Summer is almost here, and many parents will soon send their kids off to camp. But what happens when it’s time to communicate?
Since many camps don’t allow children to use digital devices, families must put pen to paper and exchange letters — which isn’t always easy for those accustomed to zipping off text messages.
“You really have to think about what you are writing,” Hugh Haller, chief executive of the Camping and Education Foundation, told the Associated Press recently.
Haller says when writing letters to campers, parents should stick to anecdotes about their day — but don’t say you’re having fun.
“My daughter has told us she does not like hearing about the good times she might be missing,” said Denise Wilson, a Brooklyn mother of two seasoned campers.
Parents also are encouraged to not overreact when they receive letters from homesick youngsters.
The administrator of a boys’ camp in New Hampshire recalled a first-time camper who wrote home to his parents: “I don’t want you to lie, but can you just call camp and tell them someone died and you need to come get me?”
The parents didn’t, and the boy ended up attending camp each summer for the next four years.