Open Summer Camp – For MOMS!

May 24, 2020

IN RE: Parents Really Need a Break. But Is Summer Camp Too Risky? Sharon Otterman

Dear Editor,

As a mother and teacher who has worked in sleep-away camps for about a decade, I could not agree more with Bradley Solmsen. My fellow sleep-away camp retirees and I continue to keep in close touch and we are in agreement that while the temptation to send kids into the great outdoors — free from their restricted quarantine quarters, and endless Zoom classes — has never been more tempting, it has never been more risky.

We remember the summer of Swine Flu and other more routine calamities that plow through camp, as well as the lesser and more expected but no-less frightening health phenomena that camp staff is responsible to care for. Much of what goes on behind the scenes in service of  providing a safe and secure experience for children and staff is hardly publicized in glossy brochures.

To incur the additional responsibility and liability born of an uncharted pandemic is absurd. Yes, we want our children to have a return to normalcy, something we all crave.

That said, there is an extraordinary opportunity for camps to rethink and repurpose!

Open camp for MOMS.

We have been the universal antagonist and family police for almost four months now.

Stay home!

Wash your hands!

Do your homework!

Pick up that wet towel!

You are NOT ordering anything else from Amazon today!

Read a book!

It is midnight and the kitchen is closed!

Wash your hands!

No, you can’t go to your friend’s house! I don’t care what other mothers are allowing!

Put on a mask when you go outside!

Wash your hands!

Are you tired of being the bad guy? I know I am.  So. Very. Tired.

Between laundry (why the heck is there so much laundry when no one is going anywhere??) feeding my college-aged home bound kids, my middle-schooler, and my working from home 24-year-old, cleaning, shopping, which is akin to being a character in one of the constant video games my kids are playing (escape the home with an arsenal of masks, wipes, supplies — dodge the barrels and pitfalls — keep socially distant from those with no concept of personal space), working at our ACTUAL jobs from home, and just keeping it all together just to do it all again tomorrow…doesn’t just reading this make you tired?

Let’s open those camps for moms.  We know how to socially distance. We will happily share cooking, cleaning, and shopping responsibilities. We will kayak 10 feet apart, crochet masks, and carve beautiful woodshed signs with inspirational message like “Stay the *F* Away” and “Mom’s Busy,” and “No.” We will play Words with Friends on our iPads while staring at the willows by the lake. We will marvel at how the momma birds that nest in the trees outside our huts feed their young and then shove them out of the nests, ready or not. We will take spread apart power walks, and learn cool-ish dances and practice yoga and we will drink fancy cocktails as we talk about how, despite all the complaining, there will be an empty space in our hearts when our kids once again leave our homes, after the pandemic has flown the coop.

Jennifer Lanter

Artistic Director SHTARKcontrast

SHTARKcontrast is a non-profit theater company in Woodmere, NY

Jennifer Lanter is also a writer and High School English teacher, who worked as the Drama Director in summer camp for 15 summers.