oh...camp! i love d-camp but, i couldn't go this year..): i'm gonna go next year.
allmy "dia-buddies" ( i foget who came up with this) jusy got back..
i wish i could've gone..
have you ever gone? did you like it?
~Sadie(:
I LOVE DIABETES CAMP! You have no idea how much haha. This summer will be my fifth as a counselor at diabetes camp. I've met so many amazing diabetic friends. My outlook on diabetes would be a lot more negative if I didn't have them in my life.
We have a dance in the middle of the week at camp and this year's theme is "Cartoons." Camp isn't until August and my friends and I are already brainstorming costume ideas haha.
Even though we're all 20, 21 or older, camp is the chance to be kids again. And to be surrounded by people who know EXACTLY what you're going through.
We just got back from family camp and it was a blast. I am really looking forward to when Emily is old enough to go on her own. It will be at the same place so family camp gets her ready for it. She had so much fun meeting other kids just like her and loved that no one asked her questions or looked at her funny when she was testing or getting a shot.
-Meg
Emmies mom, diagnosed 10/29/09 at age 5
I had a terrible experience at camp as a youngster. They insisted I eat all this extra food to account for all the supposed extra activity we were doing at camp. Only, I wasn't doing any extra activity because we kept playing team sports and I am just not a team sports kinda gal. I didn't know how to play and was useless at playing anyway, so I'd basically just stand there. So my blood sugars kept being high, and they wouldn't let us not eat the food they served us. I hid food -- put stuff in napkins, hid their nighttime snack of giant peanut buttery popcorn balls under the bed. I couldn't take how sick I felt! And I was too young to be truly assertive about it.
Also, the other girls in my bunk mercilessly mocked the one African American girl in the bunk without any interference by the counselors or adults. I spent a lot of time sticking up for her. Thank god it was only a week long.
@Melissa - that sounds like a terrible camp experience!
I was a counselor at D-camp for five consecutive summers. Really miss it. Some of those kids were with me at 5 years old and I got to see how much they grew and developed over each school year. So rewarding.
I enjoyed diabetes camp because it was the first sleep-away camp I went to, and my close friend came with me so it wasn't intimidating to leave home. I went for two summers, but by the second summer I was really sick of having to go everywhere with someone and not being able to bolus when I was in the 300s at night. Once I went to music camp and managed diabetes pretty much on my own, I found that I had more fun there where people weren't so cautious and careful all the time.
Still, I definitely recommend trying it, especially for people who are newly diagnosed and/or feel very alone. I'd like to be a counselor at a diabetes camp one day :)
ahh i am so excited for camp this summer! i am going to be a counselor-in-training(:
but i went for 4 summers before as a camper and i can’t believe i had waited so many years before i had started going, cause i had been diabetic for 9 years before my first year at camp.
i go to camp conrad-chinnock, what about you guyys?
i go to bearskin meadows, and i love it. it was honestly one of the best experiences of my life. it's so much fun and it really changed the way i handle my diabetes. i'm so excited to go this summer.
My girl is going in this summer. We went to an open house yesterday and she can't wait.
Camp Ho Mita Koda. It means welcome my friend. Started in 1929!
Sad story about the racism. I remember when I had to explain what racism was to my kids. They couldn't believe it.
They do hear some bigotry at school now that they are older.
http://www.camphomitakoda.org/
I went to camp two years in a row. I was eight and nine. I learned to give my own shots there. Camp was in Minnesota and was called Needles. It's probablyo different now. That was 50 years ago.
50 years gives me hope for my kid!
50 years gives me hope for my kid!
I never went to diabetes camp as a kid, but last year was my first year volunteering at a camp. It was an amazing experience and I met so many cool and interesting people with diabetes. I think camps for kids with diabetes are wonderful. Its a place where both the campers and the counselors/rec staff/directors who have diabetes are able to feel comfortable and have fun. I am going back again this year to be on the rec staff again. I am so excited to catch up with all the staff and meet the campers. I highly recommend if you are a younger person to go to a camp and if you are an older teenager or adult to volunteer at one.