Letters to Kids at Camp

What to say, what to say?

A letter is practically a gift.
—Vigdis Hjorth

I hated camp. My family didn’t do a lot of outdoorsy things apart from Ricky and me occasionally setting up a pup tent in the backyard, so the whole concept of going off and living in nature with a bunch of pre-pubsecent girls was alien to me. I already was an outsider, shy around strangers, especially when they ran in groups.  

I wrote letters home about how miserable I was. But I didn’t send any of them. A week later, safe back home, I handed them over to my parents in person. I still remember how their faces fell as they read. Until that moment, swear to God, it had not occurred to me how bad my letters would make them feel.

Further, my only children (to date) are the approximately 27 felines who have swanned through my life, and none of them cottoned to camp either. So when a friend who has a multitude of kids in her life suggested I write an issue on letters to kids in camp, I thought, great! I wonder how you do that?

Turns out—surprise!—there are plenty of answers on the Internet.

I wish that as a kid I’d read this bit of advice from Camp Kodiak all those years ago:

If you talk about how much you miss them and how empty the house feels without them, it may cause them to feel guilty about being away.

The site also emphasizes how important it is to reiterate that the child is loved and suggests that daily short notes are better than infrequent long ones. And—humans being human—“a small care package always makes a camper smile.”

Camp Kodiak also offers terrific prompts to get you started on personal letters that sound like you, not some generic Parent. A few of them:

“I can’t wait to hear about…” Ask about their friends, favorite meals, or preferred activities.

That has the added benefit of giving your kid ideas for what to say when they write back (other than, say, whining about how miserable they are).

“It’s boring at home…”

I love this one. Describe ordinary, day-to-day activities that your kid will be glad to be missing out on. Don’t describe a vacation you’re taking—unless it’s one your kid would hate. (“I’m telling you, Ralph, those lectures on recurring thematic leitmotifs in Shakespeare’s tragedies were not to be missed! After the workshop, we all went to a tea-tasting event that exhibited lacemaking advances in the early 19th century.”)

“Knock knock…”

This one prompted an I-coulda-had-a-V8 slap on the head for me. Great idea—if you can remember any. (My best friend Marion told me my very first knock-knock joke when we were in first? second? grade. “Knock knock who’s there? Orange. Orange who? Knock knock who’s there? Orang. Orange who? Knock knock… etc., until: Orange you glad I didn’t say orange?” Hey, no charge; you’re welcome.)

The site offers more prompts, so check it out.

Sunshine Parenting provides “five fun ideas for letters to campers.” Much as I dislike the use of “fun” as an adjective, I have to admit that the ideas are indeed…groovy. And practical.

Provide a small return postcard with something like, “The fun things I could be doing right now instead of writing home:” and provide three blank spaces. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Ideally, your camper will take 60 seconds from their fun to complete the blanks and send it back! However, I offer no guarantees.

That last sentence attests to the author’s bona fides as a parent.

Write a letter from a pet or favorite toy.

This strikes me as a great prompt for a creative writer, too. (What’s the house look like from your dog’s point of view? What does she see, hear, touch, taste, and—especially—smell?) I love the inclusion of inanimate items in this site’s suggestion—a blanket, a skateboard, a bike.

The other three suggestions are equally creative, so do check it out. The site also offers great additional advice, resources, and suggestions—plus a link to a blog dedicated to letter writing. See below.

Letters to Camp provides lots of ideas and multiple pages with even more, and more specific, ideas. The author runs through detailed expansions on and examples of five core elements to include in your letter:

1. Say hello
2. Ask questions
3. Share the latest “news”
4. Tell a joke or share something special
5. Encourage your camper

Regarding number three above, again, the blogger advises to take care not to describe activities your child will be sorry to have missed:

Campers want to know what’s happening at home. Which is funny since there’s usually a whole lot less going on at home than at camp. Go light on activities your camper might regret missing like baseball games or water/amusement park outings.

The site also offers links to other sites, including Not-So-Obvious Letter Ideas and a site that offers joke-a-day jokes and links to more daily jokes, including a list of categorized topics. I found those sites busy and ugly and didn’t find the jokes particularly funny, but maybe that’s just me.

Finally, the “Mom. Wife. Busy Life.” site gives advice right from the horse’s mouth; here’s the letters-to-camp page. The site has a lot of busy popups but nice graphics, and it offers examples.

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P.S. In my last issue, I asked you for feedback about Well Worded and votes for most (or least) liked issues. Thanks to those who voted and for your great ideas. (Thanks, Anita, for the topic for this very issue. You get a free smile from Kansas.)

I was especially moved by the arrival of a couple of postcards from Well Worded members this past week. What a surprise! And now I can attest further, based on direct experience, to what a lovely treat it is to receive a postcard. Try writing them, y’all; maybe your butterfly will elicit a response.

Votes for favorite topics varied. One reader says:

Email vs. letters pushed me to reach out to several Covid-lost friends and contacts by writing a good, old-fashioned letter re-introducing myself, and I was delighted when many of them responded in kind! I had long forgotten the thrill of receiving a handwritten letter. Thank you for that.

Another says she likes all the topics (gee, I’m blushing), but tells this droll story about one of them:

Here’s the best post card I ever found in an antique store in Illinois. I can’t remember the picture on the front, but this is what was written on the back: “I told you she was pregnant.” The postmark date was 1948.

Postcards drew a memory from another reader:

This reminds me of the postcards I collected and sent when my brother and I were on a trip around the world … I still have some of the postcards.

This topic also culled a comment here on the Well Worded page:

Your post inspired me to send four postcards today.

Yippee! Hilary also notes in her comment that she sends postcards and letters often. Not surprisingly, Hilary is, like me, a writer with a newsletter on SubStack.

Also in the comments section, Brian says:

My favorite, so far, was “love letters.”

I’m beyond pleased that Brian bore his romantic soul to our little Internet gang.

In a lovely long comment, Jodie says that although she has enjoyed each issue (another blush), as a retired English teacher, a mama, and a new step-grandma,

Those that speak to me the most deal with encouraging children to read and write. If I must choose one post, I would select Teach Your Children. I run into many of my former students, and one of them, much to my delight, wrote and published a collection of poetry. He was so excited to tell me about it and to thank me for opening up the world of poetry to him.

Thanks to those who took the time to comment and vote. I hope to hear from more of you, but in the meantime, have a swell day.

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Lagniappe: Below, a poetic offering from my late, great Aunt Jane:

Pippa’s Song

Chorus: Mayhem! Chaos!
Run across the furniture!
Mayhem! Chaos!
Chew up all the rubber bands!

Verse: I can make a holy mess
And jump up on the window sill.
I can tear a corner off
Of anything you value, even
Paper bags and newspapers
And books and plants and rugs on steps.
I can climb the pretty drapes
And eat up all the evil bugs.

Chorus: Mayhem! Chaos!
Run across the furniture!
Mayhem! Chaos!
Chew up all the rubber bands!

Recitative: For example,
I am mightier
Than any other who comes before me.
I claim the crane fly,
And the dismal cockroach,
And the small dark spider in the bathroom.
And I destroy them.

Do not question my power.

Verse: I am mightier than you
Or any other cat nearby.
I can make them all go way
By grumbling by the windowpane
Or in the grass or at the mirror or
Anywhere a face appears.
(Except the barking in the yard
I haven't figured that one out yet.)

Chorus: Mayhem! Chaos!
Run about the furniture!
Mayhem! Chaos!
Chew up all the rubber bands!

Finale: Chew up chew up chew up chew up
All the rub-ber-rub-ber-rub-ber
Rub-bur-uh-ber-uh-bur-uh-bur
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaands!!!!!!

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Extra Curriculum Lagniappe: Today is my brother Rick’s 70th birthday. It is a shocking but joyful thing. Those of you who know him who might want to send him a card or an email, please contact me directly for info on how to do so.