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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EP. 188 [Tough Twenties] Series Wrap Up with Gretchen (age 30) & Owen (age 20)
Hi Sunshine Parenting Listeners, In the final episode of the Tough Twenties series, Gretchen (age 30), Owen (age 20), and I have a conversation about building identity capital in your twenties and how various experiences, whether professional or personal, shape our stories and can influence future opportunities. Owen shares his experience as a beach lifeguard,…
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How Camp Helps Parents Raise Adults
“The movie Stepford Wives came to mind as I watched my students live their college life still somehow looking to the sidelines for mom or dad’s direction, protection, or intervention as if they were five, playing soccer, and needed a parent to point in which direction to kick the ball. I began to wonder, I…
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Connection Tip #2: Start a Daily Family Sharing Habit
“Just like at camp, connections are the result of intentionally chosen, day-to-day family habits that create feelings of warmth and belonging.” –Happy Campers Secret #1: Connection Comes First One of my favorite connection tips (besides unplugging) is having a daily family sharing habit. I’ve honed my ideas on this topic over many years of practice around…
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[ENCORE] Ep. 159: “The Social Dilemma” with Jean Rogers
SHOW NOTES Join Audrey’s email subscriber community for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families. Jean Rogers is the Director of the Children’s Screen Time Action Network, where she leads a coalition of practitioners, educators, advocates, and parents who collaborate on practical methods to reduce children’s time on screens and digital devices, mitigate the…
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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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[Encore] Ep. 116: Why We Need to Unplug to Connect with our Families
Show Notes Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families. This is an encore presentation of one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy! In this episode, I’m reading one of my most popular blog posts. It’s one that’s really applicable during these times that we often take to just spend some time reconnecting with…
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[Encore] Ep. 68: 12 Parenting Tips for Happier, More Connected Families
Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families. This is an encore presentation of one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy! Each month this year, I’ve shared a One Simple Thing tip for creating happier, more connected families. For this episode, I share all twelve tips! 12 Tips for Happier, More Connected Families January: Daily…
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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. 123: Connection Comes First
Show notes & links available here. In this episode, I’m talking about my theme for this month: Connection! All month long, my posts and podcast episodes are centered around this topic, and it’s one that I feel is critically important to raising thriving kids. In fact, the first chapter of my book Happy Campers (Secret…
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Giving Kids Our Full Attention
Rapport feels good, generating the harmonious glow of being simpatico, a sense of friendliness where each person feels the other’s warmth, understanding, and genuineness. These mutual feelings likely strengthen the bonds between them, no matter how temporary. -Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence: The Revolutionary New Science of Human Relationships After conducting research on children’s social skills…
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