It’s Wonderful Having a Sibling at Camp
The winter months bring colder weather, shorter days, more indoor activities, and a lot more time together. Staying indoors can be comforting when the temperature drops, that is until the bickering between siblings starts. For those of us in a family with more than one child, there is bound to be sibling rivalry, especially when we have too much “togetherness” indoors. Competition and arguing between siblings is normal, but can be quite draining on the entire family.
Brothers and sisters will fight over just abou
t anything…whose turn it is on the computer, whose going to feed the dog, who got the bigger piece of cake, what channel to watch, and even whose breathing more air (just kidding on that one but you get my point). Parents step in and try to come up with effective ways to diffuse the problems, but the rivalry continues on.
Brothers and sisters may argue non-stop at home, but sibling rivalry often turns into a special connection at overnight camp. Maybe it’s the neutral territory, or being away from parents and on their own, but camp most definitely brings siblings together. Camp is a place to call their own. At camp, siblings are not looking for parent’s attention, or fighting for what they believe to be rightfully theirs.
At camp, siblings take care of one another in the absence of their parents and learn to appreciate each other a bit more.
Camp families often express how wonderful camp has been for their children’s relationship. In only a matter of weeks, siblings come
home from camp with shared memories and a strong bond between them. They talk about the camp shows, color war, waterskiing on the lake, nights around the camp fire, and sing camp songs as they are getting ready for bed. At camp, siblings replace bickering with high fiving each other as they pass by, and sharing events of the day during evening activities. And though their appreciation for one another may ebb and flow during the school year, it’s nice to know that each summer brings siblings a bit closer. And hey, if the arguing gets too rough through these winter months, just pop the camp video yearbook in the DVD player and bring a smile to everyone’s face.