The camp Experience

February 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Due to a recent family emergency I reached out to my blogger friends for help with this post. Please welcome a guest post from one of the writers/owners of Mommy Matter

When I think back to camps, I think of tents soaking wet and the rain never ending. It seemed to happen every single time, and it never stopped us from wanting to go back for more. Camping was something as a child we didn’t do too often, but when we did it was the most exciting thing around.

Now a days, camps are much more civilized then they were when we were young. Seems just about every camp has Wifi somewhere, and the bathrooms actually flush! That alone is a huge step to modernization compared to what we experienced as kids.

Camps back in the day were truly adventurous. You roughed it in the bush with your friends, building huge fires, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows without a worry in the world. If you were one of the lucky ones, you even got to make shmores. Of course, by morning you’d wake up in a puddle of water and have to start the drying out process all over again since apparently it rained the entire time you slept, and that leak is still there that you thought you got fixed the morning before.

As a kid, going to camp was the best thing since glazed donuts and Slurpee’s. The ability to escape from the wrath of your parents to the wonders of the forest with those long lost friends. Camp was the place you looked forward to throughout the winter months, and the place you knew you were going to get a lot of scrapes and bruises without Mom fussing that they might get infected.
Now as an adult, and with two kids of my own, I look forward to the days where my children get to escape from home and spend some well deserved time out in the bush. The camps now a days are a lot more education orientated and the adventures they’ll experience are astounding. Makes me think of the adventures we went on, where we just walked around in circles, but thought we were walking hundreds of miles into the middle of nowhere since everything of course looked completely different… or so I thought.
There are a lot of things in life a child should experience. Having the ability to go to camp is one I hope my children have the opportunity to try. With the forests being filled with so much the rural world isn’t full of anymore, there is a lesson around every tree stump and burrow that they would miss out on without camp. Standing at the side of a cliff, looking out at the big world full of adventure and possibilities is something no mind could forget.
One memory that sticks out the most from all the camps I attended is the relationships developed. There is nothing like making a new friend at camp that you look forward to seeing each and every year. With there being minimal distractions out in the forest, friendships grow strong. You learn to trust others since they are your key to survival in the wilderness, even though you have a trunk full of food and matches to get those fires going, at 8 years old you don’t know that!
Camp is a memory I’ll never let go of, and something I’ll tell my children all about when they are older. There is nothing like an adventure out at camp that won’t stick with you for life.

Looking for a March Break or Summer Camp for your child? 

Don’t miss Canada’s Largest Camp Expo!
February 26, 2012, 12:00 to 4:00pm, Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto
• Find top March Break, Summer and Holiday Camps for kids and teens
• Attend free information seminars to help you choose and prepare for camp
• Learn about charities, discounts, bursaries and tax credits for camp.

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Filed Under: Family, guest post, summer

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