This is a draft of a letter I wrote to our family campers a few years back…I just came across it and thought it was blog-worthy. Just some heady thoughts on why people come to family camp as a vacation.

When was the last time you labeled a specific vacation you took as “important”?

It struck me today when I looked in my inbox. Two responses to an e-mail I had sent out earlier in the day. My message to them: This is the week you are registered to attend our Family Camp next summer and this is how much you owe. The responses back varied. One wished me congratulations on my wedding, both said they were excited to see us next summer. One word struck me as interesting, however. Both used the word “important”. Paul and Gerriane C. said, “thank you Dave, you and everyone else have made it a special and important place for us.” Pat and Cindy B. wrote, “Thanks for making it such a wonderful place that has become an important part of our lives.”

Maybe other Family Campers have used this term to describe their time at Medomak and I just didn’t notice. Camp people are notorious for their superlatives describing their camps. “Awesome”, “Amazing”, “Best summer of my life” say many a 9 year old camper. And so often in reading evaluations what you are really looking for are negative comments about things you ought to improve or correct. So maybe “important” got lost in the many words of praise and today, it was the two e-mails (one right after the other) that made me think.

Family vacations are important. Time off from work and school, the rare opportunity for every member of the family to spend time together, rejuvenation and relaxation are why we cherish our family vacations. But think about it for one second. When was the last time you took a vacation and the actual place, the actual activity was what you found important? I think the fact that many families are always looking for something new to do speaks to the fact that it often isn’t the place or the activity, but the block of time that is important.

So consider that the families that return to our Family Camp year after year are coming back because the camp is important to them. Not just the valuable chunk of time, but the actual thing they are doing.

I can’t tell you why these families consider their time at our camp important. We don’t engage in family counseling or therapy. We are not experts in family studies. Programming isn’t specially designed to be of benefit for families per se. We are simply a summer camp that caters to families. And while we certainly have families ourselves and pay attention to what other families want, like and need in a vacation, this is the extent of the influence in our programming. We started a summer camp as adults because we liked summer camp as children and figured that other families might like it, too. Not only were we right, but we found out what children’s camps have known and have harnessed since the beginning: camp is important to people that have experienced it. It plays an important role in their up-bringing and their identity.

In some ways, this sounds like therapy. And while some may find Medomak therapeutic, I can assure you that no group sessions are taking place. No trained psychologists or social workers are on staff. Just people that love summer camp and like to see others have a good time.

Advice on Family Camps from a Family Camp Director