Shabbat-O-Gram: Week 5 2024
Dear families and friends,
On Thursday, I was playing gaga after dinner during Chofesh. After quickly getting out (I rarely make it more than a few seconds without getting hit in the leg with the ball!) I was standing outside the gaga pit talking with some campers by the hammocks. One of my favorite spots in camp, it’s where campers can often be found during free time talking with a few friends, or chilling with a book. Small groups of campers were lounging together, catching up on their days. To my left, a group of kids were deep in the swampy puddle next to the boat house, playing with frogs. Unaware there was anyone else around, they had created a whole world in the woods around this puddle, and could have stayed there with the frogs all night. Behind me a few groups of older campers were playing spike ball and cornhole, happily dancing around to the music playing across the Waterfront.
It’s moments like this that make a summer at camp. Big moments like the Color War Break or Casino Night (tonight!) are memorable because they break the script of every day, but it’s the normal of the daily camp routine that provides the backdrop for bonding and friendship. To be surrounded by peers without having to schedule, plan, or be driven somewhere, makes camp feel just like in Peter Pan, our camp musical this session. It’s no wonder campers are able to feel so relaxed and comfortable here. They don’t have to think about the stress of making plans, being invited to parties, or being called for playdates for a whole month.
We’re just a week in, and already it’s like campers have been here all summer (not just our 7 weekers!). That’s what makes that view of Chofesh so surreal. Take that scene from the Waterfront and pull it out of camp and put it anywhere else, and it would look so different. The laughing and easy conversation would be replaced with texting and scrolling. Not to demonize cell phones, but I’ve recently read ‘The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness’ by Jonathan Haidt (highly recommended), and life is pretty awesome for a few weeks here without them. In the first few days of the session, you can see the stress and discomfort kids experience as they go through phone withdrawal. Now, a week in, they don’t even reach for them anymore. They’re not searching for another distraction to look down at as we see in the first few days. It’s not just the older kids missing their own phones; younger campers comment on how refreshing it is to talk to grownups who are fully present when they’re talking, and aren’t multi-tasking with their devices at the same time. Campers – especially teens – say how freeing it is to not be tethered to it. It’s one of the parts of being at camp that’s become the hardest for older campers, and is a reason we hear that kids choose not to do overnight camp these days. It’s such a shame, because there’s no better place for them to be unplugged before returning to a new school year.
Last Sunday, after an amazing Camp Talent Show Saturday night, Chalutzim hit the road and headed to Vermont for the first trip of the session, while everyone else started their first cycle of electives. Camp was hopping as every area was full of campers excited to jump in. At outdoor cooking campers were picking herbs and vegetables from the garden and taking eggs from the chickens at the Farm for their recipes, and in ceramics, campers learned how to throw on the wheel. At Upper Fields, the staff introduced a new elective that was super popular this week called Sports Variety Pack, for kids to sample a few different sports rather than just pick one. At gymnastics and dance, campers were starting to learn routines for the upcoming Gym and Dance Show, and at the Waterfront, tons of campers had their first turn tubing, water skiing, or wakeboarding. Campers in fitness were running all over camp, and the mountain bikers headed out of camp for their first road ride, in preparation to go off-road next. In A&C, all sorts of projects were underway, including tie-dye, sculpting, ceramics, and street signs. Campers taking guitar, drumming, and ukulele lessons practiced in preparation to play for Shabbat, and it was such a special added touch to have campers from the drumming elective lined up along Shabbat Walk last night, setting the tone to start Shabbat.
Yesterday, we hosted our first home game of the session, as our campers were victorious against Forest Acres for GIrls in 10 and under Kickball. We heard we were the most welcoming camp and showed the best sportsmanship of any camps they’ve played so far this summer. What an awesome compliment!
Bogrim chose ‘Contentment’ for their Shabbat theme this week, and last night we heard from some Bogrim campers in their creative expressions at services talk about what being content means to them, and why it’s so important to to appreciate what you have, without feeling like ‘the grass is always greener’ somewhere else. We heard from Frankie, Jessica, and Danielle as they shared why living in the moment and appreciating the people around them is so important, and how at camp they are so grateful to be surrounded by friends and counselors who are so loving and supportive. As Jessica, a first-time Bogrim camper shared, “living in the moment and feeling content not only makes you stronger on the inside, but it helps you make stronger connections to people around you, and then you can make new friends along the way.” Well said, Jessica.
Here’s to a week of feeling content with ourselves, and appreciating where we are and who we’re with. I’m so grateful to be here at Camp Kingswood with all your kids, and I couldn’t imagine spending this next week anywhere else. 🙂
Shabbat shalom,
