I wanted to give Tzippy the best chances of enjoying her summer — especially since we were spending a fortune to give it to her

Miriam: How can you ruin my daughter’s fresh start over rules you never mentioned?

Fraidy: We have a responsibility to all our campers, but the one who stood to lose most was your daughter.

Miriam

WElove living out of town.

We love the space, the close-knit community, the feeling that we matter.

We don’t mind the fact that there’s only one pizza store or that we can only shop for clothing when we travel to larger communities to visit family.

I love the schools, too, the fact that the teachers know every student personally, that the small size makes it easier for every kid to have a chance to shine.

There’s a definite downside to that, though. When a child struggles to fit in, there’s nowhere else to go.

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zippy’s having such a hard time in school,” I confided in my sister Batya, over the phone one evening. “Her class is going through some rough seventh grade politics, her best friend dropped her, you know how it is… and with only 11 girls in the class, she’s really struggling to find her place socially.”

“That’s really tough,” Batya said. “You’d think a small class would make life easier, everyone knows each other, everyone’s friends. But if she’s kind of lost her old chevreh, there’s so little scope to make a new one.”

“Exactly.” I sighed. Poor Tzippy. I wished there was something I could do for her. “I spoke to her teachers, they’re talking to the class about inclusion and middos and everything, but it’s not as if she’s being excluded or bullied. Just that she’s been — lonely. Not having close friends is really painful.”

“Right, for sure,” Batya said. She paused for moment and then continued, sounding all excited. “Miriam, you should really send her to sleepaway camp! Give her a chance to get to know a whole new social circle, girls from other places… she’d love it.”

“Camp?” I wasn’t expecting to hear that. “But it costs a fortune,” I said lamely. We’d never considered sleepaway camp before. It was simply too expensive to fit into our budget.

“I think maybe you should consider it for Tzippy this year,” Batya urged. “My girls love it, and when Esti was having a hard time socially, camp was literally her lifeline. She had camp friends, and it made all the difference until she made a good group of friends in school too.”

Batya has always had strong powers of persuasion. I mulled over the idea. Maybe it would be the right step for Tzippy. A fresh start, an opportunity to get to know hundreds of girls from all over… maybe it would be just what she needed.

“I’ll discuss it with Shmuel, but you know what, Bats? I think you’re onto a good thing here,” I said.