I have exactly two memories from my first summer at sleep-away camp when I was 9 years old: one from the beginning and one from the end. On the first night, I cried myself to sleep due to homesickness, but an Israeli counselor comforted me until I fell asleep. On the last day, tears streamed down my face as my father approached me — not because I missed him (apologies, Dad), but because I knew his arrival meant the return to reality.
I continued to spend 14 summers at camp, initially as a camper and eventually as a staff member. During this time, I discovered that my emotional response to the conclusion of camp that first year was not uncommon or extreme among the passionate camp kids. While the events that transpired between my two memories may have become a blur, I distinctly recall being consistently happy during my time at camp, a feeling that was rare at home. School was a place where I faced bullying, my mother was affected by multiple sclerosis, and my parents had recently divorced. At camp, I effortlessly made friends, found solace in my Jewish identity, and blissfully overlooked the troubles that awaited me in late August.
I was not alone in viewing sleep-away camp as an escape, a chance for self-reinvention, and an invitation to let loose and be myself. It should come as no surprise that returning home is an agonizing transition for many children, a phenomenon experts have aptly named “campsickness.” While there is plenty of advice available for parents on how to navigate this messy end-of-summer period, such as recreating camp activities at home and exhibiting patience as their child readjusts, this guidance fails to grasp the essence of camp. Camp is meant to feel distinct and, quite frankly, better than home. It is this characteristic that grants camp its transformative power.
After bidding farewell to my camp years, I delved into academic research on the camp experience. One of the most profound descriptions I came across was from Fritz Redl, an Austrian child psychoanalyst and educator who fled Nazi Europe for the United States in the 1930s. Having worked with children at a camp in Michigan during the 1940s, Redl likened the immersive nature of sleep-away camp to a “powerful drug” capable of providing various benefits, including character development and promoting mental well-being.
Contemporary camps often market themselves to affluent parents by emphasizing utilitarian advantages such as skill acquisition and fostering independence. However, the pioneers of early camps understood that the true strength of camps lies in generating an extended sense of euphoria for children, achieved by cultivating a series of exhilarating highs with minimal lows.
As Dr. Redl noted, camp’s potency also means it shares similarities with other potent drugs on the market. It can be risky if consumed by the wrong person or in excessive quantities at inappropriate times. Part of this risk arises from the transient nature of camp. Whatever restorative effects camp offers are not replicable at home. Therefore, returning from camp equates to experiencing withdrawal symptoms. The crash is an inevitable consequence and actually indicates that camp worked precisely as intended.
The immersive sleep-away camps that Dr. Redl studied were born out of progressive efforts to counter the negative aspects of modern urban life by fostering cultural connections and cultivating interests such as theater and scouting. The Jewish summer camp movement, which can span up to two months, originated from the fresh-air movement in the early 20th century and provided Jewish children with getaways when they were excluded from Christian-run summer camps.
Initially, these philanthropic camps aimed to facilitate assimilation, helping immigrant children escape overcrowded urban neighborhoods and immerse themselves in the great American outdoors. After World War II, the goals of the Jewish camping movement evolved to focus more on nurturing Jewish traditions among a generation of children who were becoming assimilated. Rabbis and educators believed that sleep-away camp could address this assimilation issue due to its intensive nature. As one Jewish education scholar stated in 1966, camp “controls the child’s environment for 24 hours a day, eight weeks a year.” Camp was intended to be a potent drug, offering a potential remedy for various cultural challenges faced by American Jews.
Millennials like me experienced Jewish camps in similar ways to our baby boomer parents. For 14 years, camp served as my idyllic escape, providing lifelong friendships, romantic flings, and a sense of joy. Additionally, the cultural agenda of my camp instilled a strong sense of purpose within me, particularly regarding Zionism. My friends and I became fervent supporters of the cause, convinced that what we learned and did during those eight weeks held immense significance in life. As I reached my 20s, personal experiences and education led me to question the ideologies to which I had been exposed. Nonetheless, I knew firsthand how camp could create a two-month bubble that felt transformative, akin to a journey to Neverland.
The passage of time at camp is often described in the following way: a day feels like a week, a week feels like a month, and a month feels like a year. This sentiment is a testament to the emotional intensity of the camp experience. A three-week friendship can feel deeper than a three-year friendship at home, and a weeklong romance can seem like the greatest love story of the century. However, this two-month escape eventually comes to an end, and much like in Neverland, one must grow up or, at the very least, pack up their sleeping bag and return home.
No homecoming from camp was ever as distressing for me as that first summer, but my friends and I still cried our hearts out each year as we bid farewell. Around the age of 12, one summer inspired me to recreate the camp experience by performing the entire 45-minute prayer service alone in my bedroom every morning. I soon discovered what every camp kid realizes: camp cannot be replicated at home.
Camp also distorts one’s perception of time during non-camp months. The countdown to the next summer always passes more quickly than expected, and as camp kids say, I learned to live my year 10 times over.
If your kids come home campsick, there is no need to worry about finding a cure. Let them understand that camp was always designed to provide an intense and ephemeral bubble away from reality. They cannot bring it back home, nor should they desire to do so. However, once they are back in the real world, remind them that opening day of camp is only 10 short months away.
Sandra Fox is the Goldstein-Goren visiting assistant professor of American Jewish history at N.Y.U. and the author of “The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America.”
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