Five on Friday: Advice for Sleep-Away Camp

After never having attended sleep-away camp, two summers of no day camp and a last-minute COVID exposure scare . . .  our youngest is OFF for a very long two weeks away in upstate New York.

Luckily she's with three good pals from home, who we took the ride up to the Adirondacks with (and two moms, in two cars). In the last leg of the ride, the Mom I was riding with felt the need to come up with as much advice as possible. I began laughing and taking notes . . . now I need to send her a thank you for basically writing this week's post for me.

1. Mom: Let's see, let's see, what do I need to advise you on? Let's review the four choking foods. They are hot dogs, carrots, grapes and . . . I forget. 

2. Mom: Speaking of food--please, please remember to eat protein at every meal.

12-year-old daughter:  . . . that's what she said.

Mom: HONEY! That is not even the right context!

3. Daughter (to my daughter): I'm going to teach you how to gamble.

Mom: Did you remember to pack the deck of cards?

4. Mom: Do you remember how to make shadow animals with the flashlight?

Daughter: Why . . .  is that a requirement?

 
5. Mom: (after a story about her own camp experience) So my advice is, if you pee on a bench, get creative.

BONUS:

At the last gas station stop mere miles from camp, one of the girls from the other car asked to take her Mom's picture with her Instax (it's like a Polaroid but you don't have to shake it!). She said she'd like to have it at camp.

Mom that I was riding with: (to her daughter) Do you want my picture, too?

Her daughter: (immediately) No.

My daughter was suspiciously non-committal about it, so we took two. After resisting the urge to shake them, I snuck them in the girls' bags.