Kevin Gordon

About Kevin Gordon

Posts by Kevin Gordon:

Staff Training and the Importance of Emotional Safety

Our son will be attending his first away-from-Kupugani sleepaway camp this summer. As intentional parents, we are now on the other side of the camp director-parent dynamic. Since our boy’s bedwetting—continual since he was a toddler (like his parents’ before him)—has seemed to increase of late, defeating even the best efforts of his pull-up style bedtime diapers—I gave the camp director a quick call. I wanted to just double check that the camp’s dealing with that issue would continue the process we have had at home of making sure that […]

Properly Serving a Changing Population

A recent Today show piece touted that Caucasian children won’t comprise the majority of children born in the U.S. within 5 or 6 years. This story isn’t news to us at our multicultural summer camp, which has been emphasizing serving who our population actually is for many years. It’s interesting now that is increasingly in the public eye. It hasn’t been news for a while. From the 2010 US census, non-Hispanic white children ages 5 to 17 (or roughly “camp age”) comprise only about 55.5% of that segment. “Minority” children […]

Character Development and Academic Development

I recently communicated with a parent grappling with a decision of not wanting to “reward” her child with summer camp, due to her child’s having to attend summer school. She felt that to reward the child with camp after failing school classes wouldn’t be a good choice. My response was that, while I certainly appreciate the challenging decisions a parent must make, to encourage her to think further whether camp for her child would be an overall benefit, rather than a negative at this point in her child’s development. Camp […]

5 Tips on What to Do When Your Child is at Camp

As we prepare for another summer at our multicultural summer camp, I field more frequent calls from parents pondering a great summer camp experience for their child(ren). While child tranisitions and homesickness are common and managed appropriately at camps, there can also be an issue with childsickness. So your baby is about to be gone for two or four weeks. What are you going to do? Yes, it can be difficult for parents to be away from their child(ren) during camp. Don’t worry! It’s normal! Here are some tips, from camp […]

Tips for Dads Raising Daughters

As we approach Mother’s Day, where we recognize the great moms and mom figures in our lives, it’s important to realize the impact of dads raising daughters. During the girls-only sessions of our multicultural camp, we focus on developing an atmosphere of empowerment. Every parent knows that paying attention to his or her child matters. Fathers face different challenges when it comes to raising daughters. Daughters don’t always want to be “your little princess,” and they may not understand if you don’t want to fully engage in tea parties. The […]

Overprotective Parenting Can Lead to Bullying

As camp season for our multicultural summer camp approaches, the frequency and tenor of calls fielded from parents considering a girls-only or boys-only camp experience for their child picks up. Many seek our intentionally empowering camp program to continue the positive character development for their child that the parents are already doing at home and with their child’s social interactions. Many seek a safe, dynamics experience for youth to have an unforgettable fun-filled summer. It can be hard for parents to step back A few parents want to see camp as […]

Tips to Keep in Mind for a First-Time Camper

So it’s your first time sending your baby away? We understand that it can seem daunting. Sending a child away to camp for the first time is a major milestone for most families; it’s exciting, eagerly anticipated, and potentially an anxious time. However, it doesn’t need to be scary! Your child will be well taken care of. When children are taking positive risks in a safe and nurturing camp environment, they don’t have much time to miss home; most of their time is dedicated to fun, growing, and learning. With […]

Psychologist Stresses Benefits of Camp Experiences

Renowned child psychologist Michael Thompson recently wrote an article discussing the positives of attending summer camp as opposed to the narrower opportunities some parents seek to supposedly pad their college resumes, such as attending summer school or specialized skills programs. Thompson’s take is that children develop in profound ways by venturing out to join a camp community. Indeed, having literally drunk the Kool Aid at our multicultural summer camp, we appreciate the reinforcement of an academic in espousing the benefits or camp. Among the many salient points he raises are: […]

Intentional Parenting and a Cute Child

Okay, this may be a brazen attempt at showing off a cute child…but also a good example of what can happen when intentional parenting helps a child feels empowered and confident. (Beware, some Jay-Z lyrics in the background may be offensive to some…)

Helping Your Child Through Meditation

At our girls-only and boys-only multicultural summer camp, we’re all about empowering children by giving them tools to better celebrate and appreciate themselves and their fellow campers. Check out this link for a simple how-to guide from sociologist Christine Carter to teach your kids a simple “loving-kindness” meditation to help them produce more than just momentary good feelings. Research those that meditation can help with greater life satisfaction and fend off bad feelings, leading to an increased sense of purpose, tighter social bonds, and better health outcomes. Even a single meditation […]

Parents Without Camp Experience

The Idea of Camp Seems Crazy to Me Imagining a camp experience for my child, I’m thinking I’m sending my child off into the woods—and I’ve seen The Shining—scary—and there are TV reports every day and night about all of the bad things that can happen to my child when out of my sight even just on the playground much less hundreds of miles away off in the woods where there might be lions and tigers and bears—oh my! And I’m supposed to just send my child off for a […]

25 Ways to Avoid Yelling

As a camp director of our multicultural summer camp for girls-only and boys-only, parents often compliment me on my “way” with children, as we serve as substitute summer parents for their precious cargo. In the summers, we get the benefit of having amazing staff who seem to have boundless energy and patience. In the non-summer months, as I get older, sometimes my own boundless energy and patience isn’t quite as boundless as it used to be. Although I give myself credit for being a pretty good and mindful parent most […]