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Diane Falanga's 'P.S. I Hate It Here!' Helps Homesick Kids Adjust to Camp
Filed under: Funny Stuff, Books for Kids, Books for Parents
Desperate pleas for food, strapless bras and tickets home fill the pages of Diane Falanga's new book. Photo courtesy of Diane Falanga
Diane Falanga's new book, "P.S. I Hate It Here!" is a compilation of 150 hilarious letters written by kids at summer camp. ParentDish recently chatted with Falanga about finding humor in homesickness, and here's what she had to say:
ParentDish: Why did you decide to do this book?
Diane Falanga: My daughter, Bianca, begged and pleaded to go to summer camp when she was 8. We all thought she was too young, but she presented such a convincing argument that we relented, and off she went. Then the letters started to arrive. She wrote that she was homesick and had made a terrible mistake, and said the counselors had made her "scraper, sweeper and maid." I couldn't help but think her letters were hilarious, and since we hadn't gotten a call from the camp, I knew she was OK. So I called my sister and friends to read the letters to them, since I thought they were so funny, and the reaction I got was "If you think that's funny, wait 'til you hear what I got from my child." Everyone wanted to talk about their hilarious camp letters -- and that's when I realized I may be on to something.
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PD: Did you write the book for parents or kids?
DF: I was thinking it was really a parents' book, something we would find so funny, but kids wouldn't. But I was a hundred percent wrong. Parents love it because the letters are inadvertently hilarious, but the kids are finding it to be really funny. And parents now tell me they're buying the book to give to their kids before they go to camp, and it's helping them tremendously.
"P.S. I Hate It Here" is funny for both parents and kids. Credit: Courtesy of Abrams Image
DF: The mother of one of the boys in the homesick chapter told me her son loved the book because he read the letters and realized he wasn't alone. I really think finding the ability to laugh at yourself at a young age is invaluable, as is being able to get your feelings down on paper. We, as parents, are left at home to kind of quake when we read our kids' letters -- but the kids have gotten their therapy, they've written it down and moved on, and are able to just go out and kick a soccer ball after.
PD: Where did you get the letters?
DF: I contacted the American Camp Association and directors from camps across the country and asked them to post my query on their websites and in their newsletters. I told them I needed to collect 150 hilarious letters, and that it didn't matter where or when they were from. Between them and my own e-mail chain, I received close to 3,500 letters, even some that dated back to the 1940s, '50s and '60s.
PD: Do you have a favorite letter?
DF: There's a letter in the "What I Really Need" section that is just crazy that I love; it starts: "Grant has his own gun. It is a black .22 cal semi automatic rifle. I got to try it first period." And concludes: "I have decided that I don't want a ping-pong table. I really want to get a .22 cal semi automatic black rifle." I think that one is so hilarious, it's just genius. Also, some of the letters from the youngest kids are the funniest because they're so reflective on the moment, and not concerned with the words they use or what they tell their parents -- though letters from older kids asking for poker chips and strapless bras are also really funny to read.
PD: What would you tell parents who receive letters like these from their kids?
DF: First, take a deep breath. Then call your friends and read the letters to them, and laugh about them. When you share your stories, you'll understand it's a rite of passage kids go through, and you'll find that other parents will relate and will want to top yours with letters of their own.
PD: How do parents know when to "rescue" their kids from camp, and when not to?
DF: I think that every parent knows their child, and can tell if they're reading something more than just a rant. I also think camps do an excellent job of training their counselors and directors to really watch for signs in kids, and if a child is feeling so homesick that it's a problem, they're not writing a letter, they're going to a counselor.
PD: How do your kids feel about the book?
DF: They're delighted, and so proud of their mom, and I think they see now that you don't let anyone stop you when you have an idea. You figure out if there's a creative way to explore it, follow through, and find a way to make it happen, because it feels so good when it does.
PD: Do you have plans for another book?
DF: At the moment, no. I work full time as an interior designer and the founder of the Heart Homes Initiative of Designs for Dignity, which reclaims gently used furnishings for people in need in the Chicago Area. But if this book does well, I would love to do another one. People have been coming out of the woodwork now saying they have hilarious letters -- so I've started a file with a big question mark about book two.
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 14)
6-15-2010 @ 8:50PM
Elsie said...Do any of you remember the song "Hello Mutter, Hello Fatter, here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining and I know I'll have some fun if it stops raining! This is the type of humor the author is writing about. Everyone who considers sending their child to an expensive camp should consider the child's emotional maturity and preferably send the child with a sibling, cousin or best friend. Camp is suppose to be a positive experience to help a child get used to being away from home.
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6-19-2010 @ 8:55AM
LA said...I have have been waiting for the "Camp Granada" reference to pop up! When I was in the 5th grade I went to girl scout camp with my 3 best friends.....I had a great time at camp and wrote a "Camp Granada" type letter to my parents...they thought it was great! My father is 80 now and still laughs about it whenever the summer camp topic comes up! When my daughter was the same age, I let her go to camp (1 week) with her 3 best friends.....we knew the counselors and director so we knew she would be safe and well cared for. I got a "I hate camp" letter in which she stated "this was a REALLY, REALLY bad idea".....when I picked her up 2 days later (at the scheduled conclusion of camp) she did not want to come home!! She was not traumatized, she can now laugh at herself and she knows if she were really in harms way, I'd be there in a heartbeat. PS- I still have every letter she wrote to me that week! She is 22 now and we still laugh about the whole experience!
6-15-2010 @ 11:14PM
Dee said...Sometimes, it may be ranting. Sometimes, it may be a cry for help. However, so much abuse and pervertedness is happening to our children these days, I would rather err on the side of caution and take action than deem everything a joke. Camp is an ideal environment for abuse to take place. I know because it happened to me when I was a child. So, call me overprotective or whatever you will, but whatever the motive, I do think you need to do more than just laugh if a child expresses discomfort in any environment away from home.
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6-15-2010 @ 4:10PM
Chris said...Hey morons, he said he TRIED THE GUN FIRST PERIOD. That means it WAS NOT AT HOME. Idiots. Stupid conservative fools allow guns EVERYWHERE. Are you really saying that there AREN'T crazy right wing camps out there that allow firearms? If so, you are underestimating the lunacy and stupidity of the right.
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6-15-2010 @ 4:16PM
Chris said...These letters aren't really all that cute or funny.
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6-15-2010 @ 4:17PM
jmkjr72 said...well i have seen it all with boys wanting to leave scout camp
and most of the times all parents do is make it worse
lets take the scout that wanted to go home last year who embelishhed and incident last year to get his way and go home
firts off dad didnt have the anatomy to say sorry son tough it out camp will be fun
and mom is a physco in fact she was suposed to be up at camp that night helping out had she been there like she was suposed to she would have known that what happend was nothing big
she thought that we were negleicitng the kids well had there been a real issue i sure as heck wouldnt have put up with it as my son was there
and bring them home is the worst thing they can do as now all the other first years that are a bit home sick are now wanting to go home like little johny did and trying to get ahold of there parents
so a word of advice from a scout leader ship them off to camp keep the junk food and eletronics at home (cell phone ipod game systems) send them a letter mid week and maybe come up for the parents day event but dont let them talk you into taking them home
if it is bad enough that they need to go home camp staff or scout leaders will get in touch with you and let you know that the best thing for the child is for you to come and get them
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6-15-2010 @ 4:27PM
fkurtin said...Parents who send their kids away to camp instead of spending time with their children should be tied up and pummeled. OMG DONT LET YOUR CHILD GET IN THE WAY OF YOUR SELFISH SUMMER PLANS .
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6-19-2010 @ 12:54PM
Shari said...You know, not every person who sends there kids to camp is trying to get rid of them. You opinionated, self-righteous know-it-all. Sometimes it's a way for them to learn how to interact with different personalities or try new things or have new adventures away from the almighty breast of there ever watchful mommy.
6-15-2010 @ 4:34PM
Otto Ladensack said...Laurie, if you are truly an unlazy parent you can have respectful, disciplined kids without spanking. Forcing your kid to go to camp so you can have a mini-vacation away from them is lazy and poorly thought out.
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6-15-2010 @ 4:34PM
Mike said...In the 1950s there was a songe titled "Hello Mudder, Hello Fadda", about a kid who hated camp. Horrow stories! Then it stopped raining and everything was great. check it our on GOOGLE. FUNNY!
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6-15-2010 @ 4:36PM
Laurie said...I don't know where some of you are coming from. For those of you who talk about camp being three (or even two) months long, I do not know of any sleep-away cam that is longer than a week or two at the most, unless you are a Counselor or Trainee (then you are there for six-eight weeks, but by that time, kids are certainly no longer homesick and are doing it by pure choice). For a one-two week experience, any child of proper age can learn to adjust as long as it is not an abusive or improper situation. I have three children, all of whom go to camp, and the younger two went through a very short period of homesickness the first or second day, and by the third or fourth day, they loved it! Had I picked them up, I would have deprived them of a fantastic opportunity to learn that they can make friends and have fun on their own! What a great experience camp can be, again, as long as the child is old enough and it is a good camp.
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6-15-2010 @ 4:39PM
Laurie said...P.S. I am a different Laurie than the one above. I do not spank my children, nor do I send them to camp for a vacation from them. Camp is for them, not me.
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6-15-2010 @ 5:52PM
Mr. Otto said...I like your position. Using camp as a tool to nurture rather than as a warehouse is good. Additionally, when a kid is nurtured rather than bullied [referrencing Laurie the former :)] they are better able to be capable and independent.
6-15-2010 @ 4:40PM
Jo said...We spent all our summer vacations as a family. All but one. That one, my sister and I spent one week at summer camp, while my other sister, and my grandmother went to a nice hotel in a sunny spot. Good for Grandma, and good for my older sister. Camp was fun for me, and not for my other sister. C'est la vie. That one week of summer camp was the one and only time my parents had a week alone. They were at our school concerts, our sporting events, and my piano lessons. I was happy my parents were going to get one week to themselves.
I think you may have misunderstood; many summer camps are only one to two weeks long ... not all summer. And, for my parents who now have been happily married for nearly 65 years, I'm happy they had one week to themselves when I was eleven.
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6-15-2010 @ 4:42PM
fkurtin said...Parents who send their kids off to camp do not deserve to have children in the first place
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6-15-2010 @ 7:12PM
Tasha said...I'm actually taking offense to a lot of these comments... I'm a camp counselor and not too long ago I was a camper, too. (I'm 17 years old). You guys all need to lighten up! Every kid who goes to sleep away camp for the first time will freak out and hate it there for the first little while. It's very rare that a kid will adjust quickly. Kids even hate day camps for the first couple of days, but then they start to adjust to it. It's just a new environment and of course their initial reaction is going to be negative!
And if they actually do hate it? There's no reason you should drive there to pick them up just because they hate it. Counselors nowadays WILL call home if you get sick, and they will NOT allow any bullying to take place - if your kid actually hates it, let them stay. It will be a good lesson to them that sometimes they just have to learn to deal with a situation they don't like.
I guarantee you that if you're the kind of parent who comes rescuing their kids from every situation your kids will grow up spoiled and whiny. But NONE of the kids at the camp I work at who complain on the first day are complaining by the end of the week.
I think this book is a great idea and I thought the letters were really cute and funny. For those of you who don't, like I said, you seriously need to lighten up. Going to camp - and hating it - is part of growing up. Eventually we're all going to have to learn to deal with stuff we don't want to. And these letters home are hilarious!
6-19-2010 @ 12:18PM
Marti said...fkurtin:
Oh, geez. Get over yourself. Ever thought that some kids WANT to go to camp and actually ASK (or beg) to go? I guess only horrible, undeserving parents would actually allow their child to do something he/she has been asking to do.
Most parents allow their children to go to camp because they think the kids will have a good time. That's why I wanted to send my daughter to horseback riding camp. She loves horses, loves riding, and absolutley adores making new friends. But shame on me for doing that, right? Shame on me for wanting to give my child an awesome week full of the things she loves to do. Gosh, I'm such a bad mother.
6-15-2010 @ 4:47PM
Brinda said...I sympathaize with the kid. In 6th grade, it was MANDATORY for kids in our shcool district to attend what was called "Fresh Air Camp". Can you say HELL?" I had never been away from my parents, they had adopted me, and were related to my biological parents, whom I saw quite often. Here I was scuttled off to some place in the wilds, with 60 other kids, most of whom were older than me. I ended up covered in poision ivy, huddled under a blanket in a tent during a thunderstorm, which I am terrified of, and wrongly accused by another "camper" of taking pictures of girls in the shower, simply because I had forgotten to take the brownie camera from around my neck before I walked into the bathrooms.
I was falsely accused and had to stand before the camp counsel, almost being expelled. So no, it was NOT a happy experience for me.
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6-15-2010 @ 6:16PM
ruby said...i REALLY want to read that book now!!!!!!!!!!
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6-15-2010 @ 4:50PM
kerry wennrich said...camp is not as bad as it may seem what they probally were complaining about is how the staff treated them
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