Hey, Camp Aficionados!

Last Tuesday I talked about a series I’m posting on this Blog throughout the month of May. The series is about the Five Goals of Summer Camp. Last week I disclosed the first goal, which is by far the easiest to accomplish at summer camp: Have Fun! The next goal isn’t too difficult either, and that goal is:

Goal #2: Improving athletic, intellectual, and artistic skills. 

As Dr. Chris Thurber and Dr. Jon Malinowski point out in their excellent summer camp guide, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook,’ they explain the five goals of summer camp. And from their explanation, we can glean that for the same reason Goal #1 is so easy to achieve, Goal #2 is nearly as easy. And why is that?

Because camps are fun manufacturers—experts at it, in fact! They can make anything fun and they have countless fun things to do. That’s why you’re sure to have so MUCH fun at camp!

And that’s why you’re sure to mature in athleticism, intellectualism, and artistry (or, to put it another way, your body, mind, and soul).

Parent Pointers:

-    Most cabin staffers have a knack for teaching. But you’ll want to make sure of this yourself. Watch for specific qualities in cabin leaders—do they set a good example or do they start swearing when they lose their temper? Do they encourage the personal improvements of campers or do they use competition as a means of motivation?

-    Overnight camps offer something that day camps can’t: immersion. The improvements of Goal #2 take some time. Kids need every second of the day to work on these things. They get that at overnight camp. There, they eat, breathe, and sleep camp. However, at day camps, the camp day ends at a specific time every day. The learning process is interrupted and never given enough time to really bloom.

-    Lots of kids can have a tendency to stick with the things they know. If they have a preexisting passion for archery, it’s likely that their first instinct will be to head off to the archery targets. Before camp, it’s good to encourage your children to challenge themselves with something new during their camp stay.

Goal #2 will certainly be reached at any good summer camp! Tune in next week, Tuesday, to hear about Goal #3—Gain Independence. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Soon-to-be-Campers!

As we’re all getting prepped for the fast-approaching summer camp season, I’m sure the thrilling anticipation and excitement has charged the air around your home. With the school year coming to a close, impatience intensifies and we’ve all got summer camp on the brain. So, to join in the anticipation for camp, throughout the month of May, I’ll be posting about the Five Goals of Summer Camp.

Noted in their preparatory guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook,’ Drs. Chris Thurber and Jon Malinowski explain what the five goals of summer camp are and why we should know them. So, what’s the first goal?

Have Fun!

This first goal is never a problem as camps are pretty much founded on having fun. It’s every kid’s first priority and any good camp’s first priority, so it works out pretty well. The director and cabin leaders at your camp are likely very skilled people who know how to make some fun out of even the most mundane activity—like tidying the cabin or gathering firewood.

You might be thinking, “My kid? Have fun cleaning? I don’t think so…”, but stranger things have happened. You’d be surprised what kind of influence a fun, positive example can have on your kid. Summer camps have been successfully working their magic for generations!

But good cabin leaders making a boring time fun is just the tip of the fun iceberg at summer camp. Skilled staff members may be able to make fun out of nothing, but camp offer a vast variety of fun activities, equipment and facilities, as well as peers. With an abundance of new people to meet and a hundred fun things to do and places to see, summer camp was made to show kids a FUN time!

Tune in next Tuesday to read about Goal #2 of summer camp: Improve athletic, artistic, and intellectual skills. And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Preppers!

As we’ve moved through April, I’ve been posting a series of Tips and Advice every Monday about involving your soon-to-be-camper in the planning stages of summer camp.

I introduced the topic on April 6, explaining the importance of including your child. The week after that, I talked about solidifying the length of your camper’s camp stay in your their mind. And last week, was about things to avoid (if at all possible), like moving homes or any upsetting separations directly before or during your kid’s camp stay.

Today concludes this series with probably the most important part of your kid’s involvement in summer camp planning: Keeping Your Doubts to Yourself!
Noted in the excellent preparatory guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook,’ Doctors Chris Thurber and Jon Malinowski discuss the proper way to reveal your attitude concerning your kid’s camp stay in front of your kid. In their book, they discuss the importance of creating an optimistic and fun approach to camp. After all, your demeanor has more effect over your child’s demeanor than you may realize.

For instance, saying something like:

“I love you so much! You know I’ll miss you, but once you get to camp, you’re going to have so much fun; you won’t even have time to be homesick!”

…is better than…

“I have no idea what I’ll do without you while you’re off at camp. I’m going to miss you so much!—I don’t know how I’ll get through those two weeks.”

…which is Not so Good!

It’s also smart to give kids a few examples of your plans during their camp stay. Let them know that you’ll be keeping yourself occupied while they’re away.

Though doubts may seep into your mind from time to time, you know your kid’s going to have a blast at camp. Give them your support and remind them of a couple things—how proud they make you and that they played a hand in the decision to go to camp.

With encouragement like that, your kid shouldn’t have any worries about the approaching camp season. Enjoy the time leading up to camp and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hello again, Camp Preppers!

Continuing our Tips and Advice posts on Mondays throughout April, today I’m offering more words concerning the involvement of your soon-to-be-camper in the planning stages of summer camp. A few weeks ago, I introduced the topic, explaining the importance in planning WITH your kid. Last week I discussed ways to solidify the length of a camp stay in your camper’s mind.

Instead of offering tips of what to do, today I’m going to give advice on a couple of things NOT to do.

As noted in their preparatory guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook,’ Doctors Chris Thurber and Jon Malinowski acknowledge that life outside of summer camp carries on without skipping a beat. Sometimes horrible, traumatic things occur whether we want them to or not. Other things may occur that aren’t horrible or traumatic but result in giant changes nonetheless.

Often times, these sort of things don’t really happen within our control. But, if you CAN avoid moving in the weeks prior to camp—or especially DURING—this is definitely the better choice. Making new friends at camp and getting used to new surroundings can be stressful, but camp relieves these concerns as kids quickly see how easy it is to make friends and have fun there.

However, with the stress of having to make new friends and get used to new surroundings all over again, this compound stress is likely to cloud a child’s ability to relax and enjoy themselves at camp. If moving CANNOT be avoided, make sure to introduce your kid to as much of the new place as possible. Show pictures, take visits, talk, talk, talk!

It’s important to keep your child apprised of other traumatic things as well such as leaves for military service, marital separation, or a serious illness or even death of a close friend or family member. Homesickness is liable to result from such challenging disruptions, however, a straightforward and honest approach about such topics will help reduce their feelings of worry and uncertainty.

Keep in mind for these unavoidable situations, the fewer worries kids have to deal with at camp—the better time they’re going to have at camp. Tune in next week to learn about the proper attitude to have concerning summer camp. As always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Preppers!

I’m posting tips and advice on Mondays throughout April concerning great ways to involve your child in the planning processes of summer camp such as packing and shopping. Last week I introduced the topic and explained the importance of including your kids in the planning stages of summer camp.

Making it something they’re a part of certainly reduces some of the mystery of summer camp for them. They know a little more of what they can expect when they’re a part of the planning. Today I’ll be talking about a vital part of helping your children to prepare for their summer camp experience: solidify the length of your kid’s camp stay in their mind.

There are three ways described by authors Dr. Chris Thurber and Dr. Jon Malinowski in their preparatory guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook’, available here at Everything Summer Camp.

1.) Use a family calendar to mark the dates of your child’s camp stay. Having this visual representation of when camp starts and ends will generally put a decent idea of just how long camp is in your kid’s head. Make sure the calendar is pinned up in communal areas of your home, like the kitchen refrigerator or a hallway wall.

2.) Referencing time is another way to solidify the length of your kid’s camp stay in his or her mind. Referencing time means to refer to another event of a similar amount of time. If you and your child are thinking of a two week camp stay, ask, “How long did winter break feel? That was two weeks.” What’s vastly more important than your kid’s answer is their focus on lengths of time.

3.) Lastly, you can reframe time. This means putting the length of your kid’s camp stay in perspective. If your kid’s concerned that his or her camp stay will feel too long, you can lessen how ‘LONG’ time will feel. One way to do this is to explain that summer VACATION is a whole ten weeks long. Summer camp will only be one or two weeks. That’s 10 to 20% of summer vacation. That’s NOT that long!

You can also spread out a deck of cards and say that if each card is a week, there are this many cards to one year. Flip two of the cards and say this is how many weeks out of the year you’ll be at summer camp. This visual works great for kids!With these three tips, you should have no problem giving your children an accurate idea of how long their camp stay will be and how long it will feel. Tune in next Monday to learn about what you can avoid before (and during your kid’s camp stay). And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John