T Minus Four Days

It is coming! Summer camp! We have gone to Target and stocked up. The warm sleeping bag, insect repellent, flashlight, sunscreen, etc. are all accounted for.

I am not concerned that my kid will have a bad time at all. I think he will do just fine.

I have a silly concern, and it truly is silly. For those of us with kids, we do realize that sometimes our silly concerns come true, and they blow up in our face. Right?

Here is my only concern. JM has always liked to sleep with a light on. If he doesn't have a light on, there can be several moments of "freaking out" that aren't pretty. I have seen him at sleepovers having a fight with a friend over leaving the light on, and he wins.

I have told the husband, this could be an issue. It will be pitch black when the lights go out at camp, and I mean pitch black.

So after our fun opening day a few weeks ago, JM was stoked and jumping up and down happy to go to camp.

I told him, to go to camp, he needs to be able to sleep in the dark. Period. There is no fighting his way out of this. "Okay Mom" was his response. Well, that was during the day. At night, he freaks out when bedtime comes. He has some pretty unusual fears of the dark, and honestly, some of them go way back three years ago when our house was burglarized, and his room was the point of entry. I don't blame him. I think we also need to nurture him out of this weird thing because it will only get worse. It also helps that our dog sleeps in his room. I know he feels safer with her there. I know I feel safer for him with her there. She will make noise if we had a repeat of a burglary.

So, for several nights, he has been sleeping with the light off in prep for camp, and I think we might be over the hump. The freaking out seems to have subsided.

And I hope my silly little concern is all for nothing. I'll let you know if I get a call that first night of camp, "Can you come and get your kid?"