I recently viewed a video clip showing campers at a popular boys’ camp expressing significant distress and crying as they prepared to depart for the end of the season. While I understand that camp is a place where strong bonds are formed and that it is natural for children to feel a sense of loss when leaving a positive environment, I am concerned about the intensity of the emotions being displayed and the role the staff plays in shaping them.
It is difficult to escape the conclusion that these kids were actively encouraged by staff members to engage in these heavy, public displays of grief. From a chinuch perspective, I have been reflecting on whether this is the ideal message we want to be instilling in our children.
Wouldn’t proper chinuch be to teach the boys that while we had a wonderful time at camp, it is now time to transition with excitement and maturity back to their primary focus: their year-round Torah study and their obligations at home?
When we place such heavy emphasis on the “loss” of camp, we risk inadvertently framing the rest of the year—and our daily responsibilities—as a secondary “waiting period” rather than the true arena of personal and spiritual growth. Our educational approach should foster emotional resilience and help children take the warmth and inspiration they found in the summer and channel it directly into their winter routines, rather than leaving them overwhelmed by separation anxiety.
Sincerely,
A Grandmother in Lakewood
The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
6 Responses
Lol, what?
This is the type of question that should be asked to the yated “chinuch roundtable” not a mailbag in YWN
Thanks GIL for your letter.
It is sad if kids feel that. We should try to improve the rest of their year, so they enjoy it more and don’t yearn for camp as much.
What if it was a girls camp. Would extreme emotions be appropriate? Are you more upset about the gender reversal of our generation?
“It is difficult to escape the conclusion that these kids were actively encouraged by staff members to engage in these heavy, public displays of grief.”
Not sure where you got to this conclusion. Children love camp and are sad to leave. It’s a lot of fun, they get to be independent and enjoy themselves without having to think about school or real life at home. Not sure who would be encouraging them to be sad besides themselves
Maybe they’re only crying because their summer was cut short to the middle of August this year