Displaying items by tag: summer camp success
As the owner of Swift Nature Camp for over 25 year we have seen many changes in why parents send thier children to Overnight Summer Camp. Prior to cell phones and tablets parents were excited that children would be able to live with other kids in a fun and supportive way, while being out in nature away from city life. While the parents often got to travel or participate in other fun things for themselves. But around 2008 or so, parents begun to look at summer camps as a way to get children off their electronic devices. Parents often tell us that it is the "removal of cell phones that makes SNC Special". They especially enjoy that a technology break encourages children to be more active and not as sedentary plus they will make face to face connections. These skills are important for children to learn at a young age so they do not get addicted to technology like the rest of us. No doubt technology is a very important part of our lives these days but we as parents need to harness that power to make it an advantage rather than a demon.
Here are a few ideas that will help us.
1-Use a Video Tutorial for a Family Activity- This day and age we all use "how to videos" to do projects. I have repaired a car with my son after watching a video together. You could use the same to bake a cake or make a pizza as a family activity? This will make the activity more fun and you will be teaching your children you don't know everything and how to use your resources. .
2-Become a Director- Some evening when the family is all together rather than everyone going to their own devise shoot a movie together. Together come up with a skit or idea where kids could play their favorite characters and the older kids together even parents should get involved. Years from today the family will look back at these videos and it will bring a smile to their everyones face. Be sure not to get to crazy on perfection have fun with it and let the mistakes enter in, it will only be more fun in the future.
3-Change your communication- Texts are impersonal and often unclear to children. I much prefer the app MarcoPolo as a way to communicate. It provides Face to face interactions is very important, especially for your growing kids. It can affect the level of their confidence and the way they interact with other people rather than the abbreviated language of texts. Remember, seeing you and hearing your voice builds a stronger connection than a instant message regardless how sweet you make it.
4-Family Organizer Apps- Cozi Family Organizer has a wide range of really useful functions that you could use a family, such as managing family tasks lists, sending reminders of important family schedules and personal events and even make games out of chores. Why is this important Today children want to know in advance and do not like surprises, so it helps with anxiety. It also helps them become responsible for daily routines and one thing we have learned at Swift Nature Camp, kids do best with structure and routines.
Finally, I believe a wonderful thing all parents need to do is role model how to be independent of their device. Set a day or even a time each day, that everyone will put down their tablets and be together as family. Because after all, that is one of the main reason parents send their children to overnight camp - to put down their device be less dependent on technology and more dependent on relationships.
Recently, I was wondering why after 25 years of overnight summer camp we are still relavent to society. Of course, it came down to relationships in particular or camp staff. They are a great bunch of young adults that come to camp for all the right reasons and the right mindset. Then I ran accross this article by Mike McClary and it made things much more clear. Summer camp is a place where everyone is valued and we are all held to a higher standard. A standard that is not about ourselves as much as it is about others. When creating this environment it requires all agree to this mindshift. Camp is a much easier place to have this happen than out in the world. In the past I have asked staff why they return to camp and I have often heard "Camp makes me a better me". When you have staff feeling this way it is bound to filter down to the campers at camp.
The below article is a great way to move closer to living camp everyday in our life
Mindset is everything.
It defines your actions. Your thoughts. Your life.
Adopt the scarcity mindset, and you'll always be scared for what you have. And that you'll never get what you want. Scarcity has a way of holding you hostage and making you a victim.
If you adopt a success mindset, you'll see opportunities for growth everywhere.
So today, I'd like to share with you 9 tips to start developing a success mindset... starting today.
Tip #1: Start your day with positive affirmations
You are what you think.
And you think about what you teach your mind to focus on.
So if you start your day focusing on the positive things about yourself, your mind will grow a habit of thinking about positive things.
Tips #2: Read/listen to inspiring stories each day
Historian Thomas Carlyle once said that: "History is nothing more than a collection of biographies belonging to great people."
And those people had the right mindset.
Spend at least one 30 minutes each day reading their biographies. Listening to videos about them. Listen to their podcasts.
Let some of that awesomeness transfer to YOUR mind.
Tip #3: Accept the fact that perfection is impossible
There's no such thing as being perfect. At anything.
In fact, I’ve found that perfection is the enemy of profit.
And if you constantly try to reach perfection, you'll never be satisfied and happy.
OR, you will never take a task to completion.
Do your best.
More often than not, it'll be enough.
Remember that there is a law of diminishing returns that comes into play.
Tip #4: Meditate
Calm your mind.
Clear your thoughts.
Get to know yourself.
Many great ideas came to life thanks to the process of meditation.
Tip #5: Learn to say NO - and stick to it
Energy, time, and focus drainers are everywhere.
So are many temptations and shiny objects.
If you say YES to any of them, you're taking a step away from your goals.
Learn to say NO. And keep your focus on what you truly want.
Tip #6: Turn failures into lessons
In every failure, there's a lesson.
Why it happened. What did you missed. What can you do to prevent it from happening the next time.
And if you can learn a lesson, then it wasn't a failure at all.
It was a teaching moment.
Like Edison said: "I haven't failed 20,000 times. I found 19,999 ways how NOT to make a light bulb."
Tip #7: Surround yourself with success-oriented people
You are the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with.
Do you want to get fit and go to the gym 3x a week?
Hang out with people who are fit and go 5x.
Want to be the best at what you do?
Surround yourself with people who are the best at what they do.
Surround yourself with people who'll lift you up.
Tip #8: Get a mentor/coach
Even the most successful people have coaches.
They help them stay focused and on track.
Find a mentor who'll keep you away from distraction and negativity.
Tip #9: Remind yourself of your past successes
Failure can distract you. A lot.
Some negative people can distract you. Significantly.
And that makes it easy to slide away into apathy and negative thinking.
Constantly remind yourself of your past successes.
And keep reminding yourself that you're capable for greatness.
- Stepping out of their comfort zone - At Summer camp, children learn how to make decisions without relying on parents or their go-to comforts. This can be incredibly empowering – or super scary. If your child is ready to experience independence, then taking them out of their routines and comfort zones creates the perfect environment for reflection and growth.
- Structured independence – When you find a camp that fits your child perfectly, s/he will have structure – a very important key to growing and maturing. The boundaries of camp and the trained staff are all tools that will help build self-confidence, assertiveness, and courage in your child.
- Social Situations – Summer camps place kids in group situations that teaches them a plethora of social skills including team work, trust, judgement and conflict management. There are team games, social living quarters, and various interactions that lend to this. Some kids will learn how to work with others, some will discover parts of their personalities that don’t lend well to social situations, others will discover how much they enjoy working in groups. Above all, this experience is unmatched in how it brings self-awareness.
- Team work in activities – Just like above, the activities they will partake in will teach the child how to best work as a team. Some of my favorite memories include the cabin games – the friendly competition that helped us all work together. What is wonderful about this is the staff is trained to help the children learn about themselves and how to work through whatever is holding them back from enjoying camp and the other kids.
- Encouraged to be who they are by the trained staff – leaders are given the chance to lead! The staff of a camp really does make a huge difference in how much your child enjoys the experience. A quality trained staff will notice the qualities of each individual child and do what they can to encourage them to be who they are. Leaders will get a chance to lead, encourages to cheer them on, creators to create and thinkers to analyze.
- Feeds their hunger for adventure, sparks interest – At camp, kids learn what they love and what they really don’t care for (ok, what they really despise!). I learned how much I didn’t enjoy arts and crafts at Summer camp. To this day I don’t really do them, even with my kids (oh my poor kids). But I learned how much I loved leading team activities. And if you find a camp that is geared to a specific interest you can help them have an even fiercer hunger to learn more about it!
- Emotional muscles grow and stretch – Children are all so different- from shy to extremely extroverted. Camp lets them grow these muscles! The trained staff will be there to talk through situations – like home sickness at night or hurt feelings from friends during the day. As the child works through these rough patches, they will be so much wiser, stronger, and more confident the next time they encounter it.
