The weekend of 21st and 22nd of August 2021 is the Year 10 Colo Father Son weekend. There is some general information below and more detailed information will come later in the year. I highly recommend that your son and his father (or father figure) attend this weekend if at all possible. It is a great experience for both the boys and their fathers and the only opportunity to do something like this during their time at Joeys.
What is involved?
The weekend starts on Saturday morning with travel to the Joeys Outdoor Education property at Colo. After lunch there is the opportunity to select a range of different activities designed for fathers and their sons to do together. On Saturday evening after dinner the fathers meet together before rejoining their sons for an affirmation session at the bonfire.
There is an outdoor Mass on Sunday morning before some final activities and the trip home.
What will my son think?
Please do not listen (too much) to your son if he says he doesn’t want to attend! Each year after the boys return they tell me that they had a great time and that it was not at all what they expected. They are usually surprised that it was a very different experience to when they visit Colo with their class during the year.
What have fathers said in previous years?
Some of the comments fathers emailed to me after recent camps:
- It is always good to spend time with my boys but this is a fantastic opportunity to get to know other fathers and my son’s friends a bit better as well. There is a lot he and I will take away from the weekend and I’m sure it will be one of our lasting memories from his schooling days.
- It’s so rare to be able to take an excuse from our busy lives to make special time like that. We all know we should be doing that regularly but the 1 on 1 time doesn’t happen. I am going to make it a regular thing now.
- The sessions were thought provoking, catering was great and it was a lot of fun meeting some more dads and boys. The weekend was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it immensely.
- It really was a special event and one where I learnt a lot about parenting and also had the wonderful opportunity to spend quality time, one-on-one, with my son on a beautiful property
- Well organized, informative and emotional. It truly was a magical experience.
- My son and I have always had a good and open relationship we both found the sharing of the personal letter to be a very emotional and moving time together and I certainly felt it took our bond to a higher level
Finally, please read the email below which Damian Cullen, father of Max (2019), asked me to pass on to other fathers and father-figures when Max attended the weekend.
Dear fellow Dad’s,
I like you, recently received the invitation and related information for the Father Son weekend at Colo. I had the great fortune of attending this weekend four years ago with my older son Tom. At the time, I didn’t know a lot about the weekend, which is advertised as voluntary and had a prior commitment on the weekend, so I had to decide if we should attend. While I liked the idea of writing a letter to my son, it was a little daunting to work out exactly what I wanted to say and how I would get that down on paper. Fortunately, I spoke to some of the Dads who had gone with older boys and was told ‘do not miss it’. So we went.
From memory, we ended up with just over half of the Father’s and Son’s attending. I heard a number of Dad’s who did not attend, had asked their son if they wanted to go and the son said ‘no’, so they chose not to attend. Other Dads were not overly excited about the camping element. While some families will have situations that make attending the weekend impossible, I cannot stress strongly enough, that you should move Heaven and Earth to attend this if you can, regardless of what your son says or your dislike of camping!
I felt really sorry for the families that missed this weekend the last time I went and I promised that I would make sure to let everyone know not to miss the next one. This event is a one off. We all think that we should take time out for each of our kids, to spend ‘quality’ time with them and tell them how we feel about them. This is the chance. It will never happen again for your son at Joey’s, as it is only offered only once. It is a really special time together that neither of you will ever forget. Please, if at all possible….DO NOT MISS IT!!!
Regards,
Damian Cullen
(Father of Max Cullen)