Camp Kupugani Blog
7 Ways to Help (You and Your Child) Battle Electronics Addiction
Camp Kupugani is our Midwest overnight summer camp (near Madison, WI, and Chicago, IL) that is technology-free. We help our campers and staff step away from their phones and computers (for at least two weeks) while they are at camp. We value the importance of communicating with others in real-time. A recent article by Simply Snapping has some good tips on how we can help each other unplug. Our summary is below, with the full article here. Have a family meeting to create a plan of action. Why are we Read more…
3 Ways to Help Your Child Be (More) Honest
Does your child struggle with being honest? At Camp Kupugani, our Midwest overnight summer camp (near Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois), we challenge our campers (and staff) to be honest even when it may be hard. A recent article from Greater Good Magazine gives some useful tips on helping your child become more honest. Read below for our summary of the article and read the entire article here. Praise process, not intelligence. Being smart can be seen as a goal that needs achieving. Not all children are going to get Read more…
To Enhance Your Child’s Chances of Success, Do These 5 Things
Do you want to raise successful kids? At Camp Kupugani, our Midwest overnight summer camp south of Madison, Wisconsin and west of Chicago, we strive to maximize our campers’ development. A recent article from inc.com discusses how to do so at home. Check out our thoughts on the piece below, with the full article here. “There’s no denying that if you coast along and put forth minimal effort in raising your kids, there’s a high likelihood they’ll end up being mediocre (or even worse than mediocre, to be honest). Raising Read more…
4 Secrets To Grit When Life Gets Hard
Our Midwest overnight summer camp–located near Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois–offers girls-only, boys-only and blended (intentionally co-ed) sessions. We embrace and seek out challenges so that we can make the most personal growth. We encourage and support our campers (and staff) to maximize conflict resolution techniques. Our staff are trained in how to provide the camper with age- and maturity-level based support. A recent article by the folks at Barking up the Wrong Tree has a good take on 4 Secrets to Grit When Life Gets Hard. See below for Read more…
Being a Kupugani Camper Shouldn’t Be Easy…We Want Our Campers to Cry (at least once)…and We Won’t “Fix” Your Kid at Camp
Around this time of year, some reflect on the world around them and how to gift their kiddo(s) the experience of camp experience. If seeking an avenue by which your child can grow in a challenging environment, our Midwest summer camp could be just the thing! A few important notes about our program. We want being a Kupugani camper to be hard…so if that seems overly daunting, there are other camps that are easy, and we’re happy to give you a lead to seek those. We want our campers to Read more…
5 Tips on How to Raise Socially Aware Children
Social awareness is one of the focal points at Camp Kupugani, our Midwest overnight residential summer camp with girls-only, boys-only, and blended sessions near Madison, Wisconsin (and also not far from Chicago, Illinois). A recent article put forth some good tips on how to raise socially aware children. See below for some quick takeaways, with the full article here. Address privilege early Speak with your children about differences (don’t pretend to be “color-blind”) Address the challenges that can arise from these differences Make sure that their toys, books, and TV Read more…
7 Ways We Can Help Protect Our Earth
At Camp Kupugani, our summer camp with girls-only, boys-only, and blended sessions–located near Chicago and Madison Wisconsin, we’re nestled on 125 acres of nature’s finest, including forest, a river, and a lake. As such, we’re reminded daily of the beauty that nature offers, and the importance of preserving that beauty for current generations and those beyond. In our mission and programming, we foster respect for Mother Nature, so we can be good stewards of our planet. A recent article shares our philosophy; below is our take on some of its Read more…
5 Ways to Maximize Your Child’s Mental Health
At our Midwest summer camp in northwest Illinois, we know how important mental health is to the growth of our children. A recent article had some good tips on how we can maximize our kiddos’ mental development. See below for our bullets, with the full article available here. Acknowledge Your Child’s Feelings …even if they don’t match how you feel. Acknowledging feelings helps your child stay open to speaking to you. Help Your Child Process Her/His Feelings Ask open-ended questions. Provide insight specific to your child. Monitor What Your Child Read more…
Nine Powerful & Simple Ways to Reduce Racism
At our midwest summer camp, our mission is to bring together kids from varied backgrounds, and help them develop tools to deal with difference. Especially given the evolution (devolution?) of our societal interactions of late, it is increasingly important to figure out how to treat each other better. Here are nine powerful and simple ways to reduce racism. Apologies for this blog being heartfelt, yet without attribution to various sources from which notes were culled before writing it. Discover your culture. Consider your interests/beliefs. Where did you grow up? What Read more…
8 Social Awareness Tactics to Make You a Better Leader
At Camp Kupugani, we operate our Midwest summer camp (near Chicago and Madison) and focus on helping our campers maximize their social awareness. We want our parents to be the best they can be as well. Here is an article on maximizing one’s impact on others. Read our take below and check out the full article here. Understand what it means to listen Actively listen to the speaker Avoid making assumptions before hearing the person’s full story Repeat what was said Repeat it back to help the person feel heard Read more…
5 Ways to Prevent Your Kids from Developing Entitlement Syndrome
At our Midwest summer camp, we strive to empower our campers to be their best selves. It can be a challenge as a parent to spoil our children even while intending only to have a positive influence. Good intentions can sometimes lead to negative outcomes though; entitlement develops when a child is given too much, too soon. It’s a function of giving our kids too much stuff, and not necessarily what they really need: parental guidance, wisdom, and direction. Here are five ways to maximize that you won’t accidentally be Read more…
4 Ways to Know that You May Be a Helicopter (or Lawnmower) Parent (i.e. Your Well-Intentioned “Helping” May Be Harming Your Child
As director of a kids Midwest summer camp (within easy driving distance from Chicago and Madison), I see the ramifications of varied parenting styles in how the kid recipient of those parenting styles navigate the world. As a parent of a young teen, I get to see firsthand how our parental successes and mistakes have shaped the development of our own child. A good way to evaluate whether our parental actions are harming our kids is to examine their behavior. Therefore, consider four results of an enabling parent. 1. Your Read more…
