The Window
The Window
One of my favorite actors is a wild and crazy guy named Steve Martin. He has appeared in several family orientated movies; the kind you would feel safe to enjoy with your family or your mother. In 1991 Martin starred in Father of the Bride, a comedy about a loving Dad’s reaction to the marriage of his daughter, Annie. During the 105 minutes of movie life, Steve Martin’s character has frequent flashbacks to earlier times in life when Annie was younger; eating in the dining room at home, playing basketball outside, and dancing at events. He cannot handle the fact that Annie is moving on, and the realization that she has grown up and now has a life of her own.
Parents, does this sound familiar?
This past summer I found myself in much the same position; standing in front of a church watching my son Gordon get married to a wonderful woman he had met and they decided to spend the rest of their lives together. No longer was he the young boy playing Little League baseball, swimming at the lake, putting together an ion-rocket engine for a school science project, or enjoying being a Brookwoods camper and LDP. Those days were past, and no amount of nostalgic thought would ever resurrect those times again. My responsibilities as a Dad had now shifted from a teacher/coach to that of an encourager.
With this in mind, to the parents of our campers, I’d like to encourage you to take advantage of the short window of opportunity you have to make an investment in the lives of your children. They won’t be young very long and before you realize it, your window of opportunity into their young formative lives will be closed. Personally, I think camp is a great investment, and many families over the past 68 years have agreed that sending their children to Brookwoods, Deer Run or Moose River Outpost was one of their best decisions.
Want your kids to learn a new skill? Send them to camp! At camp one of the things that kids probably don’t realize is their exposure to the large educational component of the formal activities. Each of the 41 activities at Brookwoods and Deer Run, and the host of adventure activities at Moose River Outpost, are “instructional” activities. The campers don't realize they are actually learning a new skill or perfecting an acquired one each day at camp. It is for this reason we try to specialize in activities the campers can’t normally do at home, such as rock-climbing, wakeboarding, woodworking, model rockets, mountain boards, sailing, skeet shooting and the myriad of other activities offered at each camp.
Want your kids to mature? Send them to camp! Along with the new skill comes a confidence in their ability to learn and master new situations. The campers are having fun during the activity, never suspecting they are actually developing confidence and additional life skills they will use in the future when confronted with new situations.
Want your kids to be exposed to great role models? Send them to camp! Where else can they spend summer days with carefully selected staff in a safe environment?
Want your kids to develop their spiritual souls? Send them to camp! At Brookwoods, Deer Run and Moose River Outpost the campers will spend more time in one week with a quality staff member than they do in a whole year attending Sunday school. We have purposeful Bible studies and sing fun Christian songs. The campers are not pressured to make a personal commitment to Jesus Chirst, but they are provided ample opportunities to both learn and integrate Godly ideas into their lives.
Rick and Jill Woolworth have sent their three daughters to Deer Run over an 18-year span, and they have given me permission to share that sending “their children to [camp] is one of the best things we have ever been blessed with for our family.”
I hope you will make the same investment with your family, before the window of opportunity is closed.
Bob, Debbie, Thea, Gordon and Meagan Strodel on a very significant day!
