Is anyone else as disturbed by some of the posts here that have been pro camp names that I think show their potential damage.
Calico or Allison, to me, your camp did a disservice to you. It made you comfortable with who you are at camp but not in the real world. Perhaps if you were accepted as Allison at camp and shown that this is the real world, you'd be more comfortable and confident and accepting of who you are outside of camp. Why do you feel that you can't be the same person outside of camp as you are at camp? Why, as you put it, is she not welcomed in the outside world? Your camp should've helped you find who you are and made you realize that this is a beautiful person who is the same at camp and outside of camp.
Qui, I'd say the same thing about you not liking your name. I'm not going to go any deeper than that because I don't know anything about you other than you don't like your name. As a young girl at a camp, what if you would've had a conversation with a 17 year old counselor who you looked up to and that counselor said that she felt that your name was really cool? Maybe that would've made you more comfortable with your name and who you are outside of camp.
Camp may be the one or two months (or one or two weeks) during the summer but it's effects are supposed to go far beyond what happens during that period of time. Camp is not supposed to make you a different person during the summer, only to send you home to change back into the pre-growth person. Camp is supposed to give you building blocks and resources, strength and positive growth that helps you throughout your life.
What really worries me is the tie that this all has to the issue of camp not being the real world. That camp is one thing and than you have to return into the cruel outside world and who you were before. Well, seeing as how some camps create this false reality, I can see how many people believe this. Camp is the real world, it helps people grown and you are the same person away from camp as you are at camp. Camp is only a fraction of each of our and our camper's lives and we need to give our campers all the resources that we can so that they can thrive throughout their life. If we are making camp this haven away from home and giving them two different lives, we're doing damage.
As for the "it's just tradition' thing, that's not a reason, by itself, to keep doing anything. If traditions are positive and meaningful, great, but just because they're traditions doesn't mean that they shouldn't be reevaluated and possibly changed.
