Child Development Tips

Children Need Healthy Risk-Taking

It can be a challenge for many parents to let go. Especially in our age of “helicopter parenting”, media reports of dangers lurking for your child around every corner, it can be easy for parents to imagine untold mayhem everywhere if you let your child out of your sight. We want to protect our children and want the best for them. However, for children, and especially teens and older pre-teens, they need to develop their sense of independence and need to grow by having us parents let go… Here’s a good article and podcast by sociologist Christine […]

A 2-Week Camp Experience is a Good Minimum

I attended a recent camp fair, where a prospective camp parent was concerned whether a two-week camp experience was too long for her would-be first-time camper child. Her not necessarily articulated concern was that her child wouldn’t thrive in a two-week program—that it might be too long for her. I responded that it’s not necessarily the length of the experience, but whether the child is “ready.” Two-Week Minimum Experience Encourages Independent Growth My two decades of camp experience at camps of all sorts of lengths—from single-day programs to two-month summer […]

Encouraging Independence So Children Can Thrive

Steering Children Toward Healthy Risks Children need to develop a sense of independence to successfully navigate an increasingly complex world. As parents and youth professionals, we need to give them space to grow. But how to do that, given societal pressure on parents to obsess about perceived safety? How do we help parents overcome the pervasive culture of fear so that they can feel comfortable allowing children the opportunities to take on new situations? How do we facilitate children’s growth, via mindful risk-taking, to evolve into competent, independent adults? What […]

Determine if Your Child is Ready for Sleepaway Camp

How can you tell if your child is ready for camp? There’s no tried-and-true perfect formula, but you definitely want to make sure that your child is ready before you send her/him away; the camp experience is far too valuable to turn your child off because s/he isn’t yet ready; it’s better to err on the side of the caution if you’re not sure. Here Are Ten Questions For You To Consider. How old? While there is no specific magic age for a first-time camp experience, the best age is […]

7 Positive Psychology Parenting Tips

We’ve talked a bit in the past about the importance of positive psychology—basically, the more we can focus on the positives of things rather than the negatives, the more happiness will be created. This is also a technique we try to emphasize at our multicultural summer camp, and something that empowers our girl campers and boy campers. The positive psychology applies quite a bit to parenting. An old article I recently came across again does a good job of summarizing some good parenting techniques that can really help. Below are […]

Why We Celebrate Instead of Tolerate

tol·er·ate [tol-uh-reyt] “to endure without repugnance; put up with” “to experience, undergo, or sustain, as pain or hardship” “to endure or resist the action of without serious discomfort” “to allow to be or to be done without prohibition, hindrance, or contradiction” Examples of TOLERATE Our teacher will not tolerate bad grammar. I can’t tolerate that noise. The government cannot tolerate lawlessness. How can you tolerate such laziness? These plants tolerate drought well. I don’t like my boss, but I tolerate him. Those are a few quick examples of some online […]

Trying To Be An “Intentional” Parent

Especially during the school break schedule for many children, as a parent, I sometimes feel the weight and importance of the time spent with my child. I try to advocate being an “intentional parent” as much as possible. What exactly is an intentional parent? For me, an intentional parent is one who is willing to do the very hard work of helping a child be the best the child can be. The intentional parent does a lot of giving: giving of time, giving of sleep, giving of money, giving of […]

When a Child is “Ready” for Camp

A good friend asked me today when he and his wife would “know” that their daughter is ready for sleepaway camp. There is a certain level of surreality to the situation. I think back to us 20 years ago in college, as roommates. Certainly, the two decades-later prospect of me as a camp professional seriously advising him as a parent would have been a ludicrous one. Flash forward to today, with that being a critically important aspect of my job as camp director. With only a small trace of irony […]

The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In

Checked out an interesting article about the ramifications of parenting while plugged in. Nothing too earth shattering that we didn’t already apply at camp, i.e. recognizing that human interaction is valuable–but maybe a little bit of a wake up call for certain parents.

Children Need Healthy Risk-Taking

A 2-Week Camp Experience is a Good Minimum

Encouraging Independence So Children Can Thrive

Determine if Your Child is Ready for Sleepaway Camp

7 Positive Psychology Parenting Tips

Why We Celebrate Instead of Tolerate

Trying To Be An “Intentional” Parent

When a Child is “Ready” for Camp

The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In

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