Ep. 4: Giving Kids’ Phones a “Vacation”
“We want this party to be with all the girls being present and in the moment with their friends.” -Ashley, Parent Ashley’s Facebook post caught my attention – it was a photo of the text she had sent to the parents of the 22 (yes, you read that correctly, TWENTY-TWO!) girls invited to her…
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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…
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10 Ways to Teach Kids to Calm Down
Being able to resolve conflicts is one of the most important social skills our kids need in order to thrive in relationships and life. I’ve written a series of posts about different conflict resolution skills, including how to apologize well. When kids (or adults) are really mad, words and reactions can be ugly. The inability…
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Helping Kids through their “Low Point”
During one of our final training sessions with counselors, we ask them to think back to their “low point” as a child or adolescent and remember what, if anything, caring adults did to help them through. It’s a great reminder to counselors to think about the developmental stage of the campers they’ll be working with…
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Connection Before Correction
Because I know our counselors may not retain every bit of information covered in training, there are a few concepts I will continue to focus on and share with them throughout the summer. One of those is the importance of connection before correction. I’m convinced that developing positive, close relationships with children serves as a…
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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.…
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Conversations before College: WHO you are matters more than WHERE you go
I just spent spring break with ten high school senior girls and some of their moms. Several of these girls know where they’ll be heading to college in the fall, but others are still anxiously waiting to hear about acceptances. Since it was spring break, we stayed off the dreaded college topic as much as…
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The Power of Compliments
I saw this video last week, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the power of compliments: Isn’t it amazing? This teacher spent just 10 minutes a day complimenting his students, and he completely changed the culture of his classroom. The kids started being more kind and complimenting each other. Amazing! Well, of…
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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…
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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…
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Picking my Parental Battles
“Battle” is probably not the ideal metaphor when discussing parenting, but lately I’ve felt like it’s been one scuffle after another between me and my adolescent sons. As I have a chance to reflect each night, what unfurls is a day that seems to have been filled with a constant stream of nagging, niggling reminders.…
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5 Ways to Teach Kids to Live Life Well
As I started writing this, I realized that my title is inaccurate: “5 Ways to Live Life Well” would be more appropriate. As an adult, I still need these reminders to help me live my own life better. And, as with all things parenting-related, our kids do not learn from what we tell them or…
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