EITM: In Tipi Unplugged 6/23/25

How do you cancel camp?

I agree, I feel like that is rough on families that need to go to work. I mean, you'll handle that. Hopefully.

More of the options are like I'm sure they're scrambling to find space to put kids indoors, you know.

Yeah, but if they're canceling a camp, Christian, will you do me a favor? Will you find me somebody who has kids that go to any camp. I'd love to find one that's asleep away also, And I don't care if it's a week, I don't care, if it is a month, I don't care if it's the whole summer. Like there's some like we've talked about that in the past, the people that go away for like a month or six weeks, Well, you can't cancel.

That, no, I mean that they like, you're gone.

You have to have accommodations in case a heat wave strikes while you're there.

Yeah, it's called outside.

No, they don't want them outside, You want them inside.

What are you going to do?

They have activities inside. They're not in like tense no.

No, but you sleep in like cabins or something, or like like little shift barracks.

But you don't just sit inside all day you go outside, but.

They would need to keep them in doing like the crafts. Yeah, and I.

Didn't sign up for craft camp.

Yeah.

We also don't want to death on our hands. That could hurt word of mouth.

But what do you do?

What do you do if it's like a week long camp and they start canceling it?

What do you do? Yeah?

You mean it's just not a sleepover, it's just all day.

Yeah, yeah, well, or or like it doesn't even have to be like county run.

It could just be.

Like and I don't want to name one because it makes it look bad, but like there's like private people that have not people but companies that.

Run camps, the martial arts places.

Do it?

Do they really?

Yeah?

And it's not even like you're doing taekwondo all day. They have other activities, even take kids to other things like splash parks.

Do they really?

Yes?

Oh?

I thought that would have all been.

Like like a master roum just keeps you in there and you train all week.

Well, now you will, Now they've got they want to split it up up. That's a lot if you were doing because you can pick up your kid after work, so you're dropping them off at eight in the morning, seven in the morning, and then at six and they've only been doing karate all.

Now, that'd be awesome, now the great well, great training. Yeah, let's get you good.

Kids got the attention span to do that.

That's why you make them do different things.

I think middays they show like a movie.

Oh so these are like babies, No at.

All, these are like middle school kids.

And are you serious?

Possibly beyond obviously there's not as many because those kids may be able to stay at home alone. But you're totally screwed today if you get a note from your camp and you're gonna have to call in tel work. I can't come into day by the way. Also, you're going to cancel camp? When do I see my refund?

Well?

Yeah, hopefully they would be able to do that.

Oh no, there's no hopefully Seriously that camps cost a ton of money. Camps are very expensive. Where am I going? Kristen Line four? Hi Elliet at the morning?

Hey who's this Hell?

Yes, sir, Hey, this is this is Kevin.

Yes, Kevin, what can I do for you?

Uh? Talking about people that had kids in camp? I just dropped mine off about two minutes ago.

What what camp. What kind of camp are they in?

So it's just like a basic wreck through the county.

But what do they do? What do they do?

Like?

What what are they supposed to do?

I mean I dropped them off at this elementary school and they keep them busy, I don't know, doing all kinds of crazy games and stuff.

Yeah, games aren't crafts. If there's if there's take them there?

Hey what what?

Yeah?

Yeah?

What are they to the pool on Tuesdays and Thursdays? And they usually take some sort of some sort of trip. I think they're going to like sky Zone and they get a water parks. They take them a bunch of places.

That's cool. Hey, what are their rules on cell phones?

I think they have a cell phone or a tablet time and like the kids aren't allowed to screen share or some thing. But it's like a designated time.

Because that was the other thing I was reading. You know how many camps are going no cell phones at all?

Oh, they don't want them brought at all.

No, a lot of them go no cell phone.

This's got to be a new thing where there's no cell phones and not just like you'll you'll pick your kids up later today, right.

Yeah, I'll pick them up back to I get off work like three thirty four.

Yeah right, okay, so I mean listen, seven thirty to three thirty not the end of the world. But like you said, your kids get to bring them. There are a bunch of sleep away camps, no phone, nothing, that's ridiculous. Well how do you manage like they did in the nineties. Yeah, okay, well you know what, Like back in the eighteen hundreds they did camp with no electricity.

But I'm your parents are like, listen, I'm paying all this money to send you to this sleep away camp. You can sit on your home, sit on your phone at home in your bedroom for free.

Yeah, but what about designated timing?

Can kids access a phone in like the office if they need to a home?

Well, they're not going to prevent them from an emergency.

Oh I'm no, it's no contact correct.

Yeah, I mean I guess if I guess if they're really being babies, then you then they'll let them call. But yeah, no, there's no like no phones, no phones at all. So yeah, you can't be you can't be like a cry baby and try to get to use the phone. That's not going to happen. Like the like my older one, the only one, Hey, thank you sir. The only camps that that the older one did were hockey camps, and that was some of them were like no phones, no phones.

Well also the context of a hockey camp, you are out on the ice. Yeah, it's not like you can go hide under a tree and no.

No.

But also well two things. Number one, you're not on the ice all day.

Like some stuff is classrooms, some stuff is training and stuff. But it was also sleep away camp, so like they would be gone for a week.

I didn't realize that.

Yeah, so they would finish dinner and you could, like during the day, you can't, like you're not bringing your phone to the bag.

But then after dinner would they do like a movie at night or something like that, like some of their phones group activity.

Yeah, it's called get on your phone.

Yeah, watching watch hockey videos or get on Instagram or something. Now, the younger one did do I don't even remember what it was, but he did like a week long sleep away camp where you couldn't you couldn't bring a phone, but they would they had a phone there where they got to call home once a week, and I don't remember what that was, but that was like the same thing where it was like you slept in cabins and like you showered in.

The creek or whatever. I don't know what it was.

But they got they got one phone call home a week, but they couldn't bring phones and if they if they like it didn't happen to my kid, but like somebody in his cabin was like a real.

Baby, and so I mean they got homesick.

Yes, and so they kept trying to like they had to pull him out of the cabin because he was keeping everybody up crying all night.

Oh my god, yeah, damn the oh. I'm saying that it is sad, but.

You got to get over it. You got to get over it.

You just don't know until you maybe feel it out how you're going to react. For a lot of those kids, it's the first time ever away.

I understand that.

But then and then you're it's like they haven't even been to a sleepover, and they're like.

Well, go away for a week.

The well, I don't know if that. I don't know if that kid had ever been to sleepovers. But the but like the parents are flipping out because they're like, well what if what if my kid is a baby and he needs to call home, and they're like, that's not how it works.

Jeez. I felt bad. I got word from the cross country practice drop off this morning at five point fifty five that my son was the only one who very obviously had his medical form. Oh and my wife said he he looked like a freshman at my form.

Not a baby, though, not a baby? Can he run with his phone?

Wasn't crying? He has on a he has on a runner's belt.

The Diane, you got me?

I know, but do you ever see cross country kids using those? Put it under your shirt?

The hey, what's that?

What's that?

What's that? Lump?

You have.

My runner's belt? My runner's belt.

I wasn't sure for practices if kids were going to have their phones on them?

No, no, Well what about for music?

He does? Yeah, you can't have headphones on.

No, we'll just go through the speaker on the phone.

Just wake up all the night song.

No, somebody runs ox and then they're in charge.

I doubt it's a freshman, not even he hasn't even gone to school yet.

Hi Elliott the morning, Yeah, Hi, use this. Hey what's going on? Dude?

Oh?

Not much.

Camp oh yeah, do you have one that's going I do.

Yeah, she's going into July to four age campus but Mountain that's cool.

How oh but how long that sleep away? How long? How long? Long?

Monday to Friday? So drop her off Monday morning, figure up Friday evening.

Do does she get phone access?

No?

They I went when I was in middle school in high school, and then it was like if you got caught with your phone, uh, they called your parents to come.

Get you away.

Yeah.

Yeah, they were pretty strict about it.

I don't know if there's still that strict about it, but.

I know it did.

They do not let your kids bring any electronics at all. Yeah, no electronics. No, of course iPods aren't really a thing anymore. But no iPods, no MP three, no tablets, no nothing.

I was going to ask, like, can you bring can you bring a Bluetooth speaker? But what am I hooking that up to?

Nothing?

Yeah?

Yeah, but they do a really good job of keeping them busy. You know, you up, get in line, you go to breakfast, and then it is all the way until the time you go to bed. They have activities planned.

Yeah, and that last activity is Instagram. Hey, what is your kid? Is your kid bringing a And you may not want to say publicly, but a lot of kids will bring a BP.

She's luckily she's going with both of her cousins, so she should be you know, she should be very secure feeling there.

Oh yeah, BP. Oh, god means blood pressure. That's the only universe, kid, those are the.

Pressure.

Don't call it BP.

Well, I didn't want to say it in case the camp counselors are listening.

It's the type of kid who has this medical card.

Oh my god, on the street, I have to check my blood pressure every three minutes.

One of my insulin level drops.

Oh Jesus age, can I bring that?

Note?

They were saying, I was reading about one camper A thank you, sir, I was reading about one camp. First of all, kids bring burner phones like crazy, So it would be like it's like because like there's some places where either A like it sounds like four H doesn't dick around where you can't bring them at all. Yeah, But then there's some places where you have to drop them off and they put them in like.

One of those zoup bags or whatever it is.

Yeah, in case there is an emergency and we can't get the baby to stop crying. Where they will they like, or once a week, you can use your phone to like call home. But so they'll go, here's my phone and they'll do it. But then they have that's they have a burner phone. So well, oh they give them a burner phone.

Yeah, but then if you get caught with that, you're getting kicked out.

Okay, well, don't get caught. Okay, don't get caught. No kidding.

I've been sneaking stuff around everywhere. I just finished school. I was sneaking my vap in there. Now I'm doing that, they said. They also busted a kid who came in and they thought the kid was being really cool, like

And the kid was great until the very end of the week.

So like pickup was on Friday, and they said, like Thursday evening, the Harry Potter books started vibrating.

So what it was like sliced out in the middle.

He cut a hole.

The pages out his books are thick, buried his phone inside the pages of the book.

I was like, that kid is genius.

Pretty good now that that's a kid, Like I don't what is that like boy state or something.

That kid's the governor, Like that is smart.

So this this question. I never went to camp.

And by the way, all the all the like the camp run the people who run the camps are like after the second day, the kids really enjoyed being disconnected from all of the electronics and they play and they run and they're outside.

Do it well, yeah, no kidding, because you took it away from them.

They've got no other option.

Yeah.

By the way, I'd be great without coffee if I had no access to it.

Now, you wouldn't be great.

But I want coffee. I'd probably have such a headache I'd be crying like a baby.

But obviously, when it comes to screen time, there's efforts on parents beff schools, and clearly camps, whether it's tablet's phones or I'm assuming smart watches are in these bands.

Oh yeah, you can't bring your Apple watch in.

But back when, like my friends were going to camp, and even before that, could you not have like a discman or a walkman? Was it no electronics?

I don't I mean I never went.

To camp, neither did I. None of my friends did either. They like sleep away.

Oh, I definitely had friends who went to camp. But I don't know.

So I see this through that screen lens where it's like, yeah, it makes sense. It's almost like a mental health retreat as well. But has this has no electronics just sort of been the rule so early on.

You could have brought like a walkman or an air pod or something like that, you wouldn't have been able to bring those.

Probably he got me thinking when he said no iPods? I was like, well, how far back does this extent?

Was it?

Was it a blanket roll? No av either no or not to stay? You no electronics?

But like what about what about like like could you have brought could you have brought like a boombox?

I don't know.

I don't know.

Like these kids need to be able to hear the show that should be blaring through the system.

Are they getting a good coverage in the woods?

The yeah, I mean the signal strong?

What is the and what do you do for like, what do you do for and listen, I know a lot of people do it, but I just what do you do for jew camp? Like those kids go away for months?

Weeks?

Right?

Yeah? Months months?

And it's not just Jews, but Jews do it a lot like Northeast Jews do it a lot.

Actually didn't Maybe he's no, maybe he's uh posted, but we know Josh went those camps, right or did he know about them and just never get to go? I forget.

I bet he'll tell us no, No, I bet Josh way, because didn't Josh say that's where he learned to masturbate.

I feel like you've you've pushed him on that.

A lot of Jewish kids learned to master abate at sleep away camp.

But was he not allowed to have any electronics or did you have to sneak them in? What books? Was he cutting out the middle of?

Yeah? God only knows. Could you imagine though seeing that?

Yeah?

No, here we go because he was shoehorn in there.

How to he definitely went.

Remember he.

Was the Color War captain.

Right, that's right?

And then a lot of like like Dorcas, he was also King Dorcas, and I bet was Josha, baby, did he cry his first night away at camp?

I don't think he's ever told us that, but it was, didn't he?

But he learned how to masturbate.

It's coming back to me now. I believe he was one of those eight weekers.

That's a long time. Were you not allowed to bring a phone? Eight weeks? And that's that's cruel and unusual.

Josh says he was allowed to have a boombox?

Was it one, like did everybody get to bring one?

Or was it just like the cab Like did you have to write a letter to your cabin maids?

It's a lot harder back in the day to arrange that.

Yeah, that would suck. That's why you need phones. Yeah, Jesus put me in the group text already. Hi Ellie in the morning?

Yeah, Hi, who's this?

Hey? Hi?

This is Noel?

Hi, Noel? How are you lovely?

It's a great morning?

Yes it is. Did you go away too? Did you go in a camp?

Yeah? So in Minnesota the Concordia Language villages and Bomingjin. You can go for two weeks or you can go for a month. My mom liked to send us for a month, but you got credits for so like if you went to Spanish camp for a month, you get credit for Spanish, French, German, whatever it is that you went for, but you get completely immersed. They would take everything. My dad tried to sneak in just a pack of gum. So much trouble.

Now you pay, that's fine. Can I jump in here for a second now? The Midgie Two things. Number one, Bamidge has a great college. The University in Bamigi is freaking awesome. Bamidgie during the winter is also where they test car batteries to see how they drew in the cold. My kid, my younger one, actually looked at going to a goalie camp in Bamidgie. That was a week long where you would go to camp. But then they also had like lakes and stuff like that, Like a lot of water around Bamidgie.

But Tyler is a lot of water everywhere in Minnesota.

Great legs.

The but now Tyler is pulled up the Concordia website. I hope a lot of those kids didn't break their glasses playing basketball.

She said, these are language villages.

Language camp.

No, the language villages, so they immerse you and whatever language you want to learn, so they take away everything you have, so the friends, but you can't and you do have school all day. So over the loudspeakers you'll hear chicken chick chicos. So then you have to go to school.

What is that? What is that?

It's it's saying hey everybody, Hey kids, it's time to go to school.

Yeah.

I mean it's cool.

No, it's not.

It's like school.

Hey, what did you do this summer? Oh? Dude, I went to an amusement park.

I went to my cousins in Orlando. I smelled weed for the first time. What did you do?

Oh?

I got to spend pesos in the book Astorra.

What is this weird fight happening?

Whoa maya with the brooms?

Yeah?

What are they doing?

So these these two Dorcases they are They're wearing Canadian flag capes over their shoulders.

Now I know you were in the Spanish immersion, but what's going on here?

And they got on dumb French berets and why are they fighting with brooms?

Sorry I'm cleaning. We use it to learn to learn curling.

Sorry, roller coaster?

Yeah, what is this?

Well?

I mean the one thing is is I did lose weight for a little bit, because if you can't say the food on the fluit on the on the table, you don't eat. If you can't sit past them. In the late ship book before, you don't get any milk, you don't get any bread.

And I'm guessing I'm guessing they don't make it easy and do like in Chilada like it's probably all like hardcore, like like Mexican food.

It wasn't not always because they did. I remember eating a lot of oatmeal because I didn't eat any oatmeal and I was hungry a lot night.

What a horrible camp?

Now, Mom?

Can I please come home?

No, that's why. That's why.

By the way of all camps, I get why this one doesn't have phones.

I get it. Nobody you would I would you just sit up all night and cry?

Wait?

Hold on, yes, Tyler, Well you're not sitting up all night and crying. Camp songs and daily skits are an integral part of the village experience, including at mealtimes, as are jokes, games and weekend dances.

What jokes and what jokes are you even?

I don't really remember any jokes, but we did a lot of singing and then at the very end, you have to put on a big play with your classroom.

So is the architecture in these villages meant to also represent whatever country you are cosplaying.

No, it's this is there's no bugs play there, but it's just some of the structures very permanent.

So Kyler I went to obviously the Spanish ones where he lived in these little hut take things and we had to sweep, we had to do all kinds of stuff to keep the bugs.

Out there from me.

Well, she went to French camp and they were in these beautiful places.

There was carpet.

She would send me pictures. She's like, She's like, if there were any bugs in here, I think I would die. We have air conditioning.

I'm like, what.

You sweating so much?

You didn't keep those glasses up on the bridge of your nose.

Come o, Saint d s loser. Ain't nobody in that camp learn how to mask?

Good?

It's like a castle. That's the French one.

Oh, the French one is nice.

Those were for the rich people in Minnesota.

Wow, yeah, look at that.

Dang.

Wait, those are all the villages.

Yeah, German, French, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Chinese, Japanese English.

Put me in that one.

Like all the counselors are like people in college that all have been going to these camps and speak almost fluent whatever language they're they're there to teach you.

Did you ever go back as a counselor?

No, because I can.

Hardly speak Spanish.

Well, my mom and my mom sent us every year for years years. But like we're from a small town, Moorhead, right next to Fargo. I don't know if you yes, I mean we didn't. Nobody would speak back to us. I mean we did have a decent Hispanic population, but nobody would speak Spanish to us. So we would come come back home.

And because what you were speaking really wasn't Spanish like you were, you couldn't do it.

Look at weird now, Lilia, this, oh my god, that is from the Spanish village.

I'll tell you what it was.

It was good.

Chica. They are on the right. They have been the hottest thing going.

That's one of the many dances.

Well, they have maccarina.

You know what you learn prayers, so you learn like the morning prayer, the prayers