We just picked up our son from wonderful all boys summer camp on Squam Lake (On Golden Pond), he had just spent the summer totally unplugged except for the weekly movie night, hiking, swimming, sailing, canoeing, shooting arrows, camping, playing sports, learning new things etc etc.
He has been going to this camp for years and we’ve been watching him grow into a well rounded, strong (in character and strength) young man under such a wonderful, caring environment that totally understand what young boys need – plenty of stimulation and plenty of opportunity to blow off some energy.
Kind of the opposite of the school environment where such natural behavior is not welcomed.
Sitting on the grass after the swimming and canoeing races, I got to overhear this exchange between father and son:
Young Camper: “So Dad what happened in the world while I’ve been away these six weeks?”
Dad puts down his cell phone for a moment and says “Umm well this one football player punched another one in the locker room and now he is kicked off the team.”
I could see in the kid’s eyes that this was a big fail. I think in that little exchange it dawned on the kid that summer camp was over and he would soon be returning to a world where the most important thing was sports scores.
With all of the amazing things this kid had discovered about himself, all of the challenges of learning to like strange foods, going on overnight camp fires and finding the strength to push through a blister, to get along with 16 other boys in a cabin, to work with boys and councilors of various ages, to try new things….the most important thing his dad could report to him was that some overgrown kid getting paid obsessed amounts to play a game can’t even control himself.
The above photograph of sunrise of Squam Lake (On Golden Pond) was taken by my son when their whole cabin decided to get up at 3 am to watch the sunrise over the waterfront area of their camp. Kids can teach us a lot about what is important in the world.