![]() Visit the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) for an ongoing ticker of Jewish coronavirus news. Sample Daily Schedule for Families at Home Watch PJ Library and 's kids' cooking show, Nosh & Nibble Hands-on Activities from Favorite PJ Library Books:ĭifferent Families, Different Rules: Tips For Talking to Your KidsĮasy Ways to Practice Mindfulness With Your Children Unplugged Activities for Quiet Weekends/Shabbat How to Plant a Tree Sapling During Cold Weather Unplugged Timeĩ Fun and Easy Ideas for a Shabbat Family Game Night The Best Sukkot Pumpkin EverPuzzle Page.Listen to our animated PJ Library books playlist Listen to one of our award-winning podcasts . Fabulous and Fun Children’s Books About Being YourselfĬheck out PJ Library Listen for hours of free audio content for the whole family.Children's and Middle Grade Books That Mirror the Diversity of Jewish Communities.Stories To Inspire Planting For Tomorrow.Read a story together - try one of these reading lists to get started: As my daughter told me, “I’d rewind the clock and go back to a summer at camp in a heartbeat.Creating a Simple Bedtime Routine for Babies & ToddlersĮxplore PJ Library's Planting Page for special ideas and activities to do with your microgreens kit. Like their Aunt Alissa, my kids look back on camp with love. We hope that the financial encouragement we offer to PJ Library subscribers will move more families to try Jewish overnight camp for their children too. It’s why I value the PJ Goes to Camp incentive program we provide in partnership with other donors. Jewish overnight camp was great for my kids. Our daughter also worked at camp as a counselor, which taught her a lot about leadership, responsibility, and problem-solving. “Mom, this place looks amazing! Can I try camp next summer too?”Īnd that was the beginning of our family’s love of Jewish summer camp.Ĭamp gave our kids countless gifts: precious time in nature close friendships forged without the distraction of phones or screens opportunities to learn cooperation and teamwork through sports, theater, and communal living joyful connections to Jewish ritual and celebration independence physical fitness … the list goes on and on.Īs they got older, two of our kids participated in a transformative camp trip to Poland and Israel that connected them deeply to their Jewish identity. We were touring a beautiful Jewish camp in Maine, and my son spoke up first. It didn’t take long to see that camp would be our family’s future. I agreed to visit a few camps and keep an open mind. ![]() I didn’t appreciate how the time away from home helped children gain confidence and self-reliance. I didn’t grasp the power of the memories formed at camp dances, or during an intense color war, or around weekly campfires, or at Shabbat services around the lake. ![]() I didn’t understand what spending a summer with a bunk full of kids your age felt like, and how the experience of those days and nights together kept you close for years to come. I hadn’t been an overnight camper myself, so I didn’t feel the pull that Alissa felt. I told Alissa that residential summer camp probably wasn’t right for our family, but she encouraged me to tour a few camps “just to see.” Alissa had loved her overnight camp experience as a kid, and our daughters were approaching camp age. “Wouldn’t it be great if our girls went to camp together?” she suggested. One day my sister-in-law Alissa brought up the idea of overnight camp. Our three kids were enjoying our local day camp, and I was relishing unstructured family time on weekends at the beach. Truthfully, I had been opposed to sending our kids to overnight camp. “By the way, Mom,” she began, “camp was the very best thing you did for us.” My daughter was within earshot recently as I wrapped up a call about philanthropic support for Jewish summer camps. PHOTO COURTESY OF WINNIE SANDLER GRINSPOON Winnie Sandler Grinspoon visits her daughter at camp in the summer of 2010.
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