Meema Camp!

Written by Pam Myers

With the advent of summer, the camping season has arrived. We all know about preteen, teen and family camps, but how about having a “Meema Camp”?

Summer is here!

Open the windows, break out the lawn furniture and fire up the grill. It’s time to enjoy the warm weather and the great outdoors! As someone living in Ohio, I enjoy all four seasons, but summer enables me to dig in the dirt and plant flowers and vegetables. I love to watch our plants grow!

With summer comes other treasured events. School is out for the summer, so my grandchildren have a more flexible schedule to visit my husband and me. We begin in spring by looking at the calendar and finding dates that work for us and them.

Once dates are set, the planning begins for “Meema Camp”!

Components of Meema Camp

You might be asking, “What is Meema Camp?”

Each summer, our grandchildren visit for a week. We call this week Meema Camp. Meema is the name our children selected as my grandmother name. So to my grandchildren, I’m Meema.

What do we do during this week? I begin the planning weeks in advance.

Food is one of our grandchildren’s love languages. Oh, how they love to eat! I plan out the week’s breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and treats. We will hit a donut shop one morning and then head directly to the playground to burn off that sugar rush!

Since my grandchildren have Dutch heritage, I will make a Dutch baby pancake one morning. We load this with fresh fruit and whipped cream after baking. Quesadillas or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are our go-to lunches.

Sometimes we will pack lunch and head to a picnic spot. This works well, especially when we don’t want our fun interrupted by having to go back home to eat. Taco Tuesday, spaghetti and meatballs, make-your-own pizza and dinner donuts will be a few of our dinners. We’ll have plenty of popsicles, fruit, cheese and crackers for snacks. In the evening, we’ll enjoy s’mores around the firepit.

Activities will include reading books when our grandchildren (very early risers!) pile into our bed every morning, checking out a different playground each day or returning to the same one they prefer, pool time in our inflatable pool, squirt wands, sprinklers and tons of water balloons. We’ll also visit a splash pad, a working farm with a petting zoo, and an indoor playground in case of rain. At night, sometimes we’ll catch lightning bugs in a jar.

This year our granddaughter asked to have a “Fancy Nancy” party (ooh la la!). She loves reading Fancy Nancy books (written by Jane O’Connor).

Nancy, the character in these books, is a little girl who has very curly hair (like our granddaughter!) and loves to use fancy big words (which has helped expand our granddaughter’s vocabulary), and wear fancy clothes (my granddaughter will wear a dress with puffy sleeves because all princesses wear dresses with puffy sleeves).

The menu is set with very fancy finger sandwiches, bite-size desserts and frozen slushies to drink.

We will invite several church friends her age to join in the fun.

The most important component

The most important aspects of Meema Camp are the moral and spiritual instructions that my husband and I teach. Consider a grandparent’s influence on a grandchild by spending a few days together during the summer.

This year our theme is R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Each letter in the word respect will focus on some part of the development of their character. I will have posters attached to a wall with each letter and what it represents to remind them of the lesson.

One of the ways we impart this knowledge is through the use of storytelling.

“Yoda” (as our grandchildren call my husband) is a master storyteller. Each morning the children will sit riveted to his every word as he talks about adventures filled with moral lessons, dilemmas that require strength of character, and tough decisions that need teamwork and wisdom, all portrayed by characters such as Running Water, Little Turtle and Angry Wolf. Each of these stories will hearken back to the theme of “respect.”

Throughout the day, I will give little reminders of the story to reinforce the character lessons, and we’ll review the story at bedtime. Throughout the week, when we have downtime at home (usually when the littlest one is taking his nap), I’ll ask the children to draw a picture of what the day’s lesson looks like to them. They can take these pictures home and hang them on their walls as reminders.

Long-distance camp

What if your grandchildren live so far away that you can’t physically be together during the summer? There are still ways you can implement character lessons, special treats and loving bonding into their lives.

You can download and print materials from the EEI manual (Encourage, Equip &Inspire) with a theme you want to teach.
Bake their favorite cookies or treats and mail them with a fun toy and a sweet note of instruction.
Maybe do a video chat with them as they open their “camp in a box.” As you chat, include a scripture and a hymn that reinforce your lesson, and recite the scripture and sing the hymn together. What a treat this will be for you and your grandchildren!

You have influence!

You may live five minutes from your grandchildren, or you may be a five-hour flight away. Either way, your grandchildren love you and look to you as a strong, steady and loving godly influence (even though they may never voice this to you). Use this summer to strengthen the bonds of love and godly influence in their lives. Not only will they treasure these memories, but you will as well!

Happy camping!

If you want to learn more about why grandparenting and family examples are so important, check out these articles on LifeHopeandTruth.com: