My kids are at overnight camp for the first time. This is not the first time I've sent children to overnight camp, but the first time at an all boys religious orthodox overnight camp in the Catskills. Apparently it is an extension of the NY Bungalow Colonies and culture. I did not get the memo. I chose this camp because 1) it was orthodox 2) it was all boys 3) it had a great facility and 4) it had a great website. I suppose that doesn't add up to much but I did interview the director and it has been around for 25 years so I figured it couldn't be all too bad. And truth be told, it is a pretty good camp. It's organized, has good food and good learning. In addition it has a great facility. It's just that once again I had some expectations. Darn those expectations! I was told that they select the best "benei torah" as their counselors. From what I can tell, my son's counselor has no idea on how to engage boys to do much of anything except getting them from point A to point B and he's having a hard time with that because they are wired into their electronics. Apparently all the boys brought their "DS" to camp. Silly me. I thought when it said, "no electronics" that it meant "no electronics." It seems that it said, "no DSI" but not "DS." Seriously?? So instead of the boys engaging with one another they disengage. When they are not "wired" they are learning, eating or being entertained. It also seems we are supposed to tip our counselors at the mid point of the session. Huh? That's like tipping your waiter after the soup. I'm trying to figure out exactly what I'm tipping for. In addition I did not receive the "bring hot kugel to your son weekly if not more often and dress up in your fanciest outfit when you show up." My husband went up for visiting day and he informed me that this was no "Camp Barney" (where I attended camp). At Camp Barney (when I attended from 1974-1979) I learned to make a "zero impact" camp fire. I learned to ride horses. I learned to swim and passed 4 levels under the American Red Cross. I learned to water ski. But most importantly I learned what it was like to live without television (no ds, ipad, iphone, iwhatever), without air conditioning and without mom and dad. No phone calls. No visiting day and...No hot kugel. When you enter Camp Barney it says, "every child makes himself known by his own doings." Enough said. Well there are great camps out there. I'm just not sure I have much time to find an all boys orthodox one. I'm sure at the end of the day, my boys have grown up a lot, but I really wish you parents would NOT send your kids to camp with their electronics. Really. They will be OK.
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