CampNation 8 – Family Life
April 12, 2010 by Travis Allison
Filed under Kitchen Sink, Podcast
Welcome to CampNation 8. We were sorry to miss Dan this week but he was off on a well-deserved holiday. This was one of my favourite discussions yet. We talked about what it is like to be a camp director and have a family. Each of us have had a unique experience – Gab grew up living at the camp, Joe has been raising his children onsite and I met and married my wife at camp (I heartily endorse camp weddings!).
Thanks for Listening!
Links - News about the camping/recreation industry
- New ways to run programs at camp to introduce immigrant populations
- CampTweets.com
- The Marshmellow Test
Discussion – Family Life at Camp
Picks Of The Week – A tool that will make you a better camp director
- Gab: How to download video from the internet using realplayer 11
- Joe: Google Apps for your camp email, documents and shared calendars
- Travis: Scheduleonce for Google Apps
Congrats on a great episode! The topic of this episode is close to my heart. I spent the first 17 summers of my life at camp. My parents were directors, and I was what was referred to as a “staff kid”, so I can easily identify with Gab. And Travis, I have much in common with you in that I also met my wife in camp.
Gab offers useful advice for parents who work at camp in her suggestion that they should remember to do ordinary things for their children, even if they see them everyday. The examples of sending them letters and care packages through the mail is so true. I remember on visiting day, my grandparents would come to visit me, and I felt good that I too had people visiting me at camp, even though my parents already worked there.
Travis, you are welcome for the interviews, and thank you for the shout out at the end of the episode.
I wrote a blog post last year about my childhood and family in camp and how it led me to find my truth, and my true love. I would like to share it with the listeners of this episode, it seems appropriate….http://www.pathtorhythm.com/adams-camp-story-of-the-century/
Keep up the good work here at CampNation!
There is some great conversations starting here in the comments sections of http://campnation.ca. We're talking about being a family at camp here.
A listener has presented us with this conundrum: He is a camp director and his wife is not. They struggle every summer to find a balance in their relationship that works for them both.
“I work at overnight camp and my wife comes to stay with me on her days off from work. We long ago agreed that our 3 children would benefit greatly if they were to spend their summers with me at camp. Our house is only about an hour drive from camp. My wife misses the family terribly and comes to camp to be with me. Every time she comes to visit, she is very disappointed by the amount of time that we get to spend together. As you know, camp takes precedence over our visiting time. When I finally have a day off, I feel stressed because I need some “down time” and as much as I love my wife, don't want to have to entertain her (since she's been mostly waiting around for me to be off). Would love to hear the groups' insights on juggling the non-camp partner relationship within the confines of camp.”
Faithful Listeners: How would you suggest this camp person finds some family balance?
Dear listener:
I know that this is a big conundrum… I've seen it happen to lots of camp people (it's, in fact, similar to Gab's situation in terms of proximity to camp).
I have 2 thoughts:
- have you had any success in talking about this with her? I wonder about taking the time now, before the insanity, to just let her know that you know that it's frustrating for her. If she understands how hard it is for you, too, it might help.
- will your wife get involved at camp? For the last 2 summers I was that non-camp spouse. My wife was still directing and I was the visitor. I found it hard (partly because I was frustrated with not having a proper place and from not being one of the leaders anymore) to not have something to do related to camp. I learned that I was much more happy once I began to think of myself as a resource to counsellors (not just an outside visitor) and I took the time to talk things over with them. My friend was the cook for us for a lot of years and her husband would spend work days with the kids but days off with her. They had to set aside time (as hard as it may have been for her) to do special things together, including adult only time (usually dinners with my wife and I). Greg would also take on little projects for me (painting something, some wood work) and I think that helped him feel a part of things.
Dan, Gab, Joe?