As the 2020 Holiday Season approaches, consider giving an experiential gift to your children this year. The pandemic has turned our whole world upside down and brought challenges too numerous to count. Every day is spent in a virtual world on Zoom, digital work, digital school, even digital birthday parties. Although we have become amazingly efficient and comfortable in our digital universe, we have also learned to appreciate our natural surroundings even more. Our outdoor environment has given us the ability to practice social distancing while spending time with friends and family. The constant stress of being plugged-in seems to evaporate in the serenity of a babbling brook or a mountaintop view.
So when it comes to presents beneath the tree this holiday, think about a William Lawrence Camp summer for the young men in your family. Just like adults, our children will need a "break" from their virtual world. A few weeks without computers, mobile phones, and video screens combined with spectacular Lake Winnipesaukee sunsets and starlit night skies will do unmeasurable good. Scrambling up mountain ledges with their best buddy, paddling through wind-driven swells on Squam Lake, or building a campfire for the first time at Perch Point on Lower Beech Pond will provide a lifetime of memories. Your children will return home refreshed, more confident, and independent. A William Lawrence Camp summer may be the most significant and timely gift a parent could give a son in 2020. Remind your camper to light their William Lawrence candle this holiday; his wish of another summer on the "Knoll" may just come true.
