Why Summer Camp May be the Secret to a Longer Life
Last week, during my training with camp staff about friendship skills, I showed them this video (Susan Pinker’s TED Talk: The Secret to Living Longer May Be Your Social Life): I then asked our staff to share what similarities they found between summer camp and the small village in Sardinia Pinker describes in her TED…
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[ENCORE] Ep. 144: Raising Happy, Durable Kids in the Digital Age
Show Notes This week’s discussion is with Jenifer Joy Madden, author of How to be a Durable Human. We participated in a conversation for Digital Wellness Day, and this episode is a recording of our conversation from that webinar. We discussed concepts from both of our books. Madden is a health and environmental journalist who…
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10 Reasons Great Parents Choose Summer Camp for Their Kids
My shy, quiet nine-year-old went to camp not knowing a soul. Two weeks later, she came home transformed. She blossomed. She made friends, learned a multitude of activities, felt safe, loved, confident, and happy — really, really happy. As hard as it was on me, it was all worth it for her. It was the…
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Ep. 172: Screen-Free Week with Jean Rogers
Visit Sunshine Parenting for more resources & episodes. In this episode, Jean Rogers, Director of the Children’s Screen Time Action Network, and I talk about children’s well-being, ways to maximize your family’s screen-free time together, and fun resources for celebrating Screen-Free Week. Jean and I talked about The Social Dilemma (documentary) in Ep. 159 of the…
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24/6: Giving up screens one day a week to get more time, creativity, and connection by Tiffany Shlain
24/6: Giving up screens one day a week to get more time, creativity, and connection by Tiffany Shlain My rating: 5 of 5 stars “Tech Shabbat allows you to take a break and remember an era when spending time on things that take time was part of the pleasure.” -Tiffany Shlain, 24/6 In 24/6, Tiffany…
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Ep. 71: Growing Your Child’s “Bushy Broccoli Brain”
“The neuroscience is saying that when kids miss these developmental milestones, their brains aren’t as interconnected as they would have been had they been actively participating in a wide variety of activities. They need a full sensory upbringing, not doing too much of any one thing.” -Jenifer Joy Madden In Episode 71, I’m chatting with…
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7 Reasons to #optoutside
Next to unplugging, one of my favorite things to talk about is spending time outside. In fact, I believe the combination of unplugging AND spending time outside may be the answer to many of life’s ills. I know that combination works for me. A few years ago REI started their #optoutside initiative: Last year we…
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More of, Less of, Same of (MO, LO, SO)
This is my August installment of my One Simple Thing tip for having a happier and more connected family. Each month this year, I’ve been sharing something I’ve learned from my years at camp that families can try at home to create some of the fun, happiness, and connection that we create at summer camp…
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Ep. 35: Unplugging Your Family with Jill Stribling
“It seems like we have a lot more patience as a family for each other.” “We noticed that he started sleeping better. His personality shifted. He wasn’t nervous all the time. He was just that kid that was always active, always moving, always really nervous, and when we removed that piece from the equation, we…
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My 24 Hours Unplugged
It was fitting that I finished reading The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier and Happier(Susan Pinker) just a day before participating in the National Day of Unplugging, a day when thousands of people commit to going 24 hours without their phones. After reading Pinker’s book, I had a heightened awareness of…
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Ep. 17: Unplugged Middle School Lunch with Rebecca Gogel
Inspired by this article, as well as my personal connection to her school, I recently got in touch with Corona del Mar Middle School Principal Rebecca “Becky” Gogel to talk about her new phone-free lunch policy, implemented at the start of the 2017-2018 school year. Becky is in her third year leading CDM Middle School…
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Too Much Screen Time? 4 Ways Summer Camp Can Help
I’ve learned to face my fears, I’ve tried new things, and I have learned that you don’t always need to have your phone or video games. -Kimberly, Camper Children between eight and ten years old currently spend nearly eight hours a day on media. Adolescents average nearly eleven hours per day, seven days a week,…
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