This is a good segue to the topic of sleepaway camp. This year is my family’s first year in sleepaway camp. I am director of Krav Maga and Paintball in a camp and travel twice a week to teach group and private Krav Maga lessons in other summer camps. This gives me an appreciation of your concern for your son. To reassure you, please note that I am seeing some kids absolutely blossom. As one camp director told me: “Learning doesn’t stop in the summer. But it does change.” It’s this change that may do wonders for your son. In addition to removing your son from the bully’s presence, he is likely engaging in a totally different style of learning. With different teachers, he is now exposed to a multitude of different subject matters.
May Hashem grant you much bracha and hatzlachah! Stay strong and please keep me updated on how your son is doing.
Eilon Even-Esh is the founder and head instructor of Shomer360, an organization whose mission is “to instill strength and confidence through world-class self-defense techniques within a Torah-observant framework.” He has served as an IDF staff sergeant and as a captain in the USMC. Even-Esh will be teaching Krav Maga at a summer camp for boys during the week of August 18. He can be reached through his wife Yael at 917-376-3637.