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Why Kids Need to Feel Needed

When my husband picked my 13-year-old son up recently from a movie night at a friend’s house, the mom mentioned that he was “great at doing dishes.” To me, this is one of the highest compliments we can get as parents. Over the years, I have repeatedly told my kids that keeping a kitchen clean…

Ep. 3: Raising Resilient, Independent Kids with Sara Kuljis

In Episode 3 of the Sunshine Parenting Podcast, I interview my good friend Sara Kuljis about raising resilient, independent kids. Sara is a 20-year veteran camp director and parenting trainer who has great insights and ideas about parenting and counseling kids. Sara, with her husband Steve, owns and directs Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp, a Christian adventure…

The Uncool Mom

One of the numerous times I’ve made my son mad this year was the day I told him he had to go to school when a bunch of other parents were not making their kids go. Here’s the story: My son’s soccer team had a tournament on the last Friday of school before a break.…

Five (MORE) Reasons Great Parents Send Their Kids to Camp

There are so many reasons great parents choose to send their kids to summer camp. Two years ago, I shared five of them on the most popular post I’ve ever published. But now I have more to share. Consider this the second installment in a series with others to follow, because the list of ways…

Be a Better Parent by Doing Less

If you’ve read my posts the past few weeks, you know that I’ve been on a roll with thoughts about letting our kids fail more and preparing them to be competent adults. Reading Jessica Lahey’s The Gift of Failure and hearing Julie Lythcott-Haims speak on her book How to Raise an Adult spurred me to…

10 Surprising Things Kids Learn at Camp

I would not be the person I am today without camp. -15-year-old camper My three decades of camp experience, coupled with my own and others’ research, have shaped my long-held opinion that camp experiences benefit children in profound ways. Yet even I was astounded by the revelations shared at our closing campfires last summer for…

Let Your Son Go!

I started listening to the Dr. Laura radio program a few decades ago while living in Los Angeles. Callers ask Dr. Laura Schlessinger questions, and she offers them blunt guidance and reprimands. Recently, I rediscovered her show on XM radio (Stars Channel 109). I especially enjoy listening to her when my fifteen-year-old is in the car with…

Who’s Not Ready for College?

This is the text message I sent to two friends last week who were dropping their children off at colleges on the other side of the country: “When can we have our first MMD/MMS (mothers missing daughters/mothers missing sons) meeting? For both of them, this is their first child to leave home to go away…

Life Changing Lunches

45 hours. That’s a conservative estimate of how much time I spent making my children’s lunches each school year until 2011. I used 15 minutes a day for my estimate, because I am not at my best in the early morning. I spent a lot of time staring at the lunch boxes, trying to remember…

Five Reasons Great Parents Send Their Kids to Camp

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 single…

4 Parenting Challenges and How Camp Can Help

In today’s digital, fast-moving, ultra-competitive world, raising kids who grow into happy, independent adults has become more challenging for parents. Quality summer camp programs offer an experience that many parents have found to benefit their child’s development of important life skills. Independence, perseverance, and social skills are just a few of the skills that campers learn…

Let the Kids Cook Dinner

One of my parenting role models is a fictional animal. She’s the lead character in the children’s book The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, which was written by Du Bose Heyward in 1939. I can see why the book was written in 1939. No one today would write a book like this…

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