Why Watermelon Seeds Matter
This week we have been on the road hosting our Camp Parties. These gathering are great because they give a chance to reconnect with existing families and share the Huawni Story with campers and parents looking at overnight summer camp for the first time. Many you also saw where we hosted a couple of coffee meet ups with parents, with hopes of better understanding why parents send their kids to Camp Huawni. Here is what we learned.
Parents want their kids to experience something different, and even a be a bit uncomfortable.
One Huawni mom said that she loves that her kids experience a completely different environment. Open-air cabins in the Pineywoods are a good change from living at home in the air-conditioner 24/7. She went on to say, “If my kids went to camp and experienced the same comfortable bed in the same air-conditioned environment, I might as well not send them to camp.” She said that getting them out of their comfort zone is what helps them grow each summer.
Camp friendships blossom even in non-summer months.
After overnight summer camp ends, the friendships just begin. For one camper’s birthday, she drove with her mom from Shreveport, picked up their cabin mate in East Texas, picked up their other cabin mate in Fort Worth, and then spent the day together. This seems to happen a lot, and the bonds of camp continue well into the school year. This likely explains why 87% of our two-week campers are already signed up for this upcoming summer— they want to reunite with their counselors and friends.
It can help to meet up with another camp family before camp
A pivotal step for some parents was driving half-way to meet a nearby Huawni Family before going off to overnight summer camp for the first time. This helped calm the nerves of campers and got them excited for the summer to come.
Two weeks goes by faster than one
After going to a one-week overnight summer camp session for two years, one girl camper finally switched to a two-week session. After that third summer, she said that two weeks seemed faster than one. Her mom seemed to think that this was the case because of how comfortable her daughter felt after being at camp for one week.
Kids go to play basketball, not to basketball practice
“I love that at camp my kids can go play basketball, not necessarily go to basketball practice.” This was a key insight, as it seems that at overnight summer camp kids enjoy choosing activities that they enjoy, and the game is focused on having fun versus becoming a better athlete.
Watermelon seeds matter
Finally, we learned that watermelon seeds are preferred. Why so? At Camp Huawni, kids are encouraged to get dirty in the mud. Thus, when you’re eating ice-cold watermelon after a day of hiking and mud fighting, you’re not concerned about dripping watermelon juice on your face or shirt. This leads to the utter joy of spitting your seeds on your brother, sister, or best friend. At home, mom or dad wouldn’t normally be too keen on you doing that in your kitchen! We realized that apparently this summer we had bought seedless watermelon at some point, which put a big dent in our watermelon seed spitting campers. Needless to say, we will make sure we don’t have any seedless watermelons this summer!
