Pemi is For Parents, Too

Healthy separation benefits all family members, and the ideal camp experience is when everyone gains new skills and perspectives, whether at Pemi or at home.

Parents Benefit From Summer Camp, Too!

While your son is at Pemi, think of your time apart not just as something to survive (because we know for many of you this is a first-time separation), but as a wonderful opportunity to:

  • connect in a new way with partners and friends or with younger children at home
  • focus on your work with fewer distractions
  • nurture yourself by pursuing personal goals and interests

On a pre-season questionnaire, we ask all parents—new and veteran—to consider their own goals for the coming summer, during the time their son is away. This serves as a gentle reminder that “summer camp” is an opportunity to model for their sons that being an adult—with personal goals and interests and, yes, fun!—is something to look forward to.

Here are recent responses; perhaps they’ll serve as inspiration as you imagine what your summer camp experience could be!

"Great question! We will have two of our three children away this summer, so we want to enjoy more dedicated and less distracted time with our 7-year-old."

"We plan to enjoy time with each other as adults, having our parent hats off."

"My goal is to enjoy myself! I will send supportive letters to R. and enjoy my time with our youngest child (and we are getting a new puppy also!). I hope to make more art while he’s away at camp. "

"This first experience will be hard for me but I plan to spend a lot of quality time with L.’s brother, and to focus on my own hobbies and interests a bit more. "

"Decompress—and enjoy some couples time! "

"I’ll focus on my two younger kids and do the little kid activities that often get pushed to the side for big kid things."

"I’m going on a trip with my husband and no kids :) We’ll miss the boys, but we know now to take full advantage of their time away. "

"My main goal is to try not to miss him too much. That’ll be hard. I might learn to play golf and to knit."

"His time away allows me to pick up extra hours at my second job."

"I hope that I will learn to comfortably “let go” of E. for the three weeks and believe he will make good decisions without me looking over his shoulder. Everyone keeps telling me it will be just as good for me as it will for E."

"I am finishing a master's degree this summer. I also hope to do some writing. It’s my time to recharge."

"I will be at teacher training while T. is at camp."

"I'll be in class: I'm in my first year of law school."

"As a Dad, I hope to allow D. to flourish independently without my need to make sure he doesn’t make “mistakes” along the way. I want to give him room to mature and experience life on his own."

"It will be hard to let go of knowing everything that is going on in his world, but I don't want that to hold me back from enjoying the break."

"I want to take time for myself and do things I don't have time to do when the kids are around. Also, it’s good for me to get used to my kids being on their own and self-sufficient."

"I’m going to build a porch."

"Honestly, I plan to clean my house and sleep."