How to Respond to Bad Behavior
Bad behavior from other people is an inevitable part of life. While we would love to protect our kids from every mean comment or action by another person, that is impossible. What we can – and must – do is help our kids learn how to respond appropriately to bad behavior. That’s a life skill…
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Ep. 97: Parenting the Challenging Child
In Episode 97, I’m chatting with Signe Whitson. We talk about her book, Parenting The Challenging Child: The Four-Step Way To Turn Problem Situations Into Learning Opportunities, which is based on her work at the Life Space Crisis Intervention, an organization dedicated to training teachers, counselors, and parents on how to appropriately respond to…
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Ep. 54: Parenting Tips from Summer Camp to Raise Healthy Kids with Dr. Jim Sears
In Episode 54, I’m chatting once again with my long-time friend and camp colleague, Dr. Jim Sears. I’ve known him as Camp Doctor “Bones” for the past 14 years, but he is better known by his patients at his family’s pediatric practice as “Dr. Jim.” You might have caught our previous episode (Episode 51), where…
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Ep. 33: Jedi Mom Tricks (Part 2) with Maria Horner
You decide as a family what’s important…Every single thing can’t be important. You have to pick a few things that are in alignment with your family’s values and then really, really be consistent with them. Maria Horner In Episode 33, I’m with Maria Horner talking about more of her “Jedi Mom Tricks!” Listen here if you…
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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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Focus on the “Do”s
Next week 100 counselors arrive to spend 10 days learning to lead campers to have fun, make friends, and grow this summer. As I prepare our training sessions and line up guest speakers each spring, I reflect on how all parents should be required to go through camp staff training. Seriously. There is some basic information about…
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Catch Them Doing the Right Thing
I’ve often thought it would be great if all parents could go through the kind of training and orientation we provide our counselors before they start working with kids during the summer. I’ve heard many times from past counselors that they learned a lot of their parenting techniques from working at camp! Often, parents and…
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