Towering Pines Blog

Well, here we are. It is the last week of camp and some of you parents may see your children sooner than you’ll see this blog entry. I’m sure you and I are sharing some similar feelings of excitement, relief, and apprehension. It’s just that time of year. Soon, school will be starting again, the camp routine will be a memory and the challenges of the coming season will be upon us all. But first, some proper digestion of the events of the summer is in order.

The boys and I working on our team spirit. The big hobie requires a mutual understanding to stay upright.

This last week is team spirit week, which sounds like a buzz word, and it is. But it is phrase that captures a lot of the progress that is made at camp. We came here, perhaps outside our comfort zone, we gained a new perspective, we competed, we built trust and community, we learned about consequences and sportsmanship, and we got used to each other. Through all of this, we built an espirit de corps, a team spirit. It is the sense that we are, in fact, a community with shared interests and experiences. That feeling can do wonders for a child as they move forward into a new environment.

A boy needs to have a sense of belonging as they grow up and meet new challenges. I’d wager that a lot of the trouble a boy gets into can be traced to this need for camaraderie. This is why something like team spirit is so valuable. It gives children that sense of belonging and a constructive outlet for those feelings. So, even though camp is almost over and soon they will be back home watching T.V. or playing games or what-have-you (I know I’m looking forward to some loafing of my own…), the lessons they have learned here and the sense of belonging they have earned over the summer will buoy them through the coming year. This experience will help them to process everything else that is coming their way.

It’s the team spirit and sense of community that compels friends to lend their gopro cameras to hooligans like these.

I know it might get tedious to hear the same stories from camp, the same inside jokes, over and over again; but keep in mind that those memories are precious to your son. They are the threads in the flag of his espirit de corps, and they may just give him the confidence to grow in some very healthy and positive ways this year.