Ahhhh.  The lazy days of summer.  You can relax.  Go at your own pace.  Sleep in.

Unless, of course, you decide to go to summer camp.  In which case you get up early.  And stay busy all day. 

When I picked my daughter up from camp this year, she told me the big news of the week.

“We had to go to the storm shelter at 4 o'clock one morning.”

“I bet you were tired the next day,” I said.

“No,” she replied. “We got to sleep in until 8 o'clock.”

I think the early mornings and fast pace are a plot by camp staff.  They want the campers to sleep at night rather than, just as an example, sneak over to the boys' side and find some underwear to run up the flagpole.

Actually, though, this is not a very effective prank when carried out against the boys.  Because chances are the boy victim will not need that particular pair of underwear during the week.  As a mother I have learned that changing underwear is not high on the priority list for boy campers. Which makes sense when you realize that neither is showering.

I drove four children home from camp a few weeks ago and heard the following conversation:

Boy: “Sammy in our cabin didn't take a shower all week.”

Girl: “He had to take a shower after river play.  We all had to take showers after river play.”

Other boy: “No we didn't”

Other girl: “Yes we did.”

Boy: “No we didn't.”

Girl: “Yes we did.”

But camp isn't all sleep deprivation and dirt.  It's also a lot of fun.  Even the meals are fun.  Probably  because you get to do things at camp that you would never be allowed to do around the table at home.

Like sing.  And chant. Loudly.  “Jason, Jason, strong and able, get your elbows off the table.  Round the table you must go . . . “

And then you get to run around the table.

Or my children's personal favorite: “Sing a song, Joanna, sing a song (pound, pound). Sing a song, Joanna, sing a song (pound, pound). We won't shut up 'till you get up.  Sing a song Joanna sing a song.”

What's not to like about that?  You get to boss around the grown-ups. You get to pound the table.  You get to say “shut up.”

The trick is getting my kids to understand that these table games are a special camp activity.  I am not going to run around the table because my elbows happened to be on top of it.  And I guarantee you my husband is not going to sing a song, no matter how much table pounding there is.

It's true that the kids can't relax and sleep in when they are at summer camp.  But while the kids are away, maybe the parents can get a little extra sleep.  Ahhhh.  The lazy days of summer.