Parents Survival Guide

We spend a lot of time preparing your kids for camp. Let's spend a minute on you.

Campers are busy from 7am to 9pm — they're engaged, having fun, growing, and tired. You, meanwhile, are at home refreshing an app. Here are my honest tips for surviving their absence, from someone who's watched thousands of parents go through exactly this.

Tip #1 — Mail

Mail arrives to campers once a day around lunch. We collect outgoing mail the same time.
Campers have dedicated letter-writing time twice a week, plus the option during daily menucha (rest hour).
If you send CampInTouch emails, check the "Request a Reply" box — and use it sparingly. Kids don't always want to respond. That's not a crisis, that's camp.
No reply does not equal something wrong. No news is good news. Your camper is having fun. They are not thinking about your feelings right now, and that's exactly how it should be.

Tip #2 — Photos

Photos are posted daily by 1:00 pm from the previous day. Don't check at 10am Friday expecting Thursday's photos. I promise refreshing harder does not make them appear faster.
We post approximately 25 photos per aidah per day. Our photographer is excellent but not omnipresent — she has one body and roughly 700 campers.
If your child isn't in a photo, they were too busy having fun to stop for a camera. This is the good outcome. The kid mugging for every single photo is not necessarily the kid having the best summer.
No photos on Shabbat. Friday and Saturday night photos post Sunday afternoon. The wait is worth it — go outside, touch grass, live a little.
Download the Campanion app, upload a reference photo of your child, and let facial recognition do the heavy lifting. You will not have to scroll through 700 photos of other people's children looking for a glimpse of an ear that might be yours. We've all been there. Never again.

Tip #3 — Growth Takes Bumps

Your kids are growing physically, socially, emotionally, and independently this summer. There will be bumps. If you get a letter describing a conflict or a hard day, it's a good bet it was resolved before the letter even reached your mailbox — camp letters are basically time capsules from a kid who has already moved on with their life. If there's anything genuinely worth worrying about, we'll call you. That's a promise, not a maybe.

Tip #4 — Use the Time

Seriously. This is not a drill. You have a few weeks with no school pickups, no after-school schedules, and no one asking you what's for dinner. Use them. Go on a date. Take a nap in the middle of the day for no reason. Eat a meal without cutting anyone else's food first.

CYJ has been doing this for 70+ years. Your kid is in good hands. You have permission to relax — and honestly, you've earned it more than they have.