Celebrating Each Child's Uniqueness -- Camp-style!
Wightman campers are loved for being children of God and for who they are as individuals. Our staff and volunteers accept each child and teen where they are and look for ways to encourage them to contribute to our community in their own unique way. Summer camp is a great place “to be known.” Spending a week (or more) sleeping and eating with 6 or 7 others, with a friendly, competent cool adult leader, learning and doing incredibly fun activities, allows for great friendships to be formed. These friendships have the potential to last a lifetime and create the support network we all need outside of our own family.
Sometimes parents send siblings to camp together. Quite often this is for the benefit of the younger child - it is their first time away or they are attached to their older sibling; other times it is for the benefit of the parent - they worry about “the baby” going it alone or perhaps they relish the idea of a quiet house for a few days with no carpooling or bedtime arguments. We have not seen a situation yet where it was done to benefit the older child - most of these young people are eager to spend some time away from their younger siblings and the responsibilities of “looking out” for them.
Parents of “onlies” worry more about whether their child will fit in and should they bring a friend to camp or follow a friend to their program. These children generally flourish at camp, free from being the center of their parent’s universe and able to stretch their wings without feeling as if they will hurt a parent’s feelings or make their parents nostalgic for when they were a baby.
Whatever you choose - siblings in camp the same week but different programs, siblings in the same program, siblings in different weeks, single child in camp with a friend, single child in camp on their own - know that we will cherish each child as God’s image bearer and a unique individual, help them to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ, and encourage them in their own personal faith journey. We hope your family will count on Camp Wightman to be
Sometimes parents send siblings to camp together. Quite often this is for the benefit of the younger child - it is their first time away or they are attached to their older sibling; other times it is for the benefit of the parent - they worry about “the baby” going it alone or perhaps they relish the idea of a quiet house for a few days with no carpooling or bedtime arguments. We have not seen a situation yet where it was done to benefit the older child - most of these young people are eager to spend some time away from their younger siblings and the responsibilities of “looking out” for them.
Parents of “onlies” worry more about whether their child will fit in and should they bring a friend to camp or follow a friend to their program. These children generally flourish at camp, free from being the center of their parent’s universe and able to stretch their wings without feeling as if they will hurt a parent’s feelings or make their parents nostalgic for when they were a baby.
Whatever you choose - siblings in camp the same week but different programs, siblings in the same program, siblings in different weeks, single child in camp with a friend, single child in camp on their own - know that we will cherish each child as God’s image bearer and a unique individual, help them to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ, and encourage them in their own personal faith journey. We hope your family will count on Camp Wightman to be
- a tool you use to help your child know Jesus,
- a place where your child will develop their own faith and learn how important it is to be involved in their church back home, and
- an experience your child cannot grow up without.
Assorted additional resources that you might find helpful (just click on the title):
- Camp Squared? Deciding if camp should be a sibling experience
- Because of Camp
- Dr. Chris Thurber’s Letter on Closing Day
- Life on the Raggedy Edge Blog Post: little Grown Up
- Working with Sibling Rivalry
- Extrovert or Introvert: You and Your Child
- Stress Busters for Kids
- Overparenting Anonymous: A 26-step program for those who feel powerless over overindulgence, overprotection, overscheduling and expectations of perfection.
- The Dark Side of Parental Devotion by Dr. Wendy Mogel. Wendy is an internationally acclaimed clinical psychologist, parenting expert and the author of the New York Times bestselling parenting book,The Blessing of a Skinned Knee. And her follow-up, The Blessing of a B Minus, is about raising teenagers. These books are amazing!