After 25 summers at Twin Creeks, I keep coming back to a similar question every fall:
Why wouldn’t you choose camp?
Not, “Why camp?”
I want to think we’ve more than answered that question.
It’s more like: What’s the alternative?
What else gives kids this kind of independence in two weeks?
What else gives parents the chance to practice the kind of trust needed when they’re 18 and calling you from college at 2 AM?
I’ve spent a quarter-century watching this happen. The choice feels so obvious to me. But maybe that’s because I see it work every single day.
What Camp Gives Your Child
Beyond Their Zip Code
A kid from Bethesda bunks in the Hill cabins with someone from somewhere other than Bethesda. They’re sharing campsite stories with a counselor from Scotland and a fellow camper from Paris.
They discover that not every family spends August driving between tournaments.
At our alumni reunion, I named 100 people by sight (humble brag). You know what I realized? Half of them met their best friends here.
Real Disconnection (The Good Kind)
No cell service. Not just no phones. Literally no signal.
We’re in the National Quiet Zone next to that giant telescope, so your kid couldn’t IG a photo of their breakfast even if they wanted to.
I might not understand every social media app out there, but I know what happens when kids put devices down for real.
They remember how to be bored for five minutes without reaching for a screen. They have conversations at the Gaga pit that last an hour.
Identity Without an Audience
One of our campers said it perfectly:
“At home, I wear makeup because I have to. Here, I don’t. I can just be me.”
Camp doesn’t mean being different.
It means being the version of yourself that gets to sign up for Theater or Nart (That’s Nature Art and I think we need to trademark the name) without thinking if it “looks cool”.
It means earning a fuzzy for being the kid who removes a couple of bugs in cabins so others don’t have to.
True Peace
When our CITs give their final speeches and say camp is where they feel happiest, I think: what’s happening the other 50 weeks?
Here they’re valued for helping someone across the rope bridge, not for their GPA.
What Camp Gives You
Practice in Real Letting Go
You drop them off at the buses, and for two weeks, you can’t solve their friendship drama from your minivan. You can’t remind them about sunscreen.
And Guess what? They figure it out anyway.
Pretty amazing what kids are capable of when they get the chance to show it. And a reminder of how great of a job you’re doing literally all the time.
Trust You Already Use
We already trust other people to care for our children every day.
Teachers, coaches, babysitters, relatives. Camp operates on that same principle of trust, just extended over two weeks.
The difference is scale and attention. We know every camper’s name, see them at every meal, and watch them grow over the session.
We see them at breakfast in the dining hall, building carnival booths in Arts & Crafts, and getting their Polar Bear Club hot chocolate at 7 AM.
Your Own Growth
Amy always says this space is as good for parents as kids. She’s right.
You remember who you are when you’re not managing someone else’s schedule.
You trust that foundation you built at home is strong enough to hold them up from West Virginia.
The Investment Reality
Yup, camp costs money. I’m not going to stand here in my cow costume (yes, it’s real) and pretend otherwise.
But I firmly believe this: two weeks at camp (any camp!) shapes the other 50 weeks.
Come home knowing they can handle just about anything and be valued for who they are.
It’s an investment in your kid’s belief that they can figure things out.
The Simple Truth
After 25 summers, I’m still asking the same question:
Why wouldn’t you choose camp?
We give them two weeks to practice growing up while still being kids. Two weeks to discover what they’re capable of when surrounded by people who see the best in them.
They cross that rope bridge as one person and leave as someone who knows they can handle whatever comes next.
You don’t need reasons to choose camp.
You just need to stop looking for reasons not to.
Best wishes,
Iain
