of the primary reasons that our senior staff come back year after year. We are literally experts at helping young people through these troubled waters, and one of the reasons why so many people choose Waukeela is because of the wealth of experience our Senior Staff has in looking after children. Whether it be that homesick seven-year-old or the teenager who is too 'cool for school' - we have answers and solutions.

For many of you whose children are pre-adolescent and haven't quite hit the mood swings and tantrums of teenage years, you will be dismayed to learn, they are on the way. Every yea,r we deal with campers who are just at the age where anything their parents do annoys or embarrasses them. Indeed, one of my own teenage memories is my father pulling right up outside the school gate in his car to pick me up - he NEVER did this. I was sixteen and surrounded by my friends who were all laughing. I leaned through the car window, pretended I didn't know him and gave him some imaginary directions before I walked off promptly with my friends.

This phase in a camper's life is one of the most worrying for parents, as they start to feel like they are losing control of their once cherub-like child. We see it every day at camp as campers start to make excuses about not wanting to do certain activities and our brilliant staff remind them every day that they are at camp and not school and their precious cool image doesn't matter; encouraging them to be themselves and enjoy being children whilst they still can. We have many conversations with campers worrying about fitting in, and we remind them, they don't have to fit into a place where they already belong.

Almost every week, I receive at least one email from a former camper saying something like this: ''First, I want to say how much I have loved every minute spent at Camp Waukeela. It is such a special place and so much a part of who I am today. I will cherish all of my memories and be forever grateful of what I’ve learned, how it’s changed me for the better, the friendships I have formed and all the once-in-a-lifetime experiences.'' This was received just this past week and shows that Waukeela really is a special place to spend a childhood growing up there. Thank you again for trusting Gill, our wonderful senior staff and me with your precious children year after year.

For the love of camp

Graham & Gill

PS - if you know someone who is struggling with their child's behaviour or attitude, please forward this newsletter and give them some food for thought.