Kevin Gordon

About Kevin Gordon

Posts by Kevin Gordon:

Striving for Daily Peace and Harmony

I’m not one for writing reviews, but Rachel’s recently published book Not Quite Nirvana drove me to do an Amazon review. In addition to offering stories cute, pithy, and funny, the book also offers practical tips and easy suggestions for bringing more peace and harmony into one’s daily life. One of my favorite passages reads: “I want to act as if I’m in a world where compassion, kindness, and the awareness of our mutual dependence is the status quo. There is no need to wait.” The Amazon description: “With honest and vivid […]

Why Businesses Should Hire Former Camp Counselors

Now’s the time of year when our earlier applicants start to think about applying for summer jobs. We know firsthand the difficult task of being camp counselors — someone who serves as an amazing mentor, big sibling, facilitator, manager, and all-around go-to person for a group of young people. A recent post by Anne Archer Yetsko, associate director of Camp Merri-Mac in Black Mountain, North Carolina recognizes how great these counselors are and how important their skill set is as they pursue jobs in other venues. Snippets are below, with […]

8 Ways to Help Children Become Better Problem-Solvers

In this podcast, sociologist Christine Carter discusses how to encourage creativity and help kids become better problem-solvers. To do so, we should foster creativity, which is the number one skill needed for success and creating good problem-solvers. Some other takeaways from the podcast: Creativity is not just in terms of arts. Creativity is a skill we can practice and develop. Creativity development should focus on the process, not the outcome. We should create and problem-solve and limit goal-orientation. To provide opportunities for creativity, we should: Provide resources for creative expression […]

5 Reasons Camp Makes the Perfect Gift for the Holidays

It’s never too early to think about gifts that can enrich children’s lives. If you’re a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, big sister, big brother, cousin, or family friend, looking to find just the right holiday gift for the children in your life, camp makes a perfect gift – and here are five reasons why! For young athletes, camp lets children play their favorite sports. Camps offer physical activities and sports that enhance health and teach self-confidence. Children can do a wide array of activities–from kayaking and swimming to archery, soccer, […]

3 Tips to Help Manage Stress During the Holiday Season

As we approach winter and the holiday season, amidst commitments that can sometimes tax families and parents, a blog by sociologist Christine Carter has some good tips on how to minimize stress. A quick summary of her tips on how to prevent burnout and breakdown during the holiday season are below, with the whole article at this link. 1. Get enough rest. You will not fulfill your potential unless you get the sleep your body, brain, and spirit need. We also need to rest during the day. After about 90 to […]

Limiting Smartphones Can Enhance Social Intelligence

At our intentionally empowering summer camp near Chicago, we have always recognized the importance of unplugging. Because the whole point of our camp is to enjoy nature, facilitate communication, and empower children by developing those skills, we don’t allow cell phones or Ipods, which diminish interpersonal interaction. A recent survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that children today are plugged into some kind of electronic medium almost eight hours a day–“more than many full-time jobs, and more time than they spend doing anything else besides sleeping.” Recent research […]

Complimenting without Bring in Beauty

I recently read a blog post by Chicago Tribune staffer Heidi Stevens, emphasizing some of what we try to do at our girls summer camp to focus on character development. Please see below for excerpts from her piece, “Can we compliment each other without bringing beauty into it?” “Your hair looks beautiful and so do you,” reads the first Facebook comment beneath a photo [a friend] posted of herself at the Roman Colosseum. We bring [Facebook comments] around to appearance an awful lot of the time, particularly when the photos […]

Achieving Legitimacy as a Parent

I recently finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s recent David and Goliath. One facet of the book centered on the limits of authority and how the efficacy of authoritarianism is not as high as many people think. In past experiences with parents of campers at our girls-only and boys-only summer camps, I’ve witnessed how certain children—when freed of the expectations and restrictions sometimes placed on them by well-meaning parents—can surpass those limitations. Often, it can be how campers, inspired by great role counselor role models, try to be their best selves for […]

Why People Don’t Believe That I’m Shy

I’m shy. Although most non-shy people don’t believe me when I tell them that. True, as a director of a summer camp, I’m aware that most people in similar positions are innately comfortable with speaking in front of groups and/or interacting with new and different people. And yet, I’m shy. Filled with apprehension, sweaty armpits, accelerated heartbeat, and other psycho-social nervous ramifications when put into situations filled with new people, I’ve nonetheless learned to cope. Recently, I’ve been reading David and Goliath, by (fellow Jamaican Canadian) Malcolm Gladwell. It has […]

Why Camp Counselors Make Great Leaders

A recent blog by Stanley Bergman, CEO of Henry Schein, Inc, a Fortune 500 company, underscores the skills and character of camp counselors. Bergman’s perspective underscores what we as camp directors know from years of experience seeing young people give their all to care for the campers in their charge. They commit themselves to continually caring for children, spending hours, days, weeks and months concentrating on maximizing the camp experience for those under their care. Even the most devoted parent spends maybe a couple-few hours with their child; imagine the […]

8 Ways to Respond to Bigoted Words

As this month continues in recognition of National Bullying Prevention Month, we look at we as adults can respond to situations where a bigoted bully might be acting wrong. Below is advice verbatim from the Anti-Defamation League about bigoted words. Challenging bigoted and offensive remarks are critical to ensuring dignity and respect for all people. Below are step-by-step strategies that can assist you if you find yourself in situations where such remarks are made. Think Explore your understanding of the situation. Take a moment to reflect on what was said […]

9 Ways to Preclude Your Child from Becoming a Bully

As we continue with our theme of addressing bullying during National Bullying Prevention Month, here are nine good tips on how to raise children who don’t bully others. Just as we do at our intentionally empowering summer camp for girls and summer camp for boys, as parents or adults working with children, we can focus on concrete strategies to help them develop into aware, compassionate beings who can be resistant to the potential lure of being a bully. Sociologist and child development coach Christine Carter shares some of these during […]