A Breeze of a Day 1
Monday
Today was about as pleasant a day as I can remember at Camp Huawni in July.
This morning campers woke up with sweatshirts and long sleeves on because of the 65 degree low last night. I heard stories of campers having to wake up and turn their fans off so as not to freeze to death. Sleeping bags came in handy last night!
Before going to breakfast, campers headed up to Flagpole Hill to raise the flag and perform special music. Flag raising is a special time because all of camp is together, and directors and counselors are the instigators to a lot of laughter. This morning Pine Top sang their traditional “Birdie Song”, a tradition that has been passed down from one oldest girl campers’ group to another.
For breakfast we enjoyed biscuits, gravy, fruit and cereal. After that campers headed to their cabins for cabin cleanup and cabin inspection. Cabin inspection is maybe one of the most important times of the day because it’s campers’ first big opportunity to learn the value of a job well done. Each day cabins are inspected, and at the end of the session, the cleanest cabin wins a pizza party. Here at Camp that’s the equivalent to about $10,000!
This morning and afternoon kids went to their scheduled activities. I got a chance to visit canoes and tennis. At tennis, I saw a special thing happen. Siblings Cole and Claire E. teamed up during a tennis game called “champion”. They were duking it out with other talented tennis players, and they continued to win and defend their side of the court. In this moment I realized that camp was happening. Huawni is a place where many siblings grow closer together, and watching Cole and Claire team up was to me just a glimpse of the strong bond they’ve shared over the years going to camp together.
Right now kids are enjoying their free “after super” time. After supper free time is really neat; kids have unstructured time just to play with friends and counselors. Some kids just sit with others in quiet conversation. Some of the best talks happen during after supper time.
In 30 minutes or so we’ll crank up Capture the Flag on the Front Yard. It’s more than a capture the flag game, I promise. Counselors dress up in costumes and dance crazily around for pretty much most of the evening. After that we’ll have Sing Song at the pool.
Authenticity
One quality that we lift up at Camp is authenticity. We love when people are real. We’ve had much feedback from campers and parents about the fact that Camp Huawni is the one place they feel encouraged to be themselves. We preach authenticity to our staff also. So, in the spirit of authenticity, here’s a little inside camp scoop.
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We have a few homesick cases, but none that are out of the ordinary. Remember parents, homesickness is a huge growing opportunity for your child. I recommend reading a great book while your child is gone called Homesick & Happy . I was actually talking to one of our first-time camper parents during Session 2 about this book; she said that chapter 6, titled “OMG, I Love You!” was an amazing chapter. So, if you’re a parent who’s even homesick yourself, I encourage you to read this book.
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We are constantly giving and receiving feedback to and from our staff and directors while camp is in session. Doing so is one of the best ways to get better and learn quicker. If you’ve had experience running any type of organization, you know there is always conflict. As my mentor Chris White says, “conflict is good…if you choose it to be.” Today I received some constructive criticism and also gave some constructive criticism, all in the spirit of fulling our mission of LTKing (loving the kids). I appreciative for working in an environment of welcoming honesty. We are by no means perfect at doing this, but we’re getting better as a staff.
One of the things I love about our blog is that you parents can “reply” down below. I’d like to hear from you, either about how you’ve seen your child grow through homesickness or how you’ve learned to better yourself when conflict arises.
We’ll see you in the morning!
