So, it’s June, and that means it’s time to haul out the indelible marker, iron-on labels, and foot lockers.  Yes, it’s time for sleepaway camp!

Don’t shudder – as soon as you get your sweet darling safely ensconced in her bunk/tent/cabin/covered wagon, you can head to the nearest Mexican restaurant and throw back two or three margaritas.  But getting her off can be as much of an adventure as the camp experience itself . . . my job here is to make it a little less painful.

First things first:  Make a resolution that no matter how homesick your little camper gets and no matter how much you might miss her, she is staying at camp.  After all, she has sailing and woodworking to learn, and you have books to read and kitchens to paint. 

Photo by Sarita Robinson via Flickr Creative Commons

Resolved?  Ok, now pack three times as many underwear, socks, shorts, and t-shirts as the camp instructs in its many long lists of supplies needed.  If she wears glasses, get an extra pair and tape the case to the top of the foot locker.  If she needs medicines, get the pediatrician to write extra prescriptions, then scan them, email them, snail mail them, fax them, and carrier pigeon them to the camp nurse.  Because they’ll still be lost when your little one gets stung by a bee, keep them on the bulletin board next to the phone and be ready to fax, email, etc. again when they’re really critical.

Oh, and hide the electronics.  If your tween is anything like mine, she lives and dies by her computer, iPod, and camera – and she’s lobbying for the cell phone.  Even though camp is still a few weeks away, she’s already lobbying for another bag just for her techie stuff.  This cannot happen.  Most likely, your camp has written in BIG BOLD LETTERS that NO ELECTRONICS ARE ALLOWED!!! She will be sneaky and fib to you, though, so stick them in the basement behind the cat’s litter box (she’ll never look there) before she gets out her laptop bag.

All ready?  Not quite.  Make a reservation at a nearby hotel for the night before camp begins.  There’s no doubt that your little camper will need one last meal to hold her over for the next six weeks, as well as a comfy bed to snore in.  My suggestion?  Hit Homewood Suites by Hilton (yep, they’ve got ‘em in North Carolina, upstate New York, Maine, Colorado – all the popular summer camp spots) for a huge room that will hold you, her, the lacrosse stick, the life jacket, the tennis racket, the foot locker, and the ninety-three stuffed animals she’s toted along (note that electronics are not on the list).  Wake up early on camp day and haul her down to the hot full breakfast, stuff her to the gills, and then drop her off to screech and giggle her way through the summer.

Margaritas, here you come!