We held our second Nana Camp last week. Given how well it went (despite my husband and I being exhausted by Friday night), I think we’ll make it an annual event in the summer. Last year I wrote about
our first one in my post “Leadership lessons from nana camp”. The rules we agreed on (pictured in that post) hung on our refrigerator until a few months ago when my husband went on a purging spree. Good thing I have a record here so we could revisit and decide on new/revised rules for this year.
Two (ages 10 and 8) of the four grandkids had their first away/overnight camps this year having attended Girl Scout camp. So, they came to Nana Camp with a new perspective. My daughter suggested that the 10-year-old could be a Counselor in Training (CIT) when we were last together as a family on Father’s Day. I wasn’t quite ready for that but I’m a fan of delegation! Not sure what a CIT would mean for us but as a start that day, she wrote down the list of ideas for this year and what they liked from last year. That list of course was put on the refrigerator door. We used it at our camp “orientation” session Monday morning to plan and vote on activities for the week.
The other two (ages 8 and 7) have been to day camps that are mornings only and gotten used to making their own lunches at home while their parents work in their home offices. Love hearing that! Means they all are capable of it and that I could expect them to do more for themselves at breakfast and lunch.
Together on Monday we agreed on activities for the week and what the rules would be. We also talked about their lessons from last year – mainly not to have stupid fights about everything – who sits by who at dinner, who sits by who in the car, who gets the first shower, who walks which dog – you get it! And of course, they are one year older and that much more mature!
Here is this year’s complete list of rules – a slight variation on last year with few additions:
- Be kind
- Include others
- Respect other’s privacy
- Work out your own fights
- Clean up after yourself
- Let others sleep
- Healthy snacks before sweets
- Listen to Nana and Papa without arguing
- Take turns
Except for the sibling wrestling matches and the noise levels during “free time”, it was a great time together! “Field trips” included an Escape Room (we didn’t complete it but got close), the Patuxet Homesite and 17th-Century English Village at the Plimoth Patuxet Museums, and the zoo. There were art classes with Papa Tom which they loved (he took up watercolor painting during the pandemic).
We planned a surprise birthday party for their moms (my daughters) which included making cards in their art class and baking a birthday cake. I had hoped for swimming pool time at the end of each day for fun and to tire them out, but the weather only cooperated one of the days.
I had a custom 500-piece puzzle made with pictures from last year’s Nana Camp that they put together – who doesn’t like seeing themselves in pictures?? We had a storytelling deck of cards and a question deck of cards (e.g., tell about something new that you would like to do, tell about someone you admire and why, tell a story about a moment when you were nervous). They liked doing these during meals. Guaranteed to make them smarter, more creative, and more articulate??? After all we got the cards in the gift shop at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.
And together we walked the dogs each day with minimal bickering over who got to walk which dog.
The CIT role was whatever I came up with to get help during the week and she gladly assisted. She especially loved being the scribe at camp orientation and the party planning session.
My takeaways this year are kids are never too young to help with tasks at home, when they are old enough away camp is great for their independence, they love to learn new things, they have a pack mentality but also need 1-1 time, they have adapted to parents who work remote and give them the space and quiet needed, and they know how to vote and respect the outcome.
And if you ask my husband, are we up for next year when we’re a year older and they may be even more exhausting for us – he remined me that they’ll be a year older too and it will keep getting easier. Good point!
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Leadership lessons from nana camp