Not a day goes by that a mother on the internet isn’t criticized for the way she’s choosing to raise her children. The criticisms and shaming could be about literally anything. People are shaming moms for how they decide to feed their babies. Moms face criticism for the frequency with which they bathe their children.
Folks even take issue with the clothes moms are wearing. It’s never-ending. Now, one mom is catching flak for the amount of time she sends her children away to sleep away camp for.
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Rachael Potash sends her children to a seven-week summer camp.
In a TikTok video, Rachael Potash shared how she prepares for the days leading up to her daughters, aged 11 and 13, attending a seven-week sleepaway camp. What Rachael thought would just be a day-in-the-life style of video turned into one where she received quite a bit of backlash in the comments.
"It was about making these really special moments with my kids, and it turned into 'You're a bad parent for sending them away for seven weeks,'" Rachael told People.
Rachael says that while the idea of sending her children away for so long was once unusual to her, too, there is a sentimental family history that comes with it.
Rachael's late husband actually planted the summer camp seed.
Rachael shared that the girls’ father, who died four years ago, also went to sleepaway camp when he was a child. It was a time in his life that he remembers fondly. “I couldn't believe it,” Rachael said when she first heard of the sleepaway idea. “…leaving home for the whole entire summer, but he'd tell me, 'No, you don't understand. It was the best time of my life,'” she said.
The camp was so important to Rachael’s husband that he went to visit in the last years of his life. "Before he passed away, when he was in remission, we went to visit his camp in Maine. We took my daughters to his camp and got to see his bunk and all that. We went to the sister camp and my older one was interested. We went to go see other camps too, but she decided she wanted to go to his sister camp," Rachael says.
"So this camp, in particular, has a ton of meaning because it's the sister camp of where her dad went. I think it's truly a connection for her to her dad, in a sense."
'That's crazy,' people commented on Rachael's videos.
But without the history, Rachael’s comments on TikTok were full of critics who felt the duration of the camp was entirely too long.
"Oh my gosh…I could never do that," one user wrote. "I would miss them way too much- there are so few summers with kids. Thats family time."
"SEVEN WEEKS?!" another mom wrote. "Here I am homeschooling bc I can’t even be away from mine for a day. This makes me feel like I’m crazy."
Another person wanted to assign the crazy to Rachael. "I embrace the summer with my kids," another user said. "Once they leave the house it's so empty. I wouldn't push them to be gone for the entire summer that's crazy."
Rachael enjoys that her children are digitally disconnected while at camp.
On the internet, Rachael responded in jest. She posted a video of herself in sunglasses, applying lip gloss and dismissing the naysayers. But in her conversation with People, Rachael shared that her daughters treasure the summers they spend away at camp in Maine. This is the fifth year they’ve attended.
The kids look at the camp as their summer home and forge incredible bonds with their fellow campers. Rachael enjoys the fact that the children are on a digital detox while they’re away.
"My daughter wrote me a letter the other day. She said, 'My shower is outside and I feel so at one with nature.' We live in this digital world where so many of us are literally living our lives online. These girls are getting to experience life living in the moment, outside making s'mores and going water skiing, and making lifelong friendships," she shared.
Former campers said their experiences were beautiful.
Rachael said her children are learning life skills and coping mechanisms many young adults don’t master until college. At the same time, the camp gives them an opportunity to just be children.
“To me, it's like what better gift can I give them than having them literally be present in life and be out in nature and not worry about makeup or who went to this party and whether or not they were invited. I think that kids now need that more than ever."
Amid the naysayers, there were plenty of women who shared how their own lives were enriched at camp. “I feel like people with the negative comments never experienced the magic of summer camp,” one user said. “I went for 8 weeks every summer and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
