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Top Five Tips for First Time Day Camp Goers

6/30/2015

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Going to camp, especially for the first time, is a big step for a child and parent alike. Whether it is going to a day camp or sleep-away camp there are ways to prepare for the big adventure and to minimize anxieties.

Often, the biggest question to ask is, “Are you ready as a parent to let your child go?” Children are like little membranes – they pick up all of the subtle emotions of their parents. It helps to be clear with yourself about what your child signed up for in the first place; whether it is to make new friends, learn new skills, or try out some new exciting activity or program. Think of camp as life experience with training wheels.

Here are some tips for parents to help you and your child(ren) get ready for the adventure of camp:
  1. Go by the site of camp or take a tour (even if the set up might be different). Just by becoming familiar with the space and knowing where to go helps!

  2. Together with your child(ren) go to the camp’s website and look at available photos, pictures, albums, etc. from previous years. Click here to see the 15-second flipagram (video slideshow) Camp Spirit created to share with everyone.

  3. Read the Camp registration letter together. Talk about what they need to bring. Involve them in the decision making process (and the packing), for example, by letting them choose a special water bottle or hat and having them decorate it. Even in the planning out of their breakfast menu during the week of day camp helps them be engaged in thinking about what to expect in the days ahead.  

  4. Spend some time exploring their hopes and questions for the week. The more detailed the response to questions and concerns, the better. A parent's words will help children draw the picture in their heads as to what camp is going to look like. Not sure how to respond?  Let them know you will find out and get back to them after contacting the camp coordinator.

  5. It also helps to have a few conversations with your child, before they head off to camp. Here are a few things you can say – not all at once, but a little over time in the week or two before they go to camp:
  • Every camper is part of a group and as your parents, we expect you to cooperate and participate.
  • If you are having a problem, your counsellor is there to help you. Don't wait to tell us, you can tell your counsellor. Be honest and ask for what you need.
  • If your counsellor doesn't help, talk to another leader or camp coordinator.
  • There are many new things at camp, and you may not like them all or be as good at some as you are at others, but we expect you to try!
  • Go about making a new friend or two. If you are timid about meeting someone new, ask about what she likes and be a good listener.
  • Not everyone has to be your friend, and you don't have to be everyone else's friend. But we expect that you are kind to everyone and if you have one or two good friends at camp, that's great!
  • Keep expectations realistic – ups and downs included. Talk about the fun-filled times that your child can expect to have at camp, emphasizing the goals of enjoyment, not success. But don't forget to acknowledge the possibility of some unhappy periods, too. Let them know that you have confidence in their coping ability. 
  • Let them know that you look forward to hearing of their adventures.
Bob Ditter, a well regarded child, adolescent and family therapist from Boston, Mass. and a life long camper and leader wrote:
Camp is about making some of the best friends of your life. It's an exercise in self-reliance and social learning. Children not only make some of their best friends at camp, they learn what real friendship is. Since campers connect in groups, it is also about learning the give-and-take of making decisions and getting along with all those "brothers" or "sisters" you suddenly inherit when you arrive. In a time when resilience – the ability to stick with something and recover from a setback – is a great quality to cultivate in our children, camp is an increasingly attractive option. I can't tell you how many parents have told me how much more confident, calm, purposeful or focused their children seem after a couple of weeks of camp.
Whatever we can do as parents, as caring adults, to support a child in going to camp, making a smooth first time transition and embracing the experience will go far in helping them enjoy this life transforming experience!

Jen Cunnings
Minister with Children, Families & Elders
St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church
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Seven Things Children Learn at Camp

6/25/2015

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We could have created a list a kilometre long on all the things children learn at camp. But we narrowed it down to seven because we know, as a parent, you may not have the time to read 1,001 things. Here are just seven things children will learn at camp:

1. How long they can go without being sanitized/a little dirt never hurt nobody. Yes, it is true – since the beginning of the history of camp, parents have been mystified by the lack of interest in children over the idea of cleanliness. It is a thing. And despite labelling everything with the days of the week and providing a bag clearly marked for dirty laundry – that bag stays empty. At day camp, that special bag for their wet swimsuit and towel is ignored and that sopping wet swimsuit AND towel, with most of the sand from the beach, can be reliably found in midst of the crackers that they didn’t finish at the bottom of the backpack. Surprisingly, their spirits are never dampened by the lack of cleanliness and they get up the next day ready and willing to do it all over again.

2. How to listen deeply. Camp provides an environment and opportunity for an expanse of time uncluttered by the use of technology and screens. With this gift of time comes the opportunity for deep listening: to what the natural world and its beauty are saying to each one of us in the rustling of trees and the song of birds; to each other and conversations that go uninterrupted as dreams and ideas are shared; to the call of the Sacred and mystery in all of us.

3. How to carve… or bake bread, or paint, or play the drums, or learn a new game, or knit, or how to administer first aid, or any number of amazing things! Skills children learn at camp can become lifelong passions that engage their minds and encourage them to be creative. Warning: during or after camp, your child may express an interest in going to your closest craft store to pick up supplies to continue a quest for mastery of making friendship bracelets or another skill that catches your child’s interest!

4. How to be a friend. There are never enough opportunities to learn how to be friendly and supportive to those around us. Camps open up opportunities for children to share time together – to make new friends and connect with old ones. Sharing meals together in community can foster great relationships. Camp Spirit thrives on the generosity of multi-generational volunteers, creating a safe environment that encourages interaction and friendship across all ages – elders and children, toddlers and youth – sharing wisdom and stories with one another.

5. How to lead. Camps offer opportunities for youth and young adults to develop their leadership skills, skills that affirm each child for who they are, and skills in providing an environment of inclusion and authentic welcome. Leaders express care, respect, delight and joy in their jobs. Children learn how to lead by watching these leaders in action.

6. How to sing. To all those parents and guardians out there, we are sorry – sorry that we taught songs that caught your child’s imagination and interest – so much so, that they sing them…  all the time!  In the car, in the bath, at dinnertime, hiking, biking, when they are supposed to be going to sleep, to annoy an older sibling (in the car, in the bath or when they are supposed to be sleeping). You get the idea. And we are a little bit sorry but, they are really fun songs and some of them even have amazing messages of love and hope!

7. How they matter. Each child is affirmed for the beauty and gift of their spirit and life!  It is a blessing to spend time with each one of them.

Pamela Jeffery
Minister of Children, Youth and Families
Shaughnessy Heights United Church
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Children learn how long they can go without being sanitized.
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Children learn how to listen to each other.
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Children make friends across all ages.
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Children develop lifelong friendships.
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Youth and young adults develop leadership skills and children learn to care and respect from their leaders.
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Children learn songs of love and hope.
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The Importance of Community & Value of Relationships

6/16/2015

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Imagine a world where each person, child/teen/adult, knew for certain that they were accepted and loved for who they are. Imagine a world where each person felt physically, emotionally and spiritually safe. Imagine a world where people strove to live the golden rule — treat others as you wish to be treated yourself — and to love God, love others and love self. We strive to do this in our households and, admittedly, achieve this with varying degrees of success. There are the times that we are rolling along very nicely — “Woo hoo!  Yay us!” And then there are the times when it seems impossible to sustain a sense of loving community at home or anywhere else.
One of the challenges to building healthy community is in all the ways that we are virtually connected and yet isolated from each other. In many neighourhoods, face-to-face engagement is a thing of the past. It is rare that all the community’s children will emerge from their houses for an impromptu game of ‘Kick the Can,’ opting instead for digital substitutes for interaction. 

Also, children’s lives tend to be more scheduled than ever. Extracurricular sports, education and arts programs can significantly enrich a child’s development. However, when a child is over-programmed or over-scheduled there is little time to simply be with others, nourish relationships, and evolve and grow into his or her whole self. 
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When we are fortunate to find a coach, teacher or instructor that is able to engage and nurture the whole child, the community as a whole benefits from their leadership. The team or the classroom become about more than the game or the subject at hand. In inclusive environments children learn to listen to each other and trust that they will have their turn to be listened to. The adult leader becomes a mentor and a holder of safe, sacred space. According to Dr. Rebecca Nye, a researcher, consultant and trainer in the field of children's spirituality:
At school, usually because the teacher has to manage a large group, children learn to put up their hands to get a turn to speak. In practice, the result can be that they focus on planning what they are going to say, and not listening to or being aware of others around them. A more relationship-sensitive, respectful habit can be to pass around a ‘speaking’ stone... to mark whose turn it is to contribute....
At Camp Spirit we strive to engage and nurture the whole child — body, mind and spirit. Spirituality becomes a dynamic between people rather than a characteristic in people. This is paramount because it emphasizes the relationship. In her book Children’s Spirituality, Dr. Rebecca Nye affirms, “the real spiritual work is how we treat each other not the topic of the day. We actively seek to develop communities that model healthy relationships. Children are greeted, engaged and mentored in ways that are respectful and caring. Youth and adult leaders model respectful and caring communication with each other and with the children.

So, why does any of this matter? Over and over again studies reveal that it is the people that know how to work and communicate effectively with others that achieve the greatest success. This cannot be learned in a vacuum. It is essential that children have communities, outside of their households, where they can discover who they are and who they wish to become in a wider context. This is a valuable and very important reason to expose our children to such communities. As a parent, this may be the only reason you need. The amazing thing is there is an even greater residual outcome. The world becomes a better place when our children grow up knowing what it means to be part of a community committed to loving, respecting, caring for and empowering others. Imagine that world....
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Cathy Cryder
Minister with Children, Youth and Families
Dunbar Heights United Church
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