Hey, all of you shining Blog Readers!

What’s the best way to spread your natural sunshine? By telling everybody else how much they shine! And, while any day is good for giving out unexpected compliments, today is an especially great day for sharing pleasant remarks with one another because it’s National Compliment Day.

National Compliment Day was founded by Kathy Chamberlin as well as Debby Hoffman in 1998. Their reasoning behind Compliment Day was to give people a reminder that compliments are an easy, pleasant, and positive way to make a quick connection with somebody else. After all, who doesn’t love receiving compliments?

We may not all be as practiced at giving people compliments as we could be. It’s not something that people always remember to do for each other. That’s why we have a holiday to remind ourselves to do it. But fear not! I’m here to give you some tips on complimenting.

First of all, you have to mean what you’re saying. So, as to keep from cheapening the holiday, you don’t want come off as being insincere. How do you come off being sincere? BE SINCERE! Don’t just run around telling everyone how much you like their shirt or shoes or hair. It doesn’t matter how many people you compliment if none of them actually meant anything to you.

If you really are thinking about how great someone’s shirt is, then by all means, compliment that person on the shirt—because you mean it. The point is that you want to say something that’s going to make somebody smile. If you can’t think of something, don’t worry about it. No compliment is better than a cheap, forced one.

It’s also good to keep in mind today (and any day) that you may be complimented. Some people are even less practiced at receiving compliments than they are at giving them. You certainly don’t want to disagree with a compliment and make the other person feel bad about having said something nice! Accept compliments graciously with a simple, “thank you.”

You should also avoid volleying a compliment right back as it depreciates the original remark.

So go put some smiles on some faces and give people the gift of positivity! It’s sure to make their day as well as yours. Till next time, Readers!

- John

Hey, Dreamers!

Everyone has a dream that they’d like to pursue in life. Some people want to be firefighters, some want to be policemen. Other people want to be musicians or actors. Today is a day to recognize that dream and take steps towards realizing it. Today is National Make Your Dream Come True Day.

Anyone who’s already done it will tell you—following your dreams takes hard work, determination, patience, and more hard work. But that’s why our dreams are so important. Our dreams are never easy to fulfill as nothing important is. Take National Make Your Dream Come True Day as a gentle reminder and a golden opportunity to make some forward progress in realizing your dream.

Dreams will never come true unless you take the proper steps to turn them into a reality! Now that doesn’t mean you should be discouraged if your dreams have not yet come true—not in the least. It should give you the satisfaction of knowing that someday you will achieve your dreams.

Take myself for example. I knew when I was little that I wanted to be a writer. I wrote every day. I wrote every night. I went to school for writing both in high school and college, absorbing as much information as possible to be the best writer I could be. Now I get to talk to all you Everything Summer Camp Blog readers in the form of my written word!

When you take steps in the right direction, you’re bound to get where you’d like to be…eventually. Yes, following our dreams is no easy task. But no matter how difficult it is or how far away your dream seems from becoming a reality—stick with it! It’ll be worth it in the end because doing what makes you happy is ALWAYS going to make you happy!

Dream big and dream on, Dreamers! Thanks for reading.

Hey there, Good Deed Doers!

Don’t we all just love it when some kind-hearted person holds the door open for us or lets us pass them in the grocery line? It’s wonderful to be on the receiving end of random acts of kindness like that, but that’s only half of what today’s about.

See, good deeds are a two way street. If you expect them to happen to you, then you in turn should do them for others—it’s the old Golden Rule that says “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Today is a day to celebrate acts of kindness. Make Someone’s Day Day is celebrated the world over. Do good deeds for others and Karma’s bound to come back to you (in a good way). In fact, doing good deeds for others usually gives you a good feeling. So a selfless act can actually benefit you (even though the good deed you did wasn’t really about you).

Doing small and unexpected good deeds for a friend is great. Doing them for a stranger is even better. Maybe your good deed isn’t for a person at all. Pick up litter in the streets and do the planet a favor! Or maybe you can volunteer at your local Humane Society to help take care of some animals that could use your help.

It really doesn’t matter who (or what) the good deed is for, the important part is to put that goodness into the world. Remember: what goes around comes around. And, HEY! By the way—what exceptional readers you all are! Thanks for reading this post!

- John

Hey there, Frenzied Fathers and Mothers!

It’s more than understandable that this time of year can often times become a little overwhelming. Your kids go from lying around the house day in and day out for three months to suddenly having schedules as busy as yours! They have school, after school activities, homework, sporting events, sleepovers, and more. And you’re the one in charge of orchestrating all of it!

Well, here are some very helpful tips to managing everybody’s schedule without losing out on the fun of life!

Calendar

First—and probably most important—is the purchase and use of a large family calendar. You’ll want this calendar to go in a place where everyone will see it: on the refrigerator or hanging on a wall in the hallway where everyone walks through. Write in everything that you know is happening that month like birthdays, sporting events, recitals, appointments, and so on. Don’t forget to write in new events as well.

Planning Ahead

Next up is to plan ahead. Make sure that you don’t leave your planning for the future to the present. Handling things in the last minute increases stress and anxiety.

Share Responsibilities

Divvying up responsibilities is another great tactic to prevent busy schedules from bottlenecking through you. If they’re old enough, you can let your kids handle cutting grass or raking. Maybe your parents want to spend more time with your kids—work something out where your kids go to their grandparents a few times a month.

Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

Prioritizing is very important when it comes to your kid’s life. It’s up to you to know the difference between how much your kids think they can handle and how much they’ll want to handle. You don’t want their lives to become simply going from one appointment to the next!

Have Some Fun

Lastly, fill in a few empty nights with fun things your family can do together. Maybe a game night or watching a movie. Balancing work and fun feels more possible and is more possible if you can stick to these helpful tips.

And thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, School Kids!

Last week I talked about safety after school. Here’s something you can do to keep yourself safe after school–your homework! While it’s not the only part of school, your homework is one of the more important elements of school.

That’s why I’ve chosen for today’s Everything Summer Camp Blog post to give you some helpful advice on how to go about your homework.

Assignment Notebooks

First of all, you’ll definitely want an assignment notebook. When you have homework from five different classes, it can get pretty cloudy in the old noggin. You have enough to concentrate on with your daily school routine—don’t try to remember what homework you’ve been assigned in each and every class.

Homework After School

My next point of advice—and probably the best that I can give you for your homework—is to get into the habit of doing it immediately after school. Get home and get to your homework! If you don’t Pull out your handy-dandy assignment notebook so you can go over the list of assignments you need to complete for the next day and—as my father always used to say—get crackin’!

Look It Over

Last, but not least, is to ask for a little bit of help. When your work is all done, ask your parents if they would look it over for you. Show them your Assignment Notebook too. If they don’t have time, maybe you have a smart older brother or older sister who would be willing to check over your homework. The point in doing this is to catch any mistakes you may have made before it goes the teacher.

If you stick to these three simple suggestions, you should be getting pretty good grades. You won’t forget about any homework assignments because you’ll have written them all down. You shouldn’t run short on time since you did your homework right after school. And you should get good grades since it’s all been checked over.

Hope this helps, Homeworkers! Now hit the books.

For helpful tips on after school activities check out our Blog post.

- John