Camp Kupugani Blog
Help Your Child Develop Good Judgment
Many adults are crippled with indecision when faced with difficult choices. Others, worse yet, make self-destructive choices and repeatedly demonstrate poor judgment. But no one is born with good judgment and the ability to make wise decisions. Good judgment and decision-making skills develop from experience combined with reflection. As one sage noted, “Judgment develops from experience. Good judgment develops from bad experience.” Your goal is to give your child experience in making decisions, and make sure she has the opportunity to reflect on them and learn. You also want to […]
10 Reasons to Send Your Child to Camp
Camps are fun. But why are they important? In a world gone tech crazy, sometimes the great outdoors is just that: great. Here are 10 reasons why every child should go to camp. Reasons to Join Camp 1. Exposure to diversity Camp connects kids to those who they may not normally meet. Kids learn the world is a big place with lots of people, who might do things differently than they’re used to. That includes other kids from all over the state and beyond – and the camp’s counselors and leaders, […]
Parenting Matters — Ways to Show Your Love
It is easy to know you love your child. It is a bit more difficult to show that on a regular basis but it shouldn’t be. Let’s just take kids. What they need from you on a regular basis is to hear those three words: I love you. That matters to them. Let them know in as many ways as possible. Give them surprise hugs and kisses. Any way you can show affection to your child from your newborn to your daughter who just brought you your new grandchild. Even […]
Tips for Staying Active as a Family
Help Your Family Get Active When it comes to heart health, it’s important that we think not only of our own cardiovascular health but also that of future generations. A study last year found that obese children and teens have as much plaque in their arteries as a 45-year-old adult, setting them up for heart disease and other serious health conditions much earlier than their parents, so staying active as a family is extremely important. If you’ve got kids, of course, you want to make sure they grow up fit […]
Top 10 Tips for a Happier Family
1. Balancing work and home life It’s not easy balancing your work and home life, but how you manage it can make quite a difference to your relationship with your family. Having a balance between work and home – being able to work in a way which fits around family commitments and isn’t restricted to the 9 to 5 – boosts self-esteem as you’re not always worrying about neglecting your responsibilities in any area, making you feel more in control of your life. Your family will be happier to see […]
10 Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in Middle School
Parental support plays an important part in helping preteens and teens succeed in middle school. But as students grow more independent during these years, it can be hard for parents to know which situations call for involvement and which call for a more behind-the-scenes approach. Here are 10 ways to keep your child on track for academic success in middle school. 1. Attend Back-to-School Night and Parent-Teacher Conferences Preteens and teens do better in school when parents are involved in their academic lives. Attending back-to-school night at the start of […]
Best Free Apps That Take Kids from “Screen” to “Green”
There are many ways parents can use technology and video games to motivate learning and facilitate family time with joint media use through apps. The Pokémon Go craze, which got 21 million active players to get outside and explore in the real world, is the perfect example of another way you can use technology and apps to your benefit: connecting your kids to the outdoors. These apps open a world of possibilities for learning and growing while positively affecting their mood and self-esteem. You can take advantage of this same […]
Top 10 Homework Tips
Kids are more successful in school when parents take an active interest in their homework — it shows kids that what they do is important. Of course, helping with homework shouldn’t mean spending hours hunched over a desk. Parents can be supportive by demonstrating study and organization skills, explaining a tricky problem, or just encouraging kids to take a break. And who knows? Parents might even learn a thing or two! Here are some tips to guide the way: Know the teachers — and what they’re looking for. Attend school […]
Optimism & Motivation: Keys to Your Child’s Success
Have you ever wondered how: An 18-month-old knows if he keeps making noises eventually you will understand what he’s communicating? A 3-year-old knows if she keeps scribbling someday people will recognize what she’ s making? A 4-year-old knows if he keeps looking at the words on the page one day he’ll be able to read? These behaviors can be best explained by the concept of instinctual optimism, one of the two early, critical keys for successful learning. A child doesn’t have to learn by experience alone because natural instinct also […]
Is Your Child Resilient?
Protecting our kids is an impulse deeply woven into our parental DNA, but no parent can shield their child from every disappointment. Whether it’s personal —a failing grade or the death of a grandparent — or misfortune on a wider scale — Hurricane Katrina or atrocities in Syria — loss is an inevitable part of the human experience. You can’t protect your child from every setback, but you can help her develop skills to navigate and even learn from them. According to Robin Stern, associate director of the Yale Center […]
7 Reasons to Eat Family Dinner Together
Over the last 20 years, dozens of studies have confirmed what parents have known intuitively for a long time: Sitting down for a nightly dinner is good for the spirit, the brain, and the body. Research shows that shared meals are tied to many teenage behaviors that parents pray for reduced rates of substance abuse, eating disorders and depression; and higher grade point averages and self-esteem. For young children, conversation at the table is a bigger vocabulary booster than reading aloud to them. The icing on the cake is that […]
12 Tips to Raise Truthful & Honest Kids
Brace yourself for the cold, hard truth: all kids lie. They do it for many of the same reasons adults do: to avoid getting into trouble, to avoid hurting another person’s feelings, or to make themselves look better. The ability to tell a lie develops early — as young as 2½ for some kids — and it’s a normal and important stage of kids’ cognitive and social development. By age 4, all kids lie; by age 6, some estimates are that kids lie as often as once an hour. How […]