By David Trinko
The Lima News
Our youngest daughter was so excited to go to camp last week. I was decidedly less excited.
It was a new experience for her, going off into the woods with her friends without parents for the first time in her 10-year-old life. It was the fourth “first time” of camp-going for me and her mother, as we’d already been through this with her older sisters years earlier.
Unfortunately for her, every new experience for her will be old hat for her parents. That comes with advantages and disadvantages.
When I went to the preseason volleyball meeting for her team, I knew exactly what to expect. We’d already had her preseason physical done, something we didn’t even know a fifth-grader needed when our oldest played in that league.
When she goes on a school field trip, we already know which ones need a little extra cash for souvenirs and which ones don’t. We learned the hard way on plenty of trips.
Unfortunately, it means we don’t share her enthusiasm when she’s experiencing something brand new to her. We’re quick to tell her stories about how her older sisters handled it.
I learned this tact the old-fashioned way, through my own upbringing. As the fifth of seven children, my parents already had it all figured out by the time I experienced things. They could tell me what to expect. There wasn’t much wonder if I were the first to ever feel that way, as clearly I wasn’t.
When it came time to pack for our daughter’s camp, we printed out the list of necessities two days before leaving and let her grab what she needed. My wife double-checked her work, and we added a few things to her baggage on the way out the door. It was a far cry from when her older sisters first went to the same camp, and we spread all the needed items across the living room floor to be sure we had everything a few days ahead of time.
We didn’t try mailing her letters to camp, knowing they’d arrive just about the time she left, no matter how early we tried to send them.
I feel a bit guilty about treating these monumental moments in our girl’s life so casually. They might not be new to me, but they are still new to her.
When I went to pick her up from camp, I tried to forget everything I knew about it. I wanted to be a fresh, blank canvas for her to paint a picture of her experiences.
For her first 15 minutes in the car, my 10-year-old blasted nonstop about everything. She told which bunk every girl in her cabin used. She explained each evening’s entertainment and recalled skits. She even shared what they had for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The real highlight was when she sang her favorite camp songs to me, complete with as much dancing and clapping as she could while still buckled up in the car.
Nothing she said was all that different from what her older sisters shared. Camp hasn’t changed much over the past 15 years. Still, it was all new to her, and my willingness to hear all about it made her think it was all new to me too.
Experience helps us know how to handle situations, but sometimes it’s better to go in with a blank slate and an open mind. This is the first of a series of new things for her as she hits her tween years, and we’ve got to try to enjoy this one last batch of first times.
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See past columns by David Trinko at LimaOhio.com/tag/trinko.
David Trinko is editor of The Lima News. Reach him at 567-242-0467, by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
