Diane Falanga's 'P.S. I Hate It Here!' Helps Homesick Kids Adjust to Camp

I am missing the humour in this author thinking letters from camp such as these are funny! I was miserable and homesick at camp and my parents rescued me - because they loved me and cared about me. Shame on the author or any parent who would get a letter form their child such as one of these and the only thing they would do is call someone to "share the humor". This women who wrote this book is obviously unfit to be a parent and selfish - we only have a short time to parent our children - savor it. And we should all protect our children

I think the child knew that if he told them he had access to a gun they would come and get him FAST... Making it their idea and not that he wanted to go home... I don't think a gun ever was there LOL But I bet it sure got Moms attention {:-)>

Why do adults think it is so great to use the word HATE? It is appaulling to see where we are taking children down to in hopes of bringing them up to where?

As a kid at camp we were always given access to .22 guns UNDER PROPER SUPERVISION. Grow up. Proper use use of frirearms was always part of our upbringing in the Early 60's. We learned to hunt. Safely. I was even on the shooting team at my High School and no one thought anything of us team members walking into school with PROPERLY SECURED weapons. Get Over It, the World has changed, let's not WIMP OUT. I still qualify every year and I'm 60. You can bet the farm that every kid in the middle east can strip, clean, and re-assemble on AK47 by the time they can they can spell their own name. Get used to it. They will BURY you (if they even bother). Have a Nice Day!

Not sure what people are tweaking out about. If there is adult supervision and safety involved, hell yeahhhhh! Go and shoot. It will make you a more responsible individual.

The article clearly states that letters came from as far back as the 1940s. I am certain that many parents teach their children how to responsibly use / respect firearms. I had a 22 rifle when I was a youngster. I had friends that hunted with their dads that had shot guns and rifles. I never took the gun with me to camp, but I never when to that type of camp. We did archery. There were bows and arrrows at camp.

To big mike: Are you ALWAYS the wet blanket at parties?

C C & others....

This is EXACTLY what is wrong with our world today!! Maybe when you and your merry little sheep tire of failing at superiority....you will ACTUALLY read the article and then the book and reserve your "typical" and less than astute observations for those actually in need of it.....WAKE UP PEOPLE!! It is a cute and fun book about the fickle nature of kids!! I bet you were picked last at recess huh? Get over it....

What a terrible idea for a book! What a terrible mother! As a teacher, I have to say, this book has a total lack of respect for children and their feelings. I can't help but wonder...is this poor child ever going to confide in her mother again? Would you? I don't know about you but I don't like being laughed at when i'm upset.....even if it's just moderately upset!
P.S. I'm glad I never went to sleep away camp...but I know one thing...if I did and I wrote a letter home saying that I was homesick and had made a mistake...MY MOTHER would have raced there to rescue me :)

Dear C.C.
You must have grown up a very sheltered person, in a large urban city to not know what you're "missing". The counselors at camps offering such activities as target shooting and archery are well trained in instilling the safety factor in the kids who are interested in such activities and would never insist a child partake in an activity of which they have no interest in. or...maybe you would prefer just to have your child exposed to basket weaving, sing-alongs, and take out pizza pie.......poor kid...

Sincerly: montana man

How can you not tell this is a JOKE!!?? It's the same as if the kid wrote that there was a chicken pox out break at the camp, or there are rats running around!

the child really did not have access to the gun, it is funny because the child's train of thought lead him/her to believe that his/hr parents would pull them from camp. the humor here is the extent to which the child opts to go to get attention drawn to the situation and a very cunning and deceptive way to be brought home.

The child is MAKING IT UP !!! He is getting the reaction from most of you that he intended to get from his parents. His camp buddy doesn't have a semi automatic weapon and they certainly didn't get to "shoot it" at first period. He is trying to get his parents to come and bail him out of a perceived dangerous situation. It is GENIUS because he is MAKING IT UP / TELLING A STORY ... and it may have worked unless his parents happened to be smarter then a lot of the readers who posted below .. get real people .. this was a kid who told a WHOPPER to get a reaction.

I'm so glad that this person isn't going to write another book. If a child is having problems at camp he/she may not go to the counsler. He may write his mom or dad and asked to be picked up! Who is to say that the child is calling your "bluff". And all adults aren't honest enough to call you and tell you whats going on with your child. If my child wrote me I would do a suprise visit.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...Camps like Boy Scout camps TEACH you how to handle guns. But then, this is one of those things that the PC police would rather not allow to happen.

So what is the big deal about learning to shoot Fire arms safely?

yea, what is funny about a gun,, and wanting one instead of a ping pong table,she must be from a perfect world....NOT,,, think be4 writing

I didn't think these letters were funny at all. And the advice about how to react when you get one of these letters just seemed heartless: take a deep breathe, share with your friends, and have a good laugh over it? I don't think so. It's one thing to send your kid to camp if the kid wants to go and enjoys it, but if your child is that homesick or otherwise miserable, cut your "vacation from your kids" short and bring your kid home.

Why is that hilarious. When I went to summer camp we got to do archery prectice and shooting rifles. That was the best part why would anyone find that odd.

For me that was the only good part. Everything else I hated. Let me list a few of the worst.
The brochure listed "sailing and canoeing", I wanted to go sailing but they would not allow anyone in the boats unless you passed the "Class A swimming test". I hated swiming and wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to go sailing.
The camp counselors were so lazy they only wanted us to do the one thing in which they didn't have to do anything. Take us to the lake for swimming. Did I mention I hate swimming. 2/3rds of the day every day we were stuck at the lake for swimming.
It was a cub scout camp so of course we were split into groups by age. This really sucked because of the 5 people that I knew that went, 3 were younger, and 2 were older than me. So I was stuck in a group from which I knew no one. [That made it even worse - since everyone else in my group knew at least 3 or 4 people in that group]
Each group was named after an Indian tribe. The youngest were in "Apache", the oldest were the "Mohawks", and of course I was stuck in the "Black Foot". So you all know where this went - every time our tribe passed either of the other 2, their camp counsellors would have them say, "Blackfoot stepped in dog $#it!"
Summer camp really blows, saved up a whole year to go, (was about $500 dollars in current inflation adjusted money, for 2 weeks). Never made that mistake again, and warned off all my siblings against it.

I'm curious as to what age the children are in that letter. If I had gotten a letter from my child that was that specific about the gun type, I'd have been mildly concerned. And, don't say I'm a whack job because we are all hunters in our family.