When the first child went to camp, I contacted as many people as I could to send him letters. In return, I asked for just one simple postcard telling me that he was having a good time. I supplied the postcard, I addressed it, and I even added the stamp. All he had to do was write a simple sentence or two.
But camp came and went with nothing.
The next year two boys went to camp. I tried again with the same tactics. But when they came home, my pre-addressed and stamped post cards were right where I packed them, next to all the clean clothing that was never worn.
The next year I tried a new plan. First, I promised to pay them for every outfit worn at camp; no more coming home with all clean clothes. That worked. They either put on clean clothes everyday or they spent the last morning pushing all their clothes around in the dirt. Second, I provided them with pre-addressed, stamped and almost-all-written letters.
Dear Mom,
Camp is ____________. Today we ____________. It was ___________. The best part about camp is _____________.
Love, ___________
All they had to do was fill in the blanks. Still nothing. I should have filled in the blanks and put the letters in the mail myself. I could have pretended that it came from the child away at camp.
I gave up that year. Never again did I include postcards or envelopes in their camp gear.
But wonder of wonders, look what came in the mail this year -
Of course she did spend most of her letter tattling on her younger sister who was also at camp, and the rest of the letter discussing campers with a sense of entitlement (yes, she used that word) and the non-camp items they brought with them. But she sent me a letter! I didn't provide her with an envelope and I didn't give her a stamp. In fact, she had to use her own canteen money to purchase the stamp herself.
She loves me!
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