10 Friendship Skills Every Kid Needs
As parents and adults who work with youth, we can positively impact kids’ lives through helping them build good social skills, which are, I believe, more important than academic or athletic skills. At school, very little—if any—time is spent teaching these important skills, but for youth who struggle with social skills deficits, this attention is…
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Coach Kids to Better Friendships
Watch this one-minute video to learn about being your kid’s social skills coach:
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Before Breakfast Podcast – Tips from Happy Campers Book!
Ideas from Happy Campers featured on Laura Vanderkam’s Before Breakfast podcast. Listen below or wherever you listen to podcasts. Greet people with a smile (February 20, 2020) Leave an encouraging sticky note (February 23, 2020) Practice friendship Skills (March 1, 2020)
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4 Friendship Concepts to Share with Girls
In researching and planning for a talk I gave a few weeks ago about girls’ friendships, I read through some excellent resources, including these books. I also wrote this post about ways to help your daughter become a thriving adult. While many concepts I write about friendship apply to both boys and girls, there are…
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Is Kindness the Secret to a Successful Life?
Being a considerate, kind person who thinks about others is a character trait that helps children form good relationships and leads to a happier life as an adult. What does this mean for super competitive parents who want their children to succeed at all costs, even if it means cheating and being mean to others?…
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5 Ways to Encourage Empathy in Kids
Sometimes we need someone to simply be there. Not to fix anything, or to do anything in particular, but just to let us feel that we are cared for and supported. Brené Brown Why is Empathy Important? Of the skills required to have positive, lasting relationships, empathy is one of the most important and one…
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Are You a Book Club Kind of Person?
There are some amazing book club groups that read one book per month and then reliably get together on the second Tuesday of each month for dessert and coffee to discuss the book. I love reading, and I love talking about books, but I was a miserable failure when I tried to be part of…
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Ep. 96: Unplugged & Happy at Camp
In Episode 96, I’m talking with my friend Brooke Cheley-Klebe of Cheley Colorado Camps. We cover a range of summer camp-related topics including longer camp stays, adjusting to camp and overcoming homesickness, what it’s like for teenagers to have the much-needed break from screens, video games, and social media that traditional summer camp programs provide,…
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Ep. 81: The Power of One with Travis Allison
“My great passion around camp is to get more kids there, because I really believe that every kid should go to summer camp.” In Episode 81, Travis Allison and I discuss the power of one person to make a huge impact on a child’s life, not only at summer camp but also in the home.…
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The Wisdom of High School Girls
One highlight of my summer has been meeting with our oldest female campers to discuss relationships, goals, and life. These girls have so much wisdom to share with each other and with adults. We meet on the middle Sunday of their two-week camp session. We spend two hours doing activities together and sharing ideas about…
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Talking with Kids about Friendship
“Friendship is a life skill you need to learn, so why not start now?” Jackson, Age 9 I spent yesterday evening making friendship bracelets and talking about friendship with a group of campers. We were outside, near pine trees and a campfire — the perfect camp setting. At one point, a deer walked by about…
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