Campfire Conversation: Recent Episodes
Cole Kelly
The stories, lessons, and magic of summer camp change campers (and staff) for the better every year. Speaking with people who spend their lives planning for and running summer camps around the country, the Campfire Conversation podcast will give parents, teachers, coaches and mentors a unique perspective on raising, teaching and leading children. Pull up a log, get your marshmallows ready, and let’s chat!
After six summers and 15-months of ‘full time’ camp work, Samantha Thomson joins us around the campfire to explore the full time life of summer camp. (Hint: there is no ‘off-season!’). Enjoy!
Seeing great people build a life together is an amazing thing. That its also happening when you are helping to run camp together for the first time adds to the fun. Nikki Zenkel and Max Grossman join me to talk about their first foray into full time summer camp together and their plans for after the summer. Enjoy!
I’ve enjoyed working with and supporting Focus for a Future for many summers. The work they do introduces, as one great camp guy describes it, a spark of wonder for all the children at camp. My friend, Andy Newberg, joins me around the campfire to give us the inside scoop on all the great outcomes Focus for a Future and their volunteers create for kids.
What is learned at camp can have far reaching effects both personally and professionally. Tony McGaharan left Northern Ireland to spend two summers at camp. His journey from there included working for non-profits and then Google before starting People Playbook, a company which sounds a whole lot like… well, being back at camp.
Imagine taking a nice piece of property, full of trees and grass, and turning it into a summer camp. Think about all the pieces that go into that experience – planning, building, creating and more. Jackie Brethel of Kippewa Point tells us all about the ins and outs of starting a camp from scratch!
How does working at summer camp influence a school teacher? In what ways does working as a teacher make you a better a summer camp professional? Our long-time team member, Dana Stassen, lives in both worlds professionally and is happy to share her insights. Enjoy!
What is it like to go to camp when it’s nothing like the world you know? What’s it like to move from camper to counselor and then to Division Head? How do we apply the lessons of camp back home? Jorge Perez is kind enough sit around the campfire and answer these and many other questions. Enjoy!
Did you know that one-third of the homeless population in the US is made up of families? Homelessness can have a huge (negative) impact on children… which is why camp can be so important and positively impactful in their lives. The work that Tyrone Squire and Homes for the Homeless is doing is literally changing lives.
One of the most necessary (and under-appreciated, misunderstood) aspects of camp is maintenance. Camp Maintenance Director John Weidner is around the campfire to pull back the curtain on this essential work at camp. A must listen for parents, camp directors and camp summer staff!
We are talking today about all the benefits sleepaway camp has to offer. We talk to so many people on the podcast who are summer camp lifers. They grew up at camp or their family ran the camp, but Sara and I share something in common. We don’t come from that background. We found summer camp later in life and we want to explore what that impact has on people.
Every summer, more than 100,000 college-aged people decide to work at summer camp. From this incredible pool of people, we hope to find a few that want to do the work full-time. Brenn McCans has several great lessons to share from her bumpy path from counselor to camp professional. Enjoy!
Going to camp for the first time can be daunting. That is why 12-year-old Eden WROTE A BOOK. Notes from the Camp Bunk will help campers, parents and camp staff alike start summer off the best way possible.
A person’s mind, when trained correctly, can be a person’s greatest tool. Dr. Lonnie Sarnell, a clinical and sport psychologist… who also happens to be the Girls Head Counselor at Tyler Hill Camp, has a great way to help all of our kids PERFORM at camp and everywhere else.
Literally growing up at camp is a gift though not one without challenges. Lily Stoltz and Cole Kelly III give us the inside scoop of what being raised by camp directors is like. And make sure to stick around for a special guest at the end!
When we remove all risk from our children’s lives, we stunt their growth. Paul Dreyer, the CEO of Avid4 Adventure is an experiential learning expert who has a lot to teach about introducing the right kind of risks so that our children grow into competent, confident humans. Enjoy!
Our kids have been through a challenging time over the past two years. Summer camp provides a great set of lessons on building one of the vital ingredients to make it through challenging times: resilience. Expert researcher and commenter Stephen Gray Wallace joins us around the campfire to reveal these resilience lessons and how we can apply them back home.
It’s Christmas season and, for many, that means as much reverence as it does presents. In that vein, we wanted to learn a bit more about Christian summer camps. My new friend, Spencer Breedlove, joined the campfire to teach us more about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Merry Christmas everyone. See you around the campfire in the new year!
As we move into the holiday season, we are talking about religious camps around the campfire. Our neighbor and good friend Jeff Braverman of Camp Nesher and NJY Camps joins us for an introduction into the joys of Jewish camping.
There is a lot to be grateful when thinking about summer camp: incredible mentors, carefree activities, a thriving community… and all the good this provides. Dan Zenkel, the person responsible for getting Kate and I into camping, is around the campfire to talk about what he’s grateful for, SCOPE, and a lot more.
While there are a lot of pieces to a ‘great summer camp’ puzzle, summer staff is the biggest and most important one. For many camps, international staff members who come through the J1Visa cultural exchange program are essential to their staffing puzzle. Ivy Cohen, head of Camp Leaders, is around the campfire to explain the importance of these great people to camps across the US.
While there are a lot of pieces to a ‘great summer camp’ puzzle, summer staff is the biggest and most important one. For many camps, international staff members who come through the J1Visa cultural exchange program are essential to their staffing puzzle. Ivy Cohen, head of Camp Leaders, is around the campfire to explain the importance of these great people to camps across the US.
When we last left you, summer camp staff orientation was about to start and the campers were not far behind. It’s been a few months now since we dosed the last campfire of the summer and caught our collective breath. Camp was amazing and challenging and fantastic and tiring – more so than any summer before. And, it was the most important summer in the history of our industry. Here’s a short conversation from the two of us as we learn from this past summer and prepare for an even better Summer ’22.
Wow - What a year! Tonight's final campfire of this season is about both remembering and looking forward. We hope this fun "wrap up" conversation leaves you looking forward to more Campfire Conversations this fall. Have a safe and happy summer!
Want to know what it’s like growing up at camp, leaving camp, and coming back? Want to know what it’s been like to be a camp director preparing for the most important summer of our lives? My friend Adam Baker, Director of Camps Equinunk and Blue Ridge, is around the campfire tonight and will give you all the details. Enjoy!
We are all coming out of a very tough time with Covid and political strife and so much more. However, it’s time to move from despair to HOPE. No one I know thinks more deeply about this move than John Hamilton, the Director of Camp Hope America. It’s hope-full people who change themselves and the world around them in positive ways. John will tell you how it gets done. Pull up a log and have a listen!
We are lucky when we get to learn from legends, even more so when they are our parents. My friends, Ross Moskowitz of Camp Westmont and Matt Stoltz of Island Lake Camp share many of the lessons learned from Mike and Bev and Fred and Minna. There are some very important lessons for parents (and children!) in this conversation. Enjoy!
Health Care at summer camp is very much in the limelight these days. (Frankly, it always should be!) Tracey Gaslin, the Executive Director of the Association of Camp Nursing, is around the campfire talking about how parents, Health Center staff, and camp directors can best work together to make Summer 2021 a happy and healthy success.
Sometimes it’s easier to see the impact of something when you are further away.
We all know summer camp is a gift for children. This is especially so for those from the poorest,
most difficult situations. Global Camps Africa’s Executive Director, Emily Crowder, is around
the campfire talking about all the good being done in South Africa by people who love summer
camp and kids. Make sure to check out their upcoming Global Gathering!
We’ve all lost a step in the ‘joy’ department. The lockdowns and the past year has been tough for everyone. It’s time to unclench our hands and open up. That’s the only way to give and receive any gift… and especially the gift of camp. Camp owner and director Kate Kelly is around the campfire to talk about the important lessons of joy camp can offer up.
What would five decades of summer camp experience teach? What if those (ongoing) fruitful years included learning from and visiting camps not only around your own but around the world? John (Jorgi) Jorgenson, Camp Director at Camp Tawingo and the Head of the International Camping Fellowship spends some time around the campfire to chat. Pull up a log and sit a while - it’ll be well worth your time!
Maya Angelou said “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” This is certainly true for summer camp as well as the rest of the world. Briana Mitchell, the Director of AF Camp and co-founder of S’more Melanin (and a long time camper) describes how we can use summer camp to bring that strength of diversity to light.
Gina Greenlee said “Experience is a master teacher, even when it’s not our own.” Dayna Hardin, Owner/Director of Lake of the Woods and Greenwoods camps in Michigan welcomed campers and staff for Summer 2020. She’s around the campfire tonight to share what she learned and describe the very hopeful path forward to an amazing summer 2021 for us all.
After months of COVID lockdowns and social distancing, our kids (and parents!) need summer camp like no other time in recent memory. And, while we are all excited about heading to camp, we’ve got to be honest about the rise in anxiety and intentional on how we handle it. Mental Health Counselor and summer camp veteran Rikki Goldenberg is around the campfire to help.
The idea behind this podcast is to shine a light on those lessons learned at summer camp and figure out how we can apply them in our lives going forward. I hope you’ll enjoy what you hear and put these ideas to work in your life back home.
From the outside looking in, I wouldn’t be surprised if you thought summer camp was a pretty insular place. The camp spirit at each camp is very high. The traditions are unique. The staff are fully engaged with how we do it. In fact, you’ll often hear new staff members say ‘Well, at my camp, we used to….’
While each summer camp certainly has many reasons for their kids and staff to think only about themselves, every great camp I know helps to develop generosity, altruism and servant leadership among their campers and staff members.
During these hard times in the US and around the world, I thought it would be fun to explore how camp has helped one young person reach out and give back to his community. JT Richman is a rising 8th grader from NY, a great big brother to Robbie and Viv, and a fantastic example of someone who, because of camp, wants to give back.
Cole spends some time around the campfire talking about what it's been like being a Camp Director in the time of a pandemic.
We all know the power of camp: the fun, activities we have a hard time re-creating at home, and the joy of learning something new. While many camps have closed for this summer, Happy Camper Live has become a great way to keep the spirit of camp going for kids all across the country. Join me, Allison Miller and Steve Slavkin to learn how we can literally bring camp home this summer.
After chatting with the moms last week, it's time for the dads to get into the action this week. Tune in as we assemble the "Council of Dads" to talk about how summer camp makes better Dads.
Camp teaches a lot of great lessons to kids and staff. And, it teaches us parents as well. I thought it would be fun and instructive to find out how camp has shaped the parenting styles of three great moms with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working for many years.
Summer camp serves as a launching point for so many people. Thankfully, it’s helped a large number of staff and campers alike become professional helpers as mentors and teachers. LaDarrius Calvin, Vice President of Boy II Men in Indianapolis, IN, spends some time talking about the magic of summer camp the power of mentorship.
Summer camp serves as a launching point for so many people. Thankfully, it’s helped a large number of staff and campers alike become professional helpers as mentors and teachers. LaDarrius Calvin, Vice President of Boy II Men in Indianapolis, IN, spends some time talking about the magic of summer camp the power of mentorship.
For the first time in my professional life, I have some concerns about summer camp opening. It’s not what I want to even think about. However, as Mr. Rogers used to say, if it’s human, it’s mentionable. And, if it’s mentionable, it’s manageable.
Like many other cultural institutions, summer camp has been greatly affected by Covid-19. Thankfully, there are a number of wonderful resources helping us learn more and devine a future forward. Whether it’s the actions of the American Camp Association national office, our local ACA offices, the Jewish Federation of Camps, our local Department of Health offices: they are doing their all to determine a safe path forward.
The other resource we have are those who have lived through something similar. When all this starting happening, one of the first people I thought of was Bobby Harris, the longtime camp director of URJ Camp Coleman. While Bobby has been in camping a little while longer than I have, we’ve got a lot of connections: time spent in Boston, experiences helping to lead multiple camps and the virus that brought originally together 12 years ago. Heck, he’s even got one of our former campers playing guitar on the welcome page of his website!
This is a perfect time to learn from past and take inspiration for the future. Bobby Harris is the right camp director to provide both. I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation with my friend, Bobby Harris.
For the first time in my professional life, I have some concerns about summer camp opening. It’s not what I want to even think about. However, as Mr. Rogers used to say, if it’s human, it’s mentionable. And, if it’s mentionable, it’s manageable.
Like many other cultural institutions, summer camp has been greatly affected by Covid-19. Thankfully, there are a number of wonderful resources helping us learn more and devine a future forward. Whether it’s the actions of the American Camp Association national office, our local ACA offices, the Jewish Federation of Camps, our local Department of Health offices: they are doing their all to determine a safe path forward.
The other resource we have are those who have lived through something similar. When all this starting happening, one of the first people I thought of was Bobby Harris, the longtime camp director of URJ Camp Coleman. While Bobby has been in camping a little while longer than I have, we’ve got a lot of connections: time spent in Boston, experiences helping to lead multiple camps and the virus that brought originally together 12 years ago. Heck, he’s even got one of our former campers playing guitar on the welcome page of his website!
This is a perfect time to learn from past and take inspiration for the future. Bobby Harris is the right camp director to provide both. I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation with my friend, Bobby Harris.
The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us we are all – everyone on earth – are neighbors dealing with the same situation. We get a perspective on camp and Covid-19 from China with my friends Marco Reyes and Mike Lewis of the YMCE Group. If you’d like a window into their experience, I hope you’ll take a few moments to listen.
Ever felt overwhelmed with too many things to do and not enough time? Ever have that organizational system you thought would fix everything simply add more work? We are all feeling this way now with our normal lives turned upside down. Diana Bloom, camp pro, twin-parent, and accountability consultant can help!
The idea of achievement is not new but the stress surrounding achievement these days often leads to burnout. These days, with our newly added stressors and uncertainty, we hoped that Lindsay Boccardo, generational coach, would give us insight into high achieving learners, their relationship with burnout, and how a shift in attitude may be the difference in living a life that’s just successful and a life that’s joyful and successful. Take a listen to see what easy and actionable steps Lindsay shares to help all of us find ways to be high achievers who are also kind to themselves and ultimately, others.
Yes, it’s a big issue facing all of us, even those in the summer camp industry. The good news: most camps still have a long time before we open. Co-hosts Scrappy Stassen and Cole Kelly discuss how the camp industry is approaching this summer and everything else they learned at this year’s ACA Tri-State Conference.
Getting outdoors makes us better people. Sometimes we ignore the evidence that supports this idea because getting outside feels like another thing on a to-do list. On this episode of Campfire Conversations, Ruby Compton shares with us why we need to make the time to leave our offices, classrooms, homes, and cars to reconnect with nature, and she gives us some tips on how to do just that. We hope you’ll give this a listen, preferably on a walk outside, and then learn some more about Ruby by visiting her website, rubyoutdoors.com
There is no better leadership learning lab for young people than summer camp. The opportunities to lead are widely available as are the lessons from watching near-peers lead themselves and others. Professor Dave Malter is around the campfire talking about ways in which camp develops leadership and how we can instill more of those lessons back home.
We all need more playfulness in our lives. As kids, and especially at camp, we play a bunch, whether it’s in the dining hall, the fields, around the craft tables or elsewhere. That play is instrumental in building positive outcomes for kids and adults in physical, emotional, and social ways.
Michael Brandwein, one of the most well-known experts in education and youth development in the US, has a lot to say about the positive impact of play and how we can incorporate more of it back home. You can get his newest book, Growing Great Qualities in Kids, here. Enjoy!
Change is all around us, whether you are at summer camp or not and questions abound: will cyborgs take over camp? Will camps have to become resource independent? Will our minds become unhinged? Take a moment to listen to Dr. Chris Thurber talk through these ideas in the (very!) optimistic backdrop of summer camp.
The composer Gustav Mahler said “tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” These words echo importantly at summer camp. Dr. Elizabeth Corey has spent a lot of time thinking and writing about the importance and challenges of traditions and how they help us both at summer camp and at home. Enjoy!
We all want to live our best selves and figure out ways to help others do the same. Steve Nugent, a former NCAA Division I head coach and awesome camp guy has been thinking about this very idea for decades. Want to bring out the best in your people? Pull up a log, grab a s’more, and tuck in.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Beth Goldstein for my entire career in camping. When Kate and I took the reins at Camp Wicosuta, a wonderful girls camp in NH, we spent a lot of time with many referral agents. Beth, who focuses on helping families in the Philadelphia and NYC area find a great summer camp fit, was very helpful to us.
By visiting a wide variety of camps each summer and working with a number of unique families, Beth has an valuable vantage point on the Summer Camp world. When we spoke recently, the idea of comfort zones came up along with an article that left her smiling and shaking her head a bit. It was too good an opportunity to pass up for me to get Beth around the campfire.
There are very few spaces in our world that combines joy and friendship, anxiety and challenge in a more fruitful way than camp. Dr. Dan Wolfson, a clinical psychologist with a great deal of summer camp experience, has combined his love of camp and his practical work to help his clients (and us) better understand our relationships, our anxieties, and our grief.
It’s a new year and many of us have set a health goal. Whether it’s creating an exercise habit, dropping a few pounds, or not eating Nutella with a spoon (I’m not judging you), we all want to get a bit better. Today’s guest around the campfire can help in all of those ways. The best part is, he’ll start with the first building block: how we breathe.
Dr. Tina Payne Bryson is the Executive Director of the Center for Connection in Pasenda, CA, mother of three boys, and a longtime attachment researcher. Along with her coauthor, Dr. Daniel Siegel, Dr. Bryson has written numerous books including the Whole Brained Child, the Yes Brain, No Drama Discipline and the upcoming The Power of Showing Up.
If fact, if you’d like get the chance to get free copy of her The Power of Showing Up, please leave an iTunes review to enter a drawing for the book. I’ll announce the winner in the next podcast and send one along to you.
I’ve learned a lot from Dr. Bryson over the course of the last several years and was so excited to get her around the campfire to talk. I’ve not met anyone who can make the incredible advances in brain research both understandable and applicable better than Dr. Bryson.
I hope you’ll enjoy this Campfire Conversation with Dr. Tina Bryson.
As we approach the holiday season, we want to explore the idea of summer camp being a gift. In the first two installments, we spoke with two camp parents who have a special view of summer camp and two long time former campers. In this, the final installment of ‘Camp as a Gift’, I talk with the one person besides my bride with whom I’ve shared the most campfires with: Camp Mom Judy. Over her 21 summers at camp, she’d gained a lot of wisdom and is happy to share tips, thoughts, experiences and her unique answer to ‘how is a camp a gift?’
As we approach the holiday season, we want to explore the idea of summer camp being a gift. In the first of our three installments, we spoke with two camp parents who have a special view of summer camp. In this, the second installment of ‘Camp as a Gift’, I talk with one half of the ‘main players’ as it were: the kids! And, I’m not talking with just a random sampling. Our All-Around Campers from 2019 join us for a fun and thoughtful conversation on how camp has been a gift for them.
As we approach the holiday season, we want to explore the idea of summer camp being a gift. In the first of our three installments, we speak with two camp parents who have a special view of summer camp: they work there, too! Take a moment to listen to two incredibly involved mom’s discuss how camp is a gift for them (as well as their kids) and how we can make our lives back home a bit more campy. Enjoy!
Last week, we spent time around the campfire listening how camp has made us more confident, empathetic, patient, and aware. This week, we’ve got the same crew around the fire talking about ‘less’ instead of more. The sentence I want each to finish starts this way: Because of camp, I’m grateful to be less…. I hope you’ll enjoy this second part of A Grateful Campfire.
Tonight, we have something different in store for you. In the hopes of creating a campfire feel where we have several people sitting around and talking, we’ve invited a handful of our summer team to spend some time discussing two of our favorite topics: gratitude and camp. I really enjoyed connecting with so many of our team and I hope you’ll enjoy the ensuing conversation as much as I did.
Summer camp is an incredible gift for a young person’s growth… but only if it’s the right camp for that child. When families find the right community, the relationship can last for more than a decade and the impact can change the course of lives. That means that picking the right community is a challenge of utmost importance.
Putting a kid into a situation that doesn’t match what works best for them (or for their parents) will actively fight against all those great lessons camp brings to the table. (By the way, the same goes for young people looking to work at camp, too!)
So, the big question is this: how can we find the right fit for our child so that the fun and community of camp unlocks all of its life-changing lessons? My guest around the campfire tonight can help.
Few people have influenced more kids and adults in a positive, wholesome way that Fred Rogers. Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood brought decency, thoughtfulness, kindness and respect to millions all around the world. His example is one we and many others in the summer camp industry do our best to follow.
After watching the recent Won’t You Be My Neighbor documentary, I happened to make a new friend in the summer camp world who was just as captivated with Mr. Rogers as myself. Lee Biear was a camper, counselor, and now works full time in the summer camp world both as a staff member and consultant. The more she listened and thought about Mr. Rogers, the more she thought ‘camp.’
I couldn’t agree more! So, in the celebration of the upcoming Tom Hank’s movie about Mr. Rogers, I thought this would be a perfect time to talk about this great human being around the campfire.
Have you ever wondered about the long-term effect of camp on a young person? My guest around the campfire is about to tell you. Tammi Leader Fuller spent her summers at camp, took what she learned at camp and applied it in the professional world. Now, if you may call is a third but I suspect not a final act, she has created a camp for grown-ups with: Campowerment.
Tammi and I spend some time delving into the lessons she received at camp many moons ago. We then spend time talking about how those lessons have helped her, and now her campers, grow and thrive in the present age.
This is a fun conversation reminiscing about the wonders of camp, how it helps our kids over a lifetime, and how we adults can plug back into the magic. I hope you’ll enjoy this Campfire conversation with the founder of Campowerment, Tammi Leader Fuller.
Why? It’s a question we get a lot from really young kids and more and more from our older ones. Young people want to know how things work and, just as important, they want to know the ‘why’ behind it all. As my guest, Jolly Corley, explains, it’s up to us adults to know the ‘why’ before we get out there and start teaching, leading, and parenting.
I recently met Jolly at the ACA Southeastern Camp Conference. By the end of the session, I had multiple pages of notes and knew I had to keep the conversation going. Along with being a very involved mom, Jolly is an assistant director at Camp Robindel, a wonderful girls camp in New Hampshire, who focuses on hiring and developing their staff members, a leadership educator for teams and organizations during her ‘off season’, and a member of the American Camping Association task force for 21st century skills.
We talk about several points I found particularly interesting from her ACA Southeastern talk: common sense is not that common, learning not to make kids say ‘I’m sorry’, some camp-earned lessons as a parent, and great books to read. Thankfully, we didn’t get to everything I wanted to discuss with her which means we get to have Jolly back in the future.
I hope you’ll enjoy this Campfire Conversation with my new friend, Jolly Corley.
We all want our children prepared for the future, one that is increasingly filled with technology. The funny thing about these advances: it will be human creativity and connection skills that will push things further...and help us all keep up. The CEO of the American Camp Association, Tom Rosenberg, stopped by the campfire to talk how we can all work together to help prepare our young people to thrive in the near and distant future.
One of the great things about many camps is the abundant presence of the natural world. Going to camp under the big trees or in the mountains or in a place where the sky is huge helps our kids connect the world from which they are born. While this experience would be thought of as an ‘every day’ thing not too many years ago, being in nature is becoming more and more rare for all of us.
The benefits of being in nature is something I’ve always thought about but never really understood. Thankfully, one of my closest childhood friends can help! I’m so excited to Kat McIntyre. Kat and I grew up together in Athens, GA, sharing too many friends and laughs and youth group trips to count. As you are about to hear, she’s got an infectious personality and is so curious about the natural world.
After leaving the University of Georgia with a masters of forestry degree, Kat has worked at camps, started a school, and led healing trips in the woods. I don’t know anyone more qualified to talk with us about the healing power of the great outdoors and how we can help introduce it to the lives of our children and ourselves. I hope you’ll enjoy this campfire conversation with Kat McIntryre.
The internet is everywhere. Apps, games, emails, news, podcasts… it’s all out there. And, its up to the adults to help our young people navigate the online world safely and productively until they are old enough to make their own decisions. Thankfully, we have people like my friend Joe Ryan to help us all navigate this realm safely.
After starting as a school resource officer for the Richland County Sheriff’s department, Joe Ryan became the education coordinator for the South Carolina Attorney General’s office. He’s spent his time there reaching out to connect with and educate students, parents, and community members to help prevent victimization of children through the internet.
Joe is a close friend of Camp Weequahic and is happy to share some of his ideas on how we can help our children stay safe while playing around in the digital sandbox and how we can help them create good online habits. Without further ado, here’s our campfire talk with Joe Ryan.
Technology is not going any where. The connection and the information and the entertainment that our kids hold in their hands or sit in front of… it’s not going away. It’s up to the adults to teach, guide, educate and shape our young people’s response to and interaction with technology. It’s up to us to keep them safe while they gain their digital footing, as it were.
I love the ideas the Joe spoke about. I can’t tell you how much it reminded me of that first night at camp. Our campers and staff members sit on the floor in a circle, getting to know one another and setting ‘bunk expectations’ together. They write it all down, everyone signs it and the bunk posts it in a place everyone can see.
When there is a behavior that falls out of line with the agreed upon expectations, the counselors (or other campers) point to the agreements. Once the group has been together for a while, they review to see where they are at in relation to the expectations. Sometimes, they make changes based on what the counselors are seeing or on what the campers are seeing.
Setting expectations together, understanding the ‘why’ behind certain decisions, and keeping the lines of communication open is hugely important. Do your best to take the emotional knee jerk reactions out of this experience and do all you can to set the right example for your kids as you help them navigate the online world safely and productively.
Thanks for joining us around the campfire. If you enjoyed this show, make sure to check back for more podcasts that focus on bringing the learning of camp to the larger world. If you like what you hear, please leave a review and tell your friends. We’ve got a great big campfire circle and everyone is welcome. Until we speak again, do good and be good.
It’s a been a great ‘first summer’ for the Campfire Conversation podcast. Today, we get Scrappy out from the production booth and in front of the mic. We spend some time talking about what surprised us and what we’ve learned over the past 21 (!!!) episodes. And, you’ll get some ideas on what Summer #2 has in store for listeners starting in September. Enjoy!
This may be the most practical and applicable Campfire Conversation yet: expert advice on how to prepare your child (and yourself!) for summer camp. Jill Tipograph and Jake Schwartzwald of EverythingSummer join me around the campfire and discuss ideas on how to partner with your camp to make this a summer to remember for all involved.
Sammy Moskowitz and Julia Lindon, Happy Campers Podcast
Description: If you are a parent listening to these podcasts, you probably wonder what the
camp experience will do for your child down the road. Today’s campfire guests, Sammy and
Julia, will be happy to show and tell you! Hosts of the beloved Happy Campers Podcast, Sammy
and Julia shed some light on how the experience of summer camp has impacted their lives in
the past, present and into the future. Enjoy!
We’ve spent the last two weeks talking about girls and boys through the experience of ‘single sex’ camp directors. Today, we’ll talk about mixing the two! Carolyn and Jed Dorfman, directors of Camp Walt Whitman, know what they are talking about from both a parenting and a camp perspective and offer a wonderful perspective on girls and boys learning, living, and laughing together.
There seems to be a lot of mixed messaging in regards to boys these days. Some are thriving: working hard, being creative, and enjoying the benefits. Many more, though, are struggling to find themselves and their purpose in the world. Josh Holland someone who can help lead boys and young men through the challenges of life into a thriving adulthood. Thankfully, he’s offered to share many of his insights and ideas around the campfire.
Ginger Clare knows how to work with and inspire girls and women of all ages. Along with her husband, Steve, Ginger directs Camp Kippewa, an all-girls camp in Maine that focuses on celebrating the individual within the community of camp. If you want some ideas on how to raise strong, courageous women, you’d be hard pressed to find someone more thoughtful and knowledgeable than Ginger. Enjoy!
Working with thousands of campers and families, you start to pick up a few ideas that lead to successful, thriving people. Audrey Monke, the director of Gold Arrow Camp and brains behind Sunshine Parenting, has done more than just collect the good ideas. She’s made them available to everyone in her new book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults.
What is better than a true friend? As parents, we want our children to have this luxury. But isn't it more important that our children learn how to make friends? That is something camp people think about all the time: teaching the art of building friendships. In this camfire conversation, Sam Borek, the owner / director of Woodmont Day Camp in New York, shares a lot of great ideas and stories we can use to teach "building friendships" to our kids back home.
Yes, technology has led to incredible advancements for us all. And yet it has also led to major problems for many of our children. Michael Jacobus, the executive director of Reset Summer Camp and parent of a screen-addicted child, joins us around the campfire to talk about the challenges of technology and strategies on helping our kids.
Cicero describes gratitude as the mother of all virtues. Recent research has born this out. We know that practicing gratitude lowers stress levels, increases connection and empathy, and boosts our immune system. The question is how do we instill the practice of gratitude into our kids (and ourselves!)? Dana Stassen and Kate Kelly, who have been leading a community focused on gratitude for a decade, join me to discuss what they’ve learned about instilling the practice of gratitude.
We all want to raise our children to be confident adults. That requires we help them learn from their failures, provide great role models, strengthen their creativity ‘muscles’, and develop their critical thinking. Andy Pritikin, owner and director of Liberty Lake Day Camp in Bordentown, NJ, sits around the campfire with me to talk about all of these ideas and more. (There are a lot of great book suggestions in our show notes!)
Camp Southern Ground, the passion project of Zac Brown, lead of the Zac Brown Band, is a revelation. Started from the ground a few years ago about 30 minutes south of Atlanta, Camp Southern Ground is creating a model of inclusion that will, I predict, change the nature of summer camp in the US. Camp Director Scott Hicock spends a few minutes around the campfire talking about how inclusion makes our homes, classrooms and summer camps better for everyone.
Summer camp is a gift that keeps giving. We’ve heard from experienced researchers and professionals about how camp helps to create lifelong skills, reduces anxiety, and fosters important connections. Today, we get to learn how we can support more kids to enjoy this life-altering gift. Molly Gallagher, executive director of SCOPE (www.scopeusa.org), joins us around the campfire to share the stories and lessons of her camp experience and ways which we can help others enjoy the same.
Yes, yes, camp is incredible for our campers, just as Dr. Laurie Browne explained in last week’s Campfire Conversation. But did you know that camp is just as important and useful for parents? It’s true! Susie Lupert, the head of the ACA New York New Jersey office works with 500+ camp directors and thousands of parents each year. Even more, she’s a new ‘camp parent’ herself! Susie gives us great insight into how camp helps parents become….
As a camp director, I’ve always believed the summer camp experience to be impactful for our campers and staff members. A wide-ranging conversation with the insightful Dr. Laurie Browne, the American Camp Association’s Head of Research, drives home just how transformative summer camp can be for young people. The distinct and transferable skills gained at camp are unique, powerful, and lasting. Even more, they are outcomes that we can keep going back home!
If there was a human jack-knife of summer camp professionals, Kim Aycock would be it! We spend a few moments around the Campfire talking about Gen Z and how summer camp helps prepare them for the world. Employers are scrambling for people with top soft skills – creative thinking, problem solving, leadership, empathy, and more. Summer camp may be the best place in the world for Gen Z to develop these soft skills. And, by being a part of the best ‘soft skills internship’ going, they’ll become a part of something larger than themselves while making a positive impact of the life of another.
We all want our children prepared for the challenges life will present. Summer camp provides a unique environment in which kids create narratives that can lead to an anti-fragile approach to living.
Around the campfire, Bob and I talk about something we see a lot in our society: the rise of anxiety in our children, young people, and adults.
Did you know that 25% of 13 to 18-year-olds have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in the US? And, it’s not just affecting middle schoolers. One out of every eight college student have reported elevated levels of anxiety.
Raising great kids takes intention, patient, and courage. Roz and Jed Buck, the former owners and directors of one of the country’s great day camps, speak with me about what they learned about raising great kids while running day camp, lawnmower parents, letting our kids fail, and so much more. I hope you enjoy tonight’s Campfire Conversation.
Today, we are speaking with Jeff Leiken, an internationally recognized expert in the field of helping teens. He is one of the top thought-leaders in the summer camp world. We talk about all the good things that summer camp can draw out of kids (and staff) and how we can help create similar outcomes in our lives back home.
The stories, lessons, and magic of summer camp change campers (and staff) for the better every year. Speaking with people who spend their lives planning for and running summer camps around the country, the Campfire Conversation podcast will give parents, teachers, coaches and mentors a unique perspective on raising, teaching and leading children. Pull up a log, get your marshmallows ready, and let’s chat!