Parenting Resources

At Camp Kupugani, we consider ourselves partners with our camper families in helping empower children to become the best version of themselves. Here are some useful resources.

Books

Below are some books you can read to get another perspective or read with your children to help reinforce the Kupugani Method.

Non-Fiction

It's OK to Go Up the Slide: Renegade Rules for Raising Confident and Creative Kids | By Heather Shumaker
It’s OK to Go Up the Slide: Renegade Rules for Raising Confident and Creative Kids (by Heather Shumaker)

To raise empowered children, they need to be free to make mistakes.
Punished by Rewards | By Alfie Kohn
Punished by Rewards (by Alfie Kohn)

This book informs much of what we do at Kupugani. Our behavior(s) should reflect true desires, not fear of arbitrarily-imposed external consequences.
The Gentle Parent: Positive, Practical, Effective Discipline | By L.R. Knost
The Gentle Parent: Positive, Practical, Effective Discipline (by L.R. Knost)

A healthy parent-child relationship leads to that child feeling supported and empowered to make mistakes and step outside of their comfort zones.
iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids are Growing up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Mean for the Rest of Us
iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood–and What That Means for the Rest of Us

Crucial reading to understand how the children, teens, and young adults born in the mid-1990s and later are vastly different from their Millennial predecessors, and from any other generation.

Check out this link for a blog we did emphasizing some takeaways from the book.
The Anatomy of Peace | By Arbinger Institute
The Anatomy of Peace (by Arbinger Institute)

Healthy conflict serves as a chance to better grow, connect, and understand feelings.
Stamped from the Beginning | By Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped from the Beginning (by Ibram X. Kendi)

Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand racism in the United States. In shedding much-needed light on the murky history of racist ideas, this book offers tools we need to expose them—and in the process, gives us reason to hope.

Check out this link for a blog we did emphasizing some takeaways from the book.

Fiction

My Many Colored Days | By Dr. Seuss
Wonder | By RJ Palacio

Wonder (by RJ Palacio)

Born with a facial deformity that initially prevented his attendance at public school, Auggie Pullman enters the fifth grade and struggles with the dynamics of being both new and different in this tale about acceptance, self-esteem and the transformative power of human kindness.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian | By Sherman Alexie
The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian (by Sherman Alexie)

Adolescent pain and awkwardness, plus meditations on the systemic devastation wreaked on Native American communities inform this humorous, semi-autobiographical novel following a 14-year-old leaving his school on the reservation for a mostly white school in a nearby town.
Wonderstruck | By Brian Selznick

Wonderstruck (by Brian Selznick)

This visually stunning, completely compelling book underscores the power of helping others, as it follows 12-year-old Ben — having lost his mother and his hearing — leaving home to seek the father he never knew in New York City, where he meets Rose, who is also longing for something missing from her life.
The House on Mango Street | By Sandra Cisneros

Blogs

Below are a variety of blog sites connecting to our philosophy of helping children be their best, show their best, and do their best.

Videos

Below are some videos showing how good camp is for child development.

Ted Talks

In this section, you will find Ted Talks that reminds us of the philosophies that Camp Kupugani seeks to provide for our community.

It's Time for Women to Run for Office

It’s Time for Women to Run for Office

With warmth and wit, Halla Tómasdóttir shares how she overcame media bias, changed the tone of the political debate and surprised her entire nation when she ran for president of Iceland — inspiring the next generation of leaders along the way.
The Search for Aha Moments

The Search for Aha Moments

In 1988, Matt Goldman co-founded Blue Man Group, an off-Broadway production that became a sensation known for its humor, blue body paint, and wild stunts. The show works on the premise that certain conditions can create “aha moments” — moments of surprise, learning, and exuberance — frequent and intentional rather than random and occasional. Now Goldman is working to apply the lessons learned from Blue Man Group to education, creating Blue School, a school that balances academic mastery, creative thinking and self, and social intelligence. “We need to cultivate safe and conducive conditions for new and innovative ideas to evolve and thrive,” Goldman says.
Asking for Help is a Strength Not a Weakness

Asking for Help Is a Strength Not a Weakness

We all go through challenges – some you can see, most you can’t, says Michele L. Sullivan. In a talk about perspective, Sullivan shares stories full of wit and wisdom and reminds us that we’re all part of each other’s support systems. “The only shoes you can walk in are your own,” she says. “With compassion, courage, and understanding, we can walk together, side by side.”

When children are given the ability to ask for help in easy things it makes it more palatable for them to do the same when the situation is difficult. Empower your child to ask for help!
Good and Bad are Incomplete Stories We Tell Ourselves

Good and Bad Are Incomplete Stories We Tell Ourselves

Heather Lanier’s daughter Fiona has a genetic condition that results in developmental delays — but that doesn’t make her tragic, angelic or any of the other stereotypes about kids like her. In this talk about the beautiful, complicated, joyful and hard journey of raising a rare girl, Lanier questions our assumptions about what makes a life “good” or “bad,” challenging us to stop fixating on “solutions” for whatever we deem not normal, and instead to take life as it comes.
Why Women Should Tell the Stories of Humanity

Why Women Should Tell the Stories of Humanity

For many centuries (and for many reasons), critically acclaimed creative genius has generally come from a male perspective. As theater director Jude Kelly points out in this passionately reasoned talk, that skew affects how we interpret even non-fictional women’s stories and rights. She thinks there’s a more useful, more inclusive way to look at the world, and she calls on artists — women and men — to paint, draw, write about, film and imagine a gender-equal society.

Social Media

In this section, you will find social media accounts that are positive, family-friendly, and empowering.

Websites

In this section, you will find websites that are positive, family-friendly, and empowering.

Alfiekohn.org
Brain Power Boy
Common Sense Media
Doing Good Together Antiracism Resources
Tools to Raise an Anti-Racist Generation

An Evolving Collection of Resources, Expert Tips, Books, Videos, and Advocacy Tools

Doing Good Together is focused on spreading compassion and kindness. The durability of these values requires us to recognize and contend with forces in ourselves and our society that dehumanize and degrade others. As parents, families, and members of communities, who seek to raise one another up, we must point out and condemn racism, brutality, and indifference to suffering wherever we see it.

We must also examine our own racism and the limits to our own compassion.

We encourage families to discuss these issues honestly and openly using the growing list of resources below. Our children will be better able to break this chain of bias and distrust if we give them opportunities to think deeply and talk openly about justice, inequity and humanity from a young age — and how together we can build a better world.

Parenting Resources

Books

Non-Fiction

Fiction

Blogs

Videos

Ted Talks

Social Media

Websites

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