Gluten-free pizza

But that doesn’t mean they have to miss out on yummy camp treats.

Here are some great recipes from the folks at Parenting magazine, including gluten-free pizza and granola, and wheat-free pancakes and chocolate cake: http://bit.ly/wjNqFi

Diversity isn't just skin deep.

In addition to overseeing teachers and connecting them with cultural and instructional resources, I also took on the role of working with school staffs on issues of diversity among their students.

So when my camp director asked me to present a session on diversity at a staff orientation several years ago, I figured it would be a piece of cake.

Mingle camp with diversity? Mix two of my passions together? I was up for the challenge.

Although I am blessed with a phenomenal staff, there was grumbling at first.

“We don’t need diversity training,” they said.

“We know what to do with kids when they come to camp,” they said.

“We accept everyone here regardless of color or culture,” they said.

I didn’t disagree. Over the years, I had witnessed the exceptional job the staff did to include every camper in every activity.

But in retrospect, there were times when some campers didn’t quite seem to fit in to their cabin groups, or a camper or two didn’t fully participate in an activity or learning session with the same level of connection as the campers around them.

Neither a black/white nor a culture/race issue, I set myself to figuring out just what kept those campers self-segregated.

What I realized is that the traditional notion of diversity goes wide, as in race, color, ethnicity and culture–things we can see on the surface–but not always deep.

More than the diversity of the person, I became curious about the diversity of the experience.

Maybe these campers who kept to themselves had such a different experience in their daily existence that they couldn’t relate to or didn’t feel comfortable with the experiences of camp week.

Maybe they wanted to have fun, wanted to be a part of the action, but didn’t know how to bridge that gap because they lacked the skills or self-confidence.

Some diversity of experience examples we discussed were:

• Nature and how to relate to the natural world

• Age/peer group relationships

• New relationships and team-building

• Gender interaction

• Financial/socio-economic situation

• Camp experience

• Routine and set expectations

• Food and mealtimes

• Religion

Interacting with each other in an activity incorporating these examples was a lightbulb moment for many of our staff.

Veteran staff recalled experiences and were generous in sharing with others what worked to break down the camper resistance: getting to know the camper as a person, not just as a camper.

I even had one staff member who had come up through the ranks, who had begun as a camper, moved to a counselor-in-training and was now a counselor, who said she didn’t want to return after the first week of camp, but her counselor had taken the time to listen to her fears and build the trust necessary to encourage her to participate despite what she perceived as keeping her separate from the camp group as a whole.

While our limited time with campers keeps us from getting to know everything about them and their lives, remembering that diversity goes deeper than the color of skin reminds us that a little patience and building of personal relationships go a long way in helping to create the trust necessary to bridge to enjoying the full camp experience.

Beth Morrow is a teacher, author and Senior Week program director for the Central Ohio Diabetes Association’s Camp Hamwi. She has also worked as a diversity consultant and presenter at schools, community organizations and state education conferences. She can be reached at Beth@bethmorrow.com.

Go to summer camp in a national park!

These are some of the themes for this summer’s resident and day camps in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The Conservancy for CVNP, which runs the camps, will hold an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. May 6 at its Environmental Education Center, 3675 Oak Hill Rd., Peninsula, OH 44264. Here is a link to the camps brochure: http://bit.ly/z55zve.

Many camps offer extended wilderness trips like canoeing, hiking and whitewater rafting.

Planning those trips, and making sure they run without a hitch (or not too many hitches) is a big job.

This podcast from the folks at CampHacker gives some great tips for summer camp trips: Trip Tips

For more summer camp podcasts and blog posts, visit www.camphacker.org.

This year’s theme is “Building Camp Communities Through Diversity.”

There will be a host of educational sessions and speakers, as well as a Leadership Institute and an exhibit hall.

Make sure to bring your favorite shirt for Camp T-Shirt Day on Friday, March 9.

For more information or to register, go to http://www.acamidstates.org/.

Camp: It's all about trust.

It usually comes up in conversations I have about the reason why parents choose one camp over another.

I believe that reason is trust.

This is why it is so important for camp directors to connect with parents at camp fairs, in home shows and through electronic media (blogs, social media, email, etc.), because above selling cool programs, catchy theme week titles or progressive skill development systems, we are selling trust.

Does a parent trust her child with us (me, the camp director) for a week or more of that child’s life?

My thoughts on building trust with parents led me to start thinking about how trust allows me to effectively get things accomplished at work.

I realized that trust is the currency I use to get work done with my supervisors, those I supervise and my co-workers.

The interesting thing about trust is that we are in a constant effort of gaining and losing trust. Every day, I am either making withdrawals or deposits of trust in the banks of those with whom I work.

With a high level of trust built up between myself and others, I can get things accomplished with less pushback and disruption to timelines.

But when trust is not there, things can slow down because of questions about motivation and open skepticism about my work.

How is trust built up and torn down?

The starting point of mistrust in many situations is misunderstanding. Misunderstanding can be avoided through clear, constant and honest communication.

Another way misunderstanding is avoided is through contact. When we spend quality time with individuals, we are able to avoid many misunderstandings because we know them better.

When I interviewed for my job with the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, one of the questions they asked me was, “If you do not supervise individuals, how will you be able to get things done through them?”

It was an interesting job and an interesting question, but it is the same way you get things done through people when you do supervise them–through building trust.

I am realizing that the only way that I am going to be successful in my career is through my ability to connect with people and to build trust with the people
I work for and with.

A layer of trust allows us to work harder, forgive more easily and accomplish more.

A layer of trust also has ramifications on our efficiencies and cost structure because of time saved by not having to check up on others’ work.

Taking someone at his word takes less time and is more efficient than micromanaging a staff member.

This year (and in the years to come), I will spend more time building trust with those around me. I will work to be more trustworthy as an employee and will focus on clear communication and intentional contact with those I supervise to build trust in those relationships, also.

Please join me in using our currency of trust to build a better workplace.

Dave Bell has directed day and resident camp programs for more than 15 years. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Camping Services for the YMCA of Greater Seattle. He is a former American Camp Association Southeast Section board member, a certified Y-USA Day Camp Director Trainer and a Y-USA partner YMCA camp consultant. Reach him via e-mail at dbell@seattleymca.org.

This provides certain challenges–and opportunities–that directors at privately owned camps don’t face.

This CampHacker podcast (Number 30, if you’re keeping count!) talks about what makes a great camp board and how camp directors can build a board that will help them create the very best camp.

Working For A Camp Board

If you have a great camp video or more photos than you know what to do with from a recent program, please send them our way. We’ll run them in the digital edition and post them to our website for all the world to see.

For video, we prefer YouTube links or FLV files. For photos, we prefer jpgs.

If you have any questions, drop an email to editor@northstarpubs.com.

CampsNReviews will be going mobile soon!

Now, imagine clicking through to one of those camps and viewing all its amenities, customer comments, ratings, pictures, videos, driving directions and more.

Thanks to Camp Business magazine, that vision will soon be a reality. And, we want you to be part of it — for FREE!

All you have to do is create your camp or conference center’s free listing on our CampsNReviews page. Parents and retreat groups already use our page and interactive map to find just the camp they are looking for.

If you want your camps to be included in our mobile application, simply log in to your Insider account (or call 866-444-4216 to get one) and create a FREE listing.

If you want to add your logo to all your listings — for FREE — simply email a copy of it and the name of your Insider account and we’ll attach it for you.

Don’t have time to do this right now? Have too many facilities to load by hand?

Simply fill out and fax back our listing form and we’ll do the work for you.

We’ll notify you via email when your listings go live, so you can log in and edit/update them however you see fit.

The right words at the right time can have a big impact.

A gentleman was retiring from our company, and when being recognized for his 30 years of service, he asked if he could introduce someone.

Typically, the retiring guys bring their wives, the ladies bring their husbands and sometimes their adult children; but this fellow introduced the man that suggested he come to work for us 30 years ago.

He told the story of how this fellow had heard they were hiring over at Metroparks back then and it sure looked like a great place to work. This soon-to-be retiree evidently followed his lead, inquired and got hired.

It was a heartfelt, sentimental moment indeed.

I thought to myself how interesting it is that people often don’t know the effect they have on other people with just a suggestion, a smile, a word, a nod of approval or even something as innocent as a gesture.

All of those signals can be read as encouraging and can virtually change the direction of someone’s life.

If someone is almost desperate or hungry for support, that little nudge can take on monumental meaning.

A few months ago, a friend of mine mentioned that his son had gotten a paid internship to a pretty solid company but was frustrated that he could not find a full-time job, as he had already completed his four-year college degree.

He took the internship as a post-graduate so it would add to his credentials, but it was to last only as long as one semester.

I told him I thought there was a lot of integrity in that move, and that likely he could make a good enough impression while serving the internship to have it turn into a full-time job.

My friend hadn’t looked at it that way, and he asked if I could pass that encouraging word onto this son.

This is what I wrote to him:

“I applaud your recent decision regarding your internship. There’s a certain appeal to an intern that is really interested in what lies ahead. There’s a sort of recklessness about such an individual and employers are anxious to hire it.

“Bill Gates once said our parents and grandparents had a different word for ‘burger-flipping.’ They called it ‘opportunity.’”

I got an email right back from the kid the next day, and he said, “It’s been a really weird past few months being jobless and constantly scrounging for some sort of income. But I suddenly feel a new confidence thanks to your words and have already identified several opportunities where I think I can provide some valuable input to some pretty influential people.

“Thanks so much for even taking the time to analyze my situation and let me benefit from your experience. My dad is fortunate to have you as a friend. I would submit the same.”

Wow! That felt pretty good and really took nothing but a few moments of my time.

I think time is something we should all be more generous with anyway, so in that spirit, I present the following.

Here are my top three ways to convey encouragement without being phony or looking condescending. These are not out of a Dale Carnegie course or anything; it is just what has worked for me over the years.

When in conversation, if you build your point off another person’s thought, always credit that person before you make your point.

Example: “You know Tom is right, we don’t need to verify the contractor’s insurance because it is already sworn to in the specification, but I think it would be wise to secure his insurance certificate anyway to have it available in the file, should the question ever arise.”

Openly ask the question if others agree, as you are building your logic and assembling your argument.

Example: “So stop me if I am wrong, but what I am hearing is that most of us agree that moving the grand opening deadline back one month would ensure we pull it off professionally and without risk. So then we agree that I should inform the Marketing Department we cannot ensure an error-free event without more time; no less than a month?”

Find merit in other’s suggestions to keep team spirit alive and participation fully engaged even if the suggestion is totally inappropriate.

Example: “Aaron, I can always count on you to see things from an angle I never considered, but I think in this instance dropping balloons when the lecture is finished might send a mixed message. Let’s store that thought for another day, though. I could see that playing very well at the next retirement party. Thanks for that idea.”

You my not always be able to make someone’s day with your words. And alternatively, you may say something in passing you didn’t even know had power or verve behind it.

But if you take responsibility of your words, your reactions, your gestures and your impact on other people, you may just make all the difference in the value others find in the things that make up you.

Ron Ciancutti is the Purchasing Manager for Cleveland Metroparks. He is not on Facebook, but he can be reached at rdc@clevelandmetroparks.com.

The CampDoc is making a house call to Markel Insurance Company.

Markel has expanded its safety resource offerings to include access to CampDoc’s system to help camps improve safety, reduce risk, and provide the best possible care to their campers and staff.

Markel camp policyholders will have access to the CampDoc.com Health Form, Medication Management, and Health Log.

Both Markel and CampDoc work with a diverse group of traditional resident and day camps, including special needs, medical, adventure, tripping, and sports camps, as well as after-school and summer school programs.

“With the help of CampDoc.com, Markel policyholders will have a centralized, secure online tool in their risk management portfolio to help reduce liability and keep safety in the forefront of camp operations,” said Ian Garner, Markel’s Director of Camp & Youth Organization Relations.

“Reducing risk and helping prevent dangerous medical and medication errors is crucial to ensuring a successful camp season.”

“We are very excited that Markel chose us to provide this much needed service,” said Dr. Michael Ambrose, Owner and Director of CampDoc LLC.

“We’re committed to reducing injury and illness. Keeping kids healthy and safe while they’re at camp is our ultimate goal.”

Markel camp policyholders can connect to CampDoc.com by visiting Markel’s Camp Insurance website at campinsurance.com and logging in under Safety Resources.

To learn more about CampDoc, go to http://www.campdoc.com/index.php.

Sometimes a guest speaker can put a little energy into your staff training.

The box that is your office, that is.

Sure, you’re the camp director. It’s your job to make sure your staff is knowledgeable and ready for anything the summer might throw at them.

But that doesn’t mean you are the expert on everything. Or that your staff might not benefit from a breath of fresh air.

Our friend Dave Bell at CampLeadership.org says it’s a good idea to hire guest speakers for some of your staff training. He shares his thoughts on why–and has some suggestion for who–in this blog post: http://bit.ly/x4uZlY.

There's an app for us!

Now, you can take Camp Business with you everywhere you go–to the dining hall, on that long field trip bus ride, at the camp conference.

You can download the app for free.

You can then download an issue of the magazine for $1.99, or you can get a whole year’s worth for $5.99.

On your iPhone, your Camp Business app will show up right on your screen. On the iPad, it will display in the Apple Newstand.

Here’s the link to download the iPhone app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camp-business/id496683885?ls=1&mt=8

And here’s how to download the app for iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camp-business-magazine/id496638626?ls=1&mt=8

We’re also working on apps for the Android market; we’ll let you know when those are ready!

If you must email your camper, do it right.

Does your camp subscribe to a one-way e-mail service, whereby parents can write to their kids via the Internet?

Well, don’t get me started expounding on the virtues of a carefully handwritten letter.

For more on that, listen to my podcast on the topic here: http://www.campspirit.com/mp3/Letters_Home_10.mp3

For those of you who embrace e-mail services in lieu of handwritten letters, we can still be friends.

But for goodness sake, please coach your camp parents on the best way to write an e-mail. Remind them that their son or daughter is not a work colleague, sitting in the cubicle next to them.

A loving e-mail from home should not read like an inter-office memo about the air conditioner requisition form that you botched.

It should be thoughtful, grammatical and–most of all–personal.

I’ve attached a handout I hope you’ll share with your camp parents this summer. It’s a turnkey solution for 21st century brevity and the blight of acronyms.

Please distribute it widely, in the hopes that 2012 will bring more carefully written e-mails from moms and dads everywhere.

Dr. Christopher Thurber is a board-certified clinical psychologist, father and author of The Summer Camp Handbook, now available online for free at SummerCampHandbook.com. He is the co-creator of ExpertOnlineTraining.com, a set of Internet-based-video training modules for camp counselors, nurses and doctors. He can be reached via e-mail at chris@campspirit.com.

Even at camp, kids need time to just play.

Unstructured play is important for a child’s development, and a good summer overnight or day camp director knows this and schedules time for your child to run around, interact with his fellow campers, negotiate game rules and create his own special fun.

Learn more about the importance of play and how camps can make time for it while still providing plenty of great programming in this article from The Camp Director: http://bit.ly/AAsYh5.

Plug your camp's numbers into the Summer Camp Retention Tool.

It’s tough to put a finger on just what each of your campers means to your bottom line, both short and long term.

That’s why James Davis of the Vanderkamp Christian Retreat and Summer Camp in Cleveland, N.Y., is sharing Vanderkamp’s free Summer Camp Retention Tool.

The customizable calculator projects how various changes in costs and gains impact a camp’s budget.

James talks more about how he came up with the idea for the Summer Camp Retention Tool in a guest blog for CampLeadership.org: http://bit.ly/zlLrod .

To give the tool a try, go to http://www.vk.org/wpsite/retention/.

And to put into perspective and make the results useful to your marketing campaign, visit http://www.vk.org/wpsite/marketing/ for advice from the folks at Vanderkamp.

Camp strikes a chord in children's literature.

So when he burst into my classroom last week demanding that I read “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief,” I could hardly say no.

His excitement was based on the movie version, which he’d just seen with a cousin, but he was sure the book would be just as thrilling.

Even though I was already reading three other books, I picked up “The Lightening Thief,” thinking it might appeal to many of my fantasy-loving middle school students.

From the first scene, Brian’s enthusiasm made sense. Rick Riordan’s lively, fast-paced story full of adolescent angst and conflict was built on realistic, sympathetic characters caught in a mythological-based fantasy worthy of capturing the imagination of anyone who’d ever been made fun of or felt different than their teenage peers.

That was my teacher’s assessment before I even made it to the part where Percy and his best friend, Grover, arrive at Camp Half-Blood.

Mythology and summer camp?

Granted, Percy’s camp was full of Greek heroes and mythological creatures, but the description of the camp, right down to S’mores, struck a chord with me.

It wasn’t the first young adult novel I had read referencing camp–“The Parent Trap,” “Holes” and “There’s a Bat in Bunk Five,” for starters, come to mind from my days as a young adult reader.

What struck me wasn’t the stories, but the reasons for the stories.

What is it about the environment and experience of summer camp that an author finds valuable enough to include in a story, or, in the case of the “Camp Confidential” books, to build an entire novel series around?

Consider these themes from the perspective of the adolescent or young adult:

• Wilderness and/or the lack of societal hierarchy as we know it
While there are (generally) guiding adults in summer camp literature, there’s a freedom in the setting of being away from the family and society rules that appeals to the imagination of the reader. What teenage reader hasn’t imagined or longed for a world without rules?

• The Unknown and Unfamiliar
Even if you’ve been going to the same camp for years, each year is a new experience in terms of people, activities and interactions. Summer camp stories are built on the premise of dumping a character who thinks they know themselves well into a situation where they find out they don’t know themselves at all, but must discover their own value based on the demands of the story.

• Unexpected Friendships
Every camp story involves making at least one new friend who changes the character’s perspectives of both life and himself as a person of importance. Camp literature often involves a connection between characters that helps unlock the essence of both people that would not have been possible in the real world.

• Changing for the Better
On the last day of camp, when it’s time to go home or when the character leaves, the parents are the same, society is the same, but the character has changed drastically. Characters have discovered positive elements of themselves that didn’t exist before and must find a way to continue to shine their light despite the cold, harsh constraints of the ‘”real” world.

I’m only halfway through “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief,” but it’s far enough to know I’ll be adding it to my list of camp-related classics.

Any book that can excite a seventh-grader into reading is a definite keeper–pick it up and see for yourself.

————————————————————–

For Your Camp Literature Reading Pleasure
A basic list of books where the intersection of camp life and literature make for a great story, regardless of age:

“Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief” by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson’s arrival at Camp Half-Blood is the ending of one life–his life as a simple, troubled kid with ADHD, dyslexia and a rotten stepfather–and the beginning of another: his coming to terms with the unfolding reality that he’s the son of Poseidon.

Though the demons he battles will be both internal (searching for family, identity and meaning) and external (he is carrying a sword on the front cover), the connections he makes at Camp Half-Blood prepare him for the quest he’s about to pursue.

“Holes” by Louis Sachar
When Stanley Yelnats is given the option of jail or Camp Green Lake after being falsely convicted of a crime, he chooses the camp–which is no camp at all, but a juvenile detention facility.

Still, through the action of digging a five-by-five-by-five-foot hole every day with a ragtag bunch of misfits who become friends by virtue of their common lot, Stanley’s discovery of the real reason the warden has them digging holes leads into a mystery that changes his outlook and his character.

“There’s a Bat in Bunk Five” by Paula Danzinger
On the theme of the personal change that comes from the camp experience, Marcy is heading to camp for her first time, more concerned about herself: being away from her parents, being an introvert, being shy and insecure around new people in general and boys in particular.

Through a positive attitude and learning to listen to others, she realizes both that she’s really no different than anyone else, and that her life could be worse.

“Letters from Camp” by Kate Klise
Drawing from the traditional details of the horrible summer camp experience–mean counselors, bad food and an overall terrible experience written in letters that aren’t sent home to parents–this camp for siblings who can’t get along helps unite brothers and sisters and is entertainingly told through letters and an array of documents rather than straight prose.

“Wish You Weren’t Here” by Melissa J. Morgan
Camp Confidential book number eight (in the 20-book series), set at Camp Lakeview, finds Sarah happy upon returning to camp, a place she goes to escape the insanity of her life in the real world–until she realizes that Abby, a girl from home–is there.

If Abby shares what she knows about Sarah’s real life, Sarah might lose her closest camp friends.

Morgan’s series, each book with a new protagonist and plot line, brings to light the issues faced by a group of camp friends as they navigate the murky waters of growing up, growing apart and getting back together through the experience of summer camp.

Beth Morrow is a middle school reading teacher, author and senior week program director for the Central Ohio Diabetes Association’s Camp Hamwi. Drop her a note to let her know what you think of these camp-themed books at beth@bethmorrow.com, or leave a comment about your favorite young adult camp books.

Michael Jackson went to summer camp.

Find out which camps your favorite celebrities and luminaries called home during their childhood summers.

For instance, did you know that Michael Jackson attended Camp Billings in Fairlee, Vt.?

Or that you could have bumped into Neil Diamond at Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Springs, N.Y.?

Check out the famous folk and their camps at http://bit.ly/xhVz3B.

We know we do!

Matt Ralph catalogs those mentions on his website, http://www.summercampculture.com/.

Here is CampHacker’s recent interview with Matt: SummerCampCulture Interview

Go check out your camp from a child's perspective.

How do I know that this is a problem?

Two ways:

One, in my 15+ years in the summer camp industry, I have sat in on many strategic planning sessions, looked at the layout and design of camp properties, and walked around camp with many donors and high-level leaders.

In all this time, I have never had a 9-year-old with me for any of the planning sessions, any of the stressful days looking at blueprints or during the walk-around with the donors.

Why is that?

I’m sure this doesn’t apply to you, but maybe this article is more of a kick in the pants for me to say, “Why would I ever design something for a particular group of people (9-year-olds) and not consult them on what they wanted?”

The second way that I know we have a problem is that I have walked around camps (my camp included). Have you ever looked at your camp from the vantage point of a 9-year-old? It is different. They are much shorter.

I think of basketball courts that I have seen at almost every camp. Most camps I have visited have a basketball court, which is not a bad thing, but the problem is that the goals are 10 feet tall and they are not adjustable.

Do you know what percentage of 9-year-olds can consistently make a basket on a 10-foot goal? 3 percent (I did the research).

This means that 97 percent of our 9-year-olds who are playing basketball at camp are not making a basket.

In case there was confusion, the point of basketball is to make a basket.

Here is the equation I used to make a change to the basketball court at my camp:

Problem: 9-year-old + 10-foot basketball goal = no fun for 9-year-old

Solution: 9-year-old + adjustable basketball goal = super fun time for 9-year-old

I have heard research that says the retention rate for first-time campers 8 and younger is around 30 percent, but for first-time campers 10 and older the retention rate goes up to 60 percent.

We can make some arguments about the social aspect of camp being more suited to older kids, but maybe part of the problem is that even though we think our camp is built for kids, it might not be.

What is in place at your camp that might not be that kid-friendly (or parent-friendly)?

It could be the size of the equipment, the scariness of the woods, bathrooms that aren’t in the cabins, or rules we have in place for using different activity areas of camp.

I am not saying that we need to change everything at our camps, but it would be a good idea to hear the perspective of our camp from the eyes of a 9-year-old.

Yes, I will be doing my next board recruitment trip at a third-grade classroom.

Dave Bell has directed day and resident camp programs for more than 15 years. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Camping Services for the YMCA of Greater Seattle. He is a former American Camp Association Southeast Section board member, a certified Y-USA Day Camp Director Trainer and a Y-USA partner YMCA camp consultant. Reach him via e-mail at dbell@seattleymca.org.

The discussion touches on the cultural benefits of including international staff members, how to go about hiring them and some of the resources that can help you do so.

Sit back, relax and enjoy:

Hiring International Staff

For more information and advice about summer camp, visit www.camphacker.org.

Courses include ACA camp director instruction, camp leadership and supervisory skills, diversity, environmental education, social media and more.

Pre-registration is required.

For more information, go to http://bit.ly/wzm7nA

How long will you stay relevant?

Now, I don’t mean they were afraid to try things, because I spent their entire childhoods saying things like, “Well, what do YOU think?”

I tried not to solve their problems for them; rather, I presented options and helped them walk through the solutions.

But they’re older now and they have families of their own. The three girls all have husbands, and their husbands are the ones they should be discussing things with, so it is right for me to be less counted on than before.

I still get a call from those husbands, who say their wives (my daughters) mentioned that they might want to “touch base” with me about an investment, repair or situation, but as the years go by they are more and more prone to move independently.

I even overhear a situation or two now and then where I was deliberately NOT told because they knew what I would say and perhaps didn’t want to take that approach.

Again–I think this is all healthy. I mean, my mom always said the greatest gift a child can give his/her parents is their independence. It proves you raised them instead of just babysat.

And I do sleep better as I watch them make better and more solid decisions as the years compile.

But where could that increasing lack of involvement lead me?

As I observe those in the age group ahead of me, there is one thing I know I don’t want to experience: what they seem to embrace as the “inevitability of irrelevance.”

There are signs of this I have noted in the past–and now am fully on the lookout for–as my time in the more “senior section” draws near.

I’ve seen families ignoring the grandparent or elderly family member among them as they make decisions for them.

“Grandma may not like this nursing home as much as the other, but it’s closer to our house and less of a drive when we have to go visit.” Yikes!

Or maybe one like this: “Dad, I’ll be over to shovel the driveway later. What’s your hurry anyway, you’re not going anywhere?” Hmm–sounds a little more than irrelevant–it becomes almost disrespectful.

It shows up in the workplace too. “Once the old man retires we’ll upgrade all this technology and get things on track.”

Wow–chances are that “old man” probably built the department that caused you to have a job. Maybe he knows things you don’t, including the best timing to implement new technology. Maybe you shouldn’t discount his opinion too quickly.

But how do you reach a ramped-up newcomer? They often have no appreciation for history, as they are so focused on the future.

In any event, how can one remedy this growing irrelevance as they age and the rest of the world casts a light on them like they are suddenly limping to the finish line?

The answer is really quite simple. It is our own responsibility to maintain our dignity, and that very dignity will save us from a senior life filled with people making decisions for us.

As I used to tell the boys I coached in Little League while we were losing by 10 runs and the game was to be called by the “mercy rule”–“I don’t care what happened before now and I don’t care to figure out who, why or where we went wrong. It’s time to suck it up and finish strong!”

Oftentimes this little motivating speech was enough to drive in a run or two and move the score to a respectable 10-2 or something that meant it would not be ended early out of “pity.” Mercy rule-Schmercy rule–we came to play and we will finish strong.

So how does a man who has been super involved in his children’s lives suddenly become completely useful again after they move on?

Simple. Stop looking on the ground for fallen apples and reach into the limbs to pick one fresh off the tree.

Grandchildren, orphan homes, big brothers programs, foster parents–the world is full of opportunities that need steady, capable people to step up and lend their leadership skills.

At work? Take an intern to lunch and befriend them. They are always broke, always hungry and usually quite appreciative of career advice and guidance.

Maintain and exhibit the notion that you have something to offer and that it could be very useful to the right listener.

The answer is dignity, my friends. You have amassed a career and a home life conjured out of respect for your trade and your life needs.

Finish strong, maintain your dignity and find an audience for that which is still good, strong, sage advice and experience.

Anything else would be a waste of good history; find a new audience for your precious memories. I’ll bet they find a pearl or two…as will you.

Ron Ciancutti is the Purchasing Manager for Cleveland Metroparks. He is not on Facebook, but he can be reached at rdc@clevelandmetroparks.com.

Let Camp Business and our new online engine, CampBids.com, do the work for you.

Simply log in to your Insider account, enter your project information (ie: what you’re looking to purchase) and hit save.

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Those vendors that are interested in supplying your camp simply load their proposal — complete with all the details you’ll need to make a decision (including price) — to your Insider account. Each time a new response is submitted, you’re notified via email. When you feel you have enough to take action, simply log in and review all the competing proposals.

Not sure which company is right for you? Click on the company name and check out their reviews and ratings in our buyer’s guide or use the contact information they provide to follow-up in person.

It’s quick, painless and effective.

A modern yet rustic dining hall.

It is located on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and adjacent to the Superior National Forest, along the North American/Canadian border.

The base has served as a “High Adventure” experience, and has continually challenged young men to experience the wild northern forests while canoeing in some of the most remote lakes and rivers in the lower 48 states.

Planning For Perfection
As attendance continued to grow over the years, a larger dining hall was needed at the base camp.

In 1956, a hall was constructed that would serve the BSA for more than 50 years. Over time, structural integrity, ongoing maintenance issues, and regulatory requirements drove the BSA to consider major improvements in dining-facility needs.

In 2008, the BSA budgeted for the construction of a new dining hall. Funding for the project was obtained over the next two years.

As the design development progressed, the organization pursued a multifunctional approach for the new facility. Not only would the replacement dining hall address food delivery, it would contain a trading post as well as conference facilities.

The facility has been named the Sandy Bridges Dining Hall and Conference Center to commemorate a past general manager of the base who instilled much goodwill within the local community and among countless boys and volunteers.

Features
The main entrance into the base also was redesigned to accommodate and complement the new building and its views of Moose Lake.

Visitors are greeted by a lodge-style facility adorned with classic northern Minnesota lodge details–exposed cedar trusses, fiber cement siding, and decorative stone accents–all of which were selected for their durability.

Compared to other buildings on-site, the two-story facility pays respect to its context, and was designed to look smaller by dividing the roofline into a collection of connected parts. The large lakeside patio, wraparound deck, and living “roof” also provide inspiring views of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

The first floor of the facility features a kitchen and multipurpose dining room able to serve 250 Scouts. The second floor features a trading post, snack bar, and three multipurpose conference rooms. An elevator and grand stairway connect each level, providing ADA accessibility.

Sustainable For The Future
The facility contains an energy-efficient mechanical heating system, as well as high-efficiency gas furnaces for backup heat when the electric heat source is interrupted, radiant slab heat, conventional direct-expansion cooling coils, and other cost-saving features.

The spacious eating area accommodates large numbers of Scouts.

Full return on the initial investment in this system versus a traditional system is expected to be in less than five years.

An extensive effort was made to reduce pollution from construction activities by controlling soil erosion and minimizing waterway sedimentation and airborne dust generation. The site has been restored and protected with native and adapted vegetation.

The base center was designed and built to comply with green-level LEED certification standards. Controlling light pollution and preserving the star-filled night sky was a goal, as the majority of Scouts live in urban areas where they seldom see total darkness.

In addition, a portion of the roof is covered with native plants, from which Scouts and visitors have an uninterrupted view of the lake and the great north woods. The selection of plants was limited to six species of grasses and shrubs that will tolerate the brutal Minnesota winters.

The facility opened on May 29, 2011. Scouts and volunteers are enjoying the facility and its presence, and services add value daily to the experience in the great north woods along the wilderness boundary waters.

Luther Tankersley, JD PMP, is the team leader for the Design & Development Team for the Boy Scouts of America. He can be reached via email at Luther.Tankersley@scouting.org.

Addressing kids' fears can make camp more fun.

Sounds like the start of a therapy session, right?

But being abandoned is a core fear that all humans harbor.

I’m happy to report that my mom did return (stuck in traffic after a haircutting appointment that ran long), and I cried tears of relief between bites of peanut butter and jelly.

I don’t panic anymore when loved ones are late, but I do channel my 6-year-old self when I’m talking a camper down from hysterical homesickness, or talking a camper up a tricky climbing route.

An understanding of kids’ big fears puts all youth-development professionals in a better position to empathize and encourage.

So get ready to dig deep, because some of the time we don’t even realize we’re churning up children’s fears.

Some children are afraid of spiders, snakes, or heights. (Some adults are, too, mind you.) Many specific phobias make biological sense. For example, it’s adaptive to be afraid of standing on the edge of a cliff, because you back off and are, therefore, more likely to survive.

In this article, I’ll not discuss specific phobias. Instead, I’ll focus on core fears.

In my estimation, these include:

• Being judged
• Looking stupid
• Being shamed
• Getting lost
• Losing control
• Being abandoned

There is at least one other core fear as well: dying. For that topic, I’ve invited Scott Arizala to guest-write an article for this column since he has extensive experience working with campers who have terminal illnesses or whose parents have died or are dying. This is a somber topic, to be sure, but an essential one for anyone seriously committed to working with youth from every quarter.

For now, let’s take a look at each of the other core fears in turn, with a special eye toward what the fear might look like at camp, what might generate the fear, and what staff can do to soothe mounting anxieties.

Being Judged
Campers may feel judged for a number of reasons, including their native tongue, country of origin, skin color, body size, and physical skills (or lack thereof).

I’ve spoken to tall campers who don’t play basketball and who fear the obvious questions about why not; obese campers who fear being judged as stupid or un-athletic; British campers who fear the constant requests to “do Harry Potter”; and uncoordinated campers who fear the probable dip in popularity if peers find they cannot swim or throw a baseball.

I’ve even spoken to campers who fear being judged as uncool because they don’t watch TV, and therefore can’t partake in the banter about characters and episodes.

In their hearts, most campers would rather be assessed on their sense of humor and kind behavior toward others, rather than a more obvious characteristic, such as accent, skin color, or body type.

The fear of being judged may be manifested in a number of ways at camp, including withdrawn behavior, reluctance to try new activities, lying about what campers don’t know or can’t do, and anger at others’ prejudice.

The task for staff members in these cases is to call the group or peer out on their prejudice, then support the fearful individual in assertively describing his or her true self.

Give the camper who fears being judged an opportunity to showcase one’s self, talents, and tenacity. Talent shows, roundtable discussions, and diversity-awareness activities also help prevent judging and any fears associated with having others think something false about the camper.

Looking Stupid
Camp is an ideal setting for any child who fears looking stupid–which is most children–because staff members model an adventurous spirit.

However, a fear of looking stupid is the main reason why most campers show reluctance to try a new activity. There is always someone who can do it better…and often several people who are exceptionally good at a given skill, such as diving, tennis, running, or resetting a Rubik’s Cube.

The fear of looking stupid causes campers to denigrate certain activities. “Nah, I don’t do that. It’s stupid.” Or, “Painting is for losers, dude.”

The fear of looking stupid can also force campers into staying with a narrow repertoire of activities, rather than trying new things.

This fear can also be used to ridicule the very children who can perform a skill well–those who look decidedly un-stupid doing it. The child who is a talented dancer might hear, “Nice move, moron.” Or, even more caustic, “Of course he can dance. He’s a fairy.”

Staff members must immediately step in when children are being this unkind to one another. But rather than the predictable lecture + punish sequence, take a step back and ask whether a core fear is generating this type of vituperative comment.

If someone is afraid of looking stupid, both a reprimand about inappropriate behavior as well as an opportunity to get over that fear might be needed.

Whenever staff members are goofy or adventurous, or model healthy risk-taking, they help all campers overcome their fear of looking stupid. Even better are the staffers who can look stupid and laugh it off. Modeling social resiliency is a potent antidote for this fear.

Being Shamed
Campers experience all types of totally natural but potentially embarrassing things at camp. Some girls get their periods for the first time; some boys have wet dreams for the first time; almost everyone misses home; everyone changes clothes in front of one another; and some children won’t dare take some of the risks their peers embrace.

The experience of shame–of being humiliated or disgraced in front of others–is so intensely unpleasant that it can have lasting effects. Whereas fear of looking stupid might dissuade a camper from trying a new activity, shame can dissuade one from ever returning to camp.

Symptoms of shame might resemble the fear of looking stupid, such as withdrawal and reluctance, but it is typically more subtle.

A camper who has been shamed might work hard to cover up the emotion by laughing it off, lashing out at another person, or pretending as if nothing has happened. In reality, the private suffering may be intense.

Staff members should work hard to normalize situations like homesickness and puberty. They should do the best they can, along with the camp health-care staff, to intelligently and discretely shepherd children through their emotional, physical, and cognitive development.

Staff should also ensure that healthy risk-taking embraces the “challenge by choice” philosophy, which encourages young people and gives them the no-shame option of not trying something.

And if ever a staff member witnesses the beginning of shame-inducing behavior, he or she should intervene by redirecting the group and then taking the child aside to help him or her understand what is happening and how best to cope.

Getting Lost
Like other core fears, the fear of getting lost is not unique to young people. It just turns out to be easier for young people to get lost, as we learned from Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel.

By definition, getting lost involves being in a new place (novelty) and not recognizing how to find one’s way (disorientation). Humans respond to novelty in different ways, depending on their temperament. Some people embrace newness; others become anxious.

And to further complicate the situation, young people typically have less worldly experience, so more of the world looks new to them than it would to an adult. Young people also lack the types of sophisticated way-finding skills that older adolescents and adults develop.

With all of these youthful risk factors for getting lost, staff members should work diligently to provide tours of camp, post appropriate signage, and accompany children to remote locations in camp. Staff can, quite literally, address young people’s fear of getting lost by helping them find their way.

Skilled staffers can also teach campers to find their way by showing them how the position of the sun and the stars can help them pinpoint cardinal directions. Orienteering is the perfect programmatic solution to any child’s core fear of getting lost.

Losing Control
It might seem as if young people love losing control, but don’t confuse love of excitement and hyperactivity (two common traits of childhood) with truly losing control.

Not being able to control one’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors is a truly frightening experience. Think about the last time you felt road rage or the type of frustration that caused you to throw and break something. Now imagine that out-of-control state lasting for more than a few minutes and you have a glimpse of how frightening it can be for a young person to really “lose it.”

Fortunately, well-trained staff members excel at setting limits for campers. In fact, limits are everywhere at camp. Rules are reviewed on the first day (under the euphemistic guise of “orientation”), warning signs are everywhere (such as “No Diving” or “Waterfront Closed”), and etiquette traditions abound, such as walking in a straight line or keeping elbows off the meal table.

Each of these safe limits prevents children from losing some measure of control.

Said differently, camps prevent any regression to Lord of the Flies by having rules in place and employing adults to enforce those rules.

In an early scene from William Golding’s Nobel Prize-winning novel, the boys gather on the beach to discuss their predicament. It’s no surprise that Ralph states, “We have to have rules.” How prescient, because rules quell fears of losing control. Indeed, rules can ensure a group against the real possibility that the members collectively will lose control.

Staff members can also model healthy emotions by expressing their own frustration, anger, fear, or disappointment in mature ways. An elementary school poster reads, “All feelings are OK. It’s what you do with them that counts.” This actually comes alive at camp when staff members lead by example.

Being Abandoned
The moment we are born, we begin bonding with our primary caregivers. When a need arises, such as that for food or a dry diaper, we signal our caregivers by crying. Secure attachment results when these primary caregivers provide warm and reliable nurturing in response to crying or other displays of distress.

And from those early moments emerges a fear of the absence of such loving attention: the fear of being abandoned.

The difficulty children have separating from their parents for day or overnight camp is largely a function of inexperience and past relationships. Those campers most at risk for normative pathologies, such as homesickness, are the ones who have little previous experience away from home (and so they have not learned effective ways of coping), and the ones whose primary caregivers are anxious or unreliable (so these children have a pessimistic or uneasy attitude toward surrogate caregivers, such as camp staff).

Campers with a strong fear of being abandoned may be either clingy or dismissive of relationships altogether. They may have trouble making and keeping friends, may be disrespectful of staffers, and may experience intense homesickness.

Ironically, these children sometimes break rules in order to get in trouble, thus confirming their grim view of adults.

To thwart the fear of a camper’s being abandoned and to promote a healthy adjustment, camp directors can encourage practice time away from home. This helps the incoming camper to learn effective ways of coping.

And, although it may seem impossible to undo years of erratic parenting that has left a child feeling uncertain about separations, it is possible for all of the substitute parents (camp staff) to provide warmth and predictability.

Many of the most significant behavior problems at camp are durably resolved simply by including each child, by making each camper feel as if he or she is a valued member of the group.

Staff members must also recognize misbehavior for what it is: evidence that some children have not yet learned how to behave in a certain situation. These children–like all children–need limits and consequences. But more importantly, they need to be taught new social skills, new emotion-regulation skills, and new self-expression skills.

Putting It All Together
Active listening gets airtime in every camp’s training week. Staff members are dutifully taught to kneel at the child’s level, to maintain eye contact, and to make empathic comments. That’s a good start.

In the coming season, encourage the staff to listen with hearts and minds, not just eyes and ears. Asking themselves, “Is this young person responding to a core fear?” can guide the staff toward a more sensible and sensitive response.

Not every emotional or behavioral problem at camp is rooted in fear, but most kids have a big fear or two bumping around inside. Actually, we all do. And this shared reality anchors our most authentic and formative work with children.

Dr. Christopher Thurber is a board-certified clinical psychologist, father, and educator. He co-wrote the Summer Camp Handbook and co-founded ExpertOnlineTraining.com, a source of video training modules for camp staff. Chris also created a DVD-CD set, titled The Secret Ingredients of Summer Camp Success, which reportedly lowers the intensity of first-year campers’ homesickness by 50 percent. He can be reached at chris@campspirit.com or follow him @drchristhurber.

Kids get a different perspective when running the Grand Canyon Relay.

Participants will have so much fun giggling with teammates that they won’t even recognize the life-long skills mixed in with each game!

1. Grand Canyon Relay
Each person walks on a rope while looking through the wrong side of a pair of binoculars. Whenever a participant steps off the rope, he or she must go back to the start. Each team is timed to see how long it takes to complete the task.

2. Beanbag Toss
Participants throw beanbags through holes in a wooden stand for points. The team has five minutes to obtain the highest score.

3. All Tied Up And Nowhere To Go
A rope is tied to the wrists of a participant, with the rope crossing through another person’s rope. Both campers are then connected to each other and attempt to undo the connection without cutting the rope or taking the rope off their wrists.

4. Ball Mover
Two sets of participants use blankets to toss a large ball over an obstacle–a rope, goal post or volleyball net–and back. The team is timed in completing the task.

A team nears the finish line in a game of Ball Mover.

5. Ball Transport Relay
Participants need to lift a large five-foot ball at least two feet off the ground as a team without using their arms or hands, and transport the ball 20 feet to a cone and back to the starting area. Each team is timed.

6. Numbers
Team members hold a large tarp with numbered holes. Players work together to roll a tennis ball into each hole, one at a time, in numerical order. Each team is timed.

7. Soda-Pop Bottle Transport
Using Hula hoops as cones, each team transports a 20-ounce plastic bottle of blue-colored water on a platform with ropes from point A to point B. Each team is timed.

8. Water Dunk Chair
Prior to this activity, a dunking chair needs to be made to which a small bucket of water is attached to a wooden frame that swivels downward when the target is hit with a soft plastic ball. A piece of Plexiglas is attached to the front of the frame to protect the participant sitting in the chair from getting hit by the ball. The player throwing the balls has three chances to hit the target and soak the dunkee.

9. Boardwalk
Participants stand on boards with rope handles and move together to cross the finish line. Each team is timed.

10. Balloon Train
As a team, participants form a single-file line with each member balancing an air-filled balloon in front and in back of them without using their hands and arms. As a unit, the team walks through an obstacle course of cones. They must stay close together in the formation to prevent the balloons from slipping out from between participants. The team is timed on how long it takes to complete the task.

Jared R. Knight is the manager of Programs and Human Resources at Aspen Grove Family Camp and Conference Center in Provo, Utah. He is the author of five books published by Healthy Learning–101 Creative Programs for Children, 101 Age-Appropriate Camp Activities, 101 Games and Activities to Strengthen Families, 101 Swimming Pool Games and Activities and 101 Games and Activities that Teach Leadership and Teamwork. He can be reached via e-mail at jared_knight@byu.edu.

A good kitchen staff can save your camp money on food.

Is there a strategic plan or a magic formula to enact in the dining hall?

Food service at camp consumes a large portion of the annual budget, with some camps reporting this figure as high as 40 percent or even 50 percent of the total cost of operation, so controlling food inflation is critical.

Let’s take a look at the significant ingredients that make up your foodservice operation–food, labor, supplies, and overhead. For proper management and good stewardship, try these tips and practices to notice a difference in kitchen costs.

In order to examine food costs, begin with the menu, which is driven by customer preference, the skill level of the cooking staff, and the equipment needed to prepare the food.

Consider the two most favorite items at camp–homemade breads and desserts. If a camp doesn’t have the proper baking equipment–a proofing box for breads, a commercial mixer, or a proper oven–it will be difficult to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction.

So the trade-off may force a camp manager to purchase pre-made breads, cobblers, cakes, and other desserts at considerably higher costs. There are times when convenience foods are necessary and relatively competitive to buy, but this is not the norm, and it takes an effective purchaser to know the difference.

Mindful Purchasing
To resolve this problem and keep kitchen costs down, hire the best possible trained kitchen staff you can afford. Test the skill level of the kitchen manager with a pre-employment oral-written-practical exam, and check for reliable references.

The manager–who in most cases is the food buyer–also needs to follow a few prudent purchasing habits:

• Know your audience and set the menu accordingly.
Many food products are designated by quality or grade. Higher grades usually cost more, as do fresh fruits and vegetables versus frozen, or frozen versus canned goods. While adults and counselors are more discerning than pre-teens, all deserve a quality product.

Food grading is also set by appearance and wholesomeness. For instance, the shape of a product may affect its grading if it is not uniform size, as in certain cuts of meat or cases of fruit. There are times when you do not need uniform-size apples or other items, so this is a wise way to lower cost.

Grading is done before shipment, so the distributor plays an important role in the wholesomeness of the product. Don’t accept unsatisfactory food products, even if the distributor is willing to discount the price, for you may end up discarding most of the food.

Be careful when buying food products that have not been inspected by a governmental authority. Beware of “street vendor” food products or severely reduced-price food products, even from a major supplier.

• Food cost is affected by branding and the producer’s name on products.
The kitchen manager should examine the cost differences between a low-cost generic product, a house brand, and a national brand. House brands are not promoted by major marketing techniques, and tend to cost less than national brands, but often have the same quality.

Compare brands and choose the one that best meets your needs. Read food labels thoroughly. And don’t just buy what a sales representative suggests.

Also avoid impulse buying, even though the price appears attractive; this may result in more inventory with more cost on the books.

• The menu should be “pre-costed” by the individual serving-size and portion.
Again, know your audience, and learn how much to prepare based on several factors, such as the level of camp program (a high-energy activity requires more, or larger, portions for participants than those for an arts-and-crafts program).

The menu should then be “post-costed” after it is served to determine the variance in budget versus actual cost. Keep detailed records as to how much was prepared, used, wasted, and left over by creating a food-production form.

When figuring cost, don’t forget to add condiments, cooking oils, seasonings, and garnishes for each serving prepared. These are often side items that are forgotten, but can be very expensive.

• Organic foods often cost considerably more than traditional products.
A product must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients to be labeled “organic,” but a product with at least 70 pecent organic ingredients may be labeled “made with organic ingredients.”

Buyers should be aware that organic foods are no safer than nonorganic foods, according to government standards, and there is no scientific evidence, thus far, that has shown organic foods to be more nutritious than nonorganic foods. In recent studies, consumer panels have found no marked differences in taste or appearance between the two.

Other Cost-Saving Tips:

• Use nonfat dry milk and margarine in cooking instead of liquid milk and butter.

• Avoid the higher cost of pre-sliced meats and cubed cheeses by buying large pieces, and slicing or cubing them with commercial equipment.

• Maximize the use of leftovers, but remember they have the same cost served the second time around as they did the first time, but at least you are not throwing them away. This is an effective use of assets or products, and only a skilled kitchen manager or cook will know how to efficiently accomplish this.

• Rotate food products, using first-in, first-out inventory practices and taking a physical count of all products at least once a week. Know what’s in-house and what’s missing. Camping has had a long tradition of permitting campers and counselors to conduct late-night “kitchen raids,” but if not planned and well-supervised, this can be an expensive exercise. The same is true for “pack-out meals,” designed by well-intentioned–but inexperienced–camp staff members who request considerably more food from the kitchen than needed for their campers. Most of this food cannot be reused. And counselors tend to use significantly more foil for cookouts than needed at a very expensive cost. All of these procedures require strict monitoring in order to keep food costs in line.

There is no simple way to beat the food-inflation monster that seems to be lurking around every corner of camp, but following a few tried-and-true management principles and with conscientious stewardship in the kitchen, you will be able to cope successfully with the rising cost of food.

George Hughes, M.B.A., J.D., is executive vice president of Signature Services Corporation. He can be reached via email at george@signatureservices.com. For more information, visit www.signatureservices.com.

Do you have a question regarding food service or nutrition? Call us at (866) 444-4216 or send us an email at editor@northstarpubs.com and we’ll print the answer in Camp Business!

Our readers share their camp programming ideas.

Whether a day camp or resident camp, here are several ideas that might work for you:

• Create a photo album to music and burn it onto a DVD. Make it available at the end of summer to kids/parents for the cost of the DVD and cover (about $1). This is a season-long activity that involves the staff members taking pictures. The pictures are then uploaded to a DVD and set to music.

• Utilize a camp mascot as a staff motivational tool. After the first week, give it to a staff member who did an exceptional job. Each week, give it to a different person and allow him or her to add something that has meaning to it.

• Use Clean Table award to encourage campers to help clean up!

• Ask the kids and staff to collect can pop tops to donate to Ronald McDonald House. Have a competition between the kids and staff; this not only makes it fun, but teaches the kids the importance of “giving back” through collecting and donating.

Ann Smiley, Director
Lysander Parks & Recreation
Lysander Day Camp
Baldwinsville NY

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Exploring The Water World
We took an old salad bar and turned it into an aquatic-life studies resource.

Since outdoor education occurs year-round and the lake freezes in the middle of winter, this was a way to keep the macro invertebrates alive for the children to see.

The bar had a galvanized bottom with a drain plug that we sealed. It had electrical outlets for lights, so we used this to run the aerators to add oxygen.

In the spring, we added creatures that hatched and provided a great learning opportunity for children, including those who were not able to venture lakeside. Campers gathered “bugs” from the bar and looked at them under the microscopes along with all the other children.

Beth Powers
YMCA Camp Willson

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Recycle Materials For Equestrian Games
Old arrows missing tips and fletchings can be great for games in the riding arena:

Get creative with equestrian races.

Stick in the bucket–Riders pick up a stick in one bucket and put it into another on the other side of the arena. This game can be played at different speeds; the buckets can be at different heights; riders can be asked to only pick up a certain color of arrow; flags or colored string can be attached, etc.

The flag race–riders pick up one flag (arrow with a flag attached) in a can filled with sand and run to the other side of the arena and jam it into another bucket. It is a timed event of speed and accuracy.

Retired climbing rope–An old, stiff rope that has been used too much to climb and is too hard for lead rope knots can be made into rings. Take about a 3-foot piece of rope and form a circle 12 inches in diameter, weaving the end in and out of the “hole.” Since the rope is rigid, it will stay in this shape. Place the rings on the posts and have the riders bring them to you while you hold your hand out. Have the riders pick them up and “ring” a cone in the middle. These rope rings are durable, can stand all sorts of weather, and if the groundskeeper mows over them they are cheap and easy to replace.

Beth Powers
Certified Horsemanship Association
www.cha-ahse.org

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Alka-Seltzer Wars
Interested in beating the heat at camp? “Alka-Seltzer Wars” will help campers cool off, while keeping them active and engaged.

Preparing for the war takes quite a bit of work, but the payoff is worth it.

First, purchase as many Alka-Seltzer tablets as you have campers (you might want a few extras in case of catastrophic tablet failure).

Next, drill a small hole directly in the center of each Alka-Seltzer tablet and run a string through the hole to make a necklace for each camper.

Divide the campers into teams or have them play as individuals. The object of the war is to spray, douse or soak the other team’s Alka-Seltzer tablets until they dissolve. Once a camper’s tablet dissolves and falls from the necklace, the camper is out and should turn into a cheerleader or water carrier for whoever remains.

The last team/person with an intact tablet wins the war and should get a prize (some spicy food perhaps)!

Paul A. Schlag, PhD
Assistant Professor
Western Illinois University
Recreation, Park & Tourism Administration Macomb, Ill.

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Pipe Nightmare
One of our favorite team-building games is called “Pipe Nightmare.” I think we adapted it from a book by Michael Brandwein.

You can't go wrong with buckets of water fun!

Take 4-inch PVC pipes, each four feet long, and cap one end of each pipe. Drill an equal number of one-quarter-inch holes spaced evenly around the entire circumference of each pipe–the more holes drilled, the more of a challenge this will be!

Drop a tennis ball or rubber ducky into the bottom of each pipe.

Divide the group into teams of 4 to 6 and provide each team with a pipe and some way of transporting water (cups, pitchers, small buckets) from a water source (pool, lake, or a basin filled by a hose).

When the game starts, teams rush to fill their pipes with enough water to float their ball or ducky to the top. Since water leaks out all of the holes, it will take each team’s collective efforts to plug the holes using their fingers, arms, knees, toes–and get very wet in the process!

This game is a hit on hot summer days and teaches teams to strategize and work together to accomplish a common goal.

Kevin Lam
Laurentian Camp Cherith
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (campsite is in Lanark, Ontario)

Kids + water = camp fun!

The more quality activities a camp can offer, the more likely it will be a first choice for families.

What makes a day camp most attractive? Water!

Exactly what the allure is when it comes to water remains a mystery, but there is no doubt it is an attraction for both adults and children.

Water provides a chance to cool off, have fun, and learn new skills. It can be found in a swimming pool (indoor or outdoor), lake, pond, river, splash pad, wading pool, or waterpark.

It can even be from a hose, sprinkler system, or collection of buckets and tubs.

And the activities are endless–swim lessons, water exercise, recreational water games, small-craft activities, fishing, science experiments, and waterpark adventures–and all fall under the umbrella of enticement and enjoyment.

If your organization owns a pool or is situated on a natural water source, you probably already have made safe aquatic participation a high priority, and have a risk-management plan in place.

Those who do not own an aquatic venue should consider a field trip to a local pool, waterpark, community park, outdoor water venue, or area splash pad.

On the other hand, kids can have just as much fun creating a water experience using a garden hose, Slip ‘n Slide mat, buckets, or tubs.

If you are going to another location, be sure that a safe experience can be provided for campers.
Contact that venue ahead of time to ask:

• Are there lifeguards on duty?

• Are the lifeguards currently certified by a national agency? Which agency?

• What is the lifeguard-to-patron ratio?

• Are there separate water areas for non-swimmers as well as for deepwater swimmers?

• Are swimmers required to wear swimsuits and swim caps?

• At what age are swimmers permitted in the water without a parent?

• What is the length of time swimmers can stay in the water?

Make sure your camp water fun is safe.

If you are going to a park, community playground splash pad, or other natural water area, visit the venue ahead of time to consider:

• Is the water area such that a child could drown?

• Who will act as lifeguard and assume the responsibility of keeping surveillance on participants?

• How would 9-1-1 be notified if necessary?

• Are there any staff members (such as a park ranger) available during the visit?

• How many staff members are needed for supervision?

• Will children need a change of clothes?

• Are bathroom facilities on site?

• Is there an additional activity charge, such as a fee to rent paddle boats, etc.?

• How clean is the venue? (Check both water and land for human trash, as well as for animal droppings.)

• Do you have an emergency action plan for an activity at a venue away from camp?

• What additional permission forms are needed?

• What safety rules will be needed while at the venue?

If you are staging your own water experience, plan it with the staff members.
Consider:

• Planning age-appropriate activities, rather than just “free time.”

• The area where activities will be staged. (Evaluate to ensure it is free from hazards, clean, and an appropriate surface for barefoot activities.)

• The setup and takedown of the activity. (This should take place before the children arrive and after they leave.)

• Safety rules needed for the activity.

• The staff member who will be responsible for responding to an emergency. (That person should be currently certified in CPR and first aid for the age level of participants. Remember, child CPR is different than adult.)

• Is there an emergency action plan for staged water activities?

• What the children will wear for the activity. (Is a change of clothes needed?)

• Ways of limiting contagion risk in sharing non-chlorinated water, as well as in sharing equipment.

• Any additional parent permission needed.

Water activities are a high point of summer for millions of children. Promote the activities in brochures and on your website. Let parents know that you are planning for the safety of each child.

Depending on the type of venue and water activity, precautions might include:

• Limiting the type(s) of water activities available to various age groups
• Ensuring certified lifeguards are on duty
• Monitoring lifeguard-to-participant ratio
• Increasing staff-to-participant ratio during aquatic activities
• Requiring a preliminary swim test to determine skill levels.

Although water is a highlight and attraction for day camps, it also requires a little extra planning to ensure it is safe. With a few additional steps, you and your parents can have peace of mind while the participants have a ball!

Susan Grosse is a Water Safety Instructor Trainer and Lifeguarding Instructor Trainer for the American Red Cross. She is nationally recognized for her presentations, as well as publishing in the area of aquatics. Her areas of specialty are risk management, instructional swim, therapeutic/adapted aquatics, aquatic exercise, and canoeing. She has worked at both day camps and resident camps in Wisconsin. She can be reached via e-mail at sjgrosse@execpc.com.

• A to Z lunch–Have a buffet that serves every letter of the alphabet from drinks to desserts

• Breakfast for dinner

• Medieval meal–Dine without utensils

• Clue meal–Solve the riddles to move from station to station to get to your meal

• Masquerade lunch–Decorate masks and wear them while you eat

• Silent breakfast

• Pajama breakfast

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Get The Ball Rolling
Activities don’t have to end when summer skies turn grey. Bring the action inside with these five great activities that are ideal for small indoor spaces and require minimal equipment.

Escape Ball
Number of players: 8 or more
Ages: 6 and up
Time period: 20 minutes
Equipment: Kickball or coated foam ball
Activity level: Low to moderate
Focus: Cardio, core strength, flexibility

Children stand in a circle with one child (“it”) in the center. The children standing in the circle stand facing in, with their feet spread apart so that they are touching the feet of the people next to them. They cannot move their feet or legs during the game. They should keep their hands on their knees until the activity begins.

The “it” child has the ball and tries to roll the ball through the legs of any player. “It” should fake his/her intent, using feints and changes of direction. Without moving their feet or legs, children in the circle have to stop the ball from going between their legs by bending over from the waste and using their hands to block. Any player that allows the ball to go through their legs becomes the new “it.”

My Friends
Number of players: 10 or more
Ages: 9 and up
Time period: 20 minutes
Equipment: Poly spots
Activity level: Low to moderate
Focus: Cardio, listening

This activity helps campers get to know each other.

This is a walking or fast-walking activity. The counselor gives a poly spot to all but one child and has them make a large circle. Children then stand on the poly spots. The child without a poly spot is chosen to be the caller and stands in the middle of the circle. The caller then asks a question of the group that pertains to him or her, i.e., “I wonder if any of ‘my friends’ are wearing the color red today?” Only the children wearing red may move to a new poly spot, including the caller. Whoever is left without a new poly spot to stand on becomes the new caller. Children may not move to the spot directly on either side of them.

Over-Under Relay
Number of players: 10 or more
Ages: 6 and up
Time period: 20 minutes
Equipment: Kickball or medicine ball
Activity level: Moderate to vigorous
Focus: Cardio, core strength, flexibility, coordination, cooperation

This activity brings in a little friendly competition.

Form teams of 5 or 6 children. Players in each team stand in line, one behind the other. The first person in line has the ball. On a signal, this player hands the ball (backwards) over his/her head to the next player. The second player passes the object through his/her legs to the third player who hands it over his/her head and so on. When the ball reaches the last player, s/he passes the ball back and the ball moves in the same over-under fashion back to the first player. The first team to get the ball back to the first player in line is the winner.

Birds Fly
Number of players: 5 or more
Ages: 5-9
Time period: 20 minutes
Equipment: None
Activity level: Low to moderate
Focus: Cardio, coordination, listening

This activity is similar to Simon Says, but with a twist.

Have children spread out at least an arm’s length apart. The object of the game is for children to flap their arms (fly) only when the counselor says something that flies. This game requires good listening skills. For example, the counselor says, “Dogs fly. Carrots fly. Pencils fly. Pigeons fly,” etc. To be tricky, while the counselor is saying these phrases, s/he is also flapping his/her arms. Children should flap their arms only when something that flies is stated. If they flap incorrectly, they are temporarily out of the game and sit down until another flying word is stated and then they should stand up and re-enter the game. After some time, choose a child to lead the game. Continue to switch leaders of the game and consider new categories, like “fish swim” while children make a swimming motion with their arms.

Pass The Scarves
Number of players: 10 or more
Ages: 9 and up
Time period: 30 minutes
Equipment: Scarves
Activity level: Low to moderate
Focus: Coordination, cooperation

This activity challenges your campers to graduate to the more challenging levels.

Level One: Have children form a circle. One scarf is held in each child’s right hand, the other scarf is tucked away for later use. Everyone will toss their scarf to the person on their right while catching the scarf from the person on their left, using their left hand. After catching the scarf, the children transfer the scarf to their right hand and the sequence repeats. The command is “toss, catch, change hands, wait 1,2,3” (to see that everyone has a scarf in their right hand) and repeat, “toss, catch, change hands, wait 1,2,3. “ Continue this pattern for 10 to 12 tosses, then change directions! Everyone puts the scarf in their left hand and now has to toss left and catch with their right hand. Use the same command as before. Once the group masters this level, go to level two.

Level Two: This time children can only use their right hand to toss and catch. The counselor’s command changes to “toss, catch, toss, catch.” Again continue for 10 to 12 tosses and then change directions. If the group is ready, move to level three.

Level Three: This level is that same as Level Two except for a new command: “Toss, toss, toss, toss.” Continue in the same direction and speed up the cadence gong faster and faster. Soon, the scarves will be piling up! Change directions and try again. Ready for level four?
Level Four: The children take out the second scarf and hold one scarf in each hand. The object is to toss both scarves to the right and then attempt to catch both scarves coming from the left! Go slowly at first and start with the command from level one. Change directions, cadence and speed as the group masters the skill. Ready for the last level?

Level Five: Children hold one scarf in each hand. T he object is to toss both scarves in opposite directions and catch the scarves coming to them from each direction! This is difficult and challenging but very rewarding for children to accomplish. Go VERY SLOW LY and use the command found in Level One. Set a goal to see how many tosses and catches children can achieve.

Activities are from StartFIT Classroom Activity Packages (K-2 and 3-5) and courtesy of EverActive Brands. For more information, visit www.startfitschools.com.

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The Girl Scout Movement–How 18 Girls Became 50 Million Women
Tough Cookies: Leadership Lessons from 100 Years of the Girl Scouts, by Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, is now available.

The book addresses one of the nation’s most underused resources–girls, and the women they ultimately can become.

Cloninger makes a case for the enormous untapped potential of America’s girls and issues a ringing call to action to girls, boys, parents, the business community, and public to help females make a better, stronger, and more prosperous future for all. $24.95; October 2011; available in hardcover and E-Book. For more information, visit www.girlscouts.org.

Just how DO campers choose which camp to attend?

Before deciding where to direct marketing efforts, it is important to identify who influences the decision as to whether or not a child attends camp.

In a study of fifth- through eighth-graders in Arizona, Wendy Hultsman found that parental influence was perceived as a greater influence than other groups (other significant adults and peers) in the decision whether to join an activity.

The constraints, such as transportation and cost of participation, can be influential in the decision of parents to restrict involvement in a potential activity.

Meanwhile, Howard & Madrigal (1990) found that the decision to participate in an extracurricular activity is first pre-screened by mothers. The duo found that mothers made early decisions about potential activities before allowing children to be involved in the final decision-making process.

According to Hultsman, marketing efforts of programs should shift from parents toward youth as the youth age and gradually become stronger influences in the purchasing of leisure experiences.

Little research has been done to explore the nature of the camp-enrollment decision. However, a recent survey involving 12 residential 4-H summer camps in Ohio attempted to determine the significant influences for attending camp.

It is the hope that these findings will be valuable to camp-program directors as they target their marketing methods.

Of the camps in Ohio that service the state’s 88 counties, a stratified random sample was selected to ensure representation from each of the camp facilities.

The survey consisted of multiple five-point anchored Likert-type questions, developed to measure the level of influence (from “no influence” to “high influence”) and the level of effectiveness (from “not effective” to “very effective”).

Various demographic questions were also included to analyze subsets of the population and ensure diversity in sample responses. Descriptive methods were used to analyze group response rates. Means score tests were run to compare variable responses. Cronbach’s Alpha was used to determine the reliability of this instrument at .719.

Table 1
Who Influenced the Camp Enrollment Decision?

CB0112_Persuasion_table1

The nature of influence, from parents, the respective child, friends and other adults on the camp enrollment decision, was evaluated. The highest influencers, as reported by the parents, were the respective child and the parent/guardian (Table 1).

The child’s friends, advisors and siblings were moderately influential. Other parents were low on the influence scale.

Table 2
How Did your Child Learn about Camp?

CB0112_Persuasion_table2

In marketing 4-H camps to potential campers and parents, various methods were considered. When asked how they learned about camp, 56 percent found out about camp from their 4-H club advisor, 51 percent from a newsletter, 24 percent from a specific camp mailing, 19 percent from the child’s friend and 12 percent from another parent (Table 2).

Direct Contact
Although various marketing methods are used to promote the availability of programs to potential youth and their parents, direct contact by adult volunteers and organizational newsletters are the most effective.

Camp promoters may still want to pay attention to the potential of expanding enrollment and reaching additional families through additional channels, such as mailings and direct contacts by peers and parents of those peers.

Applying these findings, camp promoters should concentrate their efforts primarily on youth and their parents.

Brochures, informational meetings and general advertisements should have the “child in mind,” yet meet the threshold of acceptance set by parents.

Parents have also explained that “word of mouth” and other methods of direct and interpersonal communication are the most effective ways of marketing camp programs.

Camp decision makers should build methods of communicating the camp message through volunteers, youth and other parents as a secondary means of effectiveness when finances allow.

Methods of this study can also provide a framework for individual camps to evaluate the decision of youth to participate and the effectiveness of their marketing techniques in reaching their audiences.

With an ever-increasing array of opportunities for youth and their families to participate in, it is important for camp directors to be proactive in seeking the feedback of their clientele.

Jeff Dick has served as an Ohio 4-H educator and camp director for 19 years, 4-H Camp Palmer Board trustee for 16 years and Interim Camp Manager for 13 months. He can be reached via e-mail at dick.7@cfaes.osu.edu.

Jason Hedrick, Assistant Professor of the Ohio State University Extension, and Greg Homan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Wright State University, also contributed to this report.

References
Howard, D., and Madrigal, R. (1990). “Who makes the decision: the parent or the child? The perceived influence of parents and child on the purchase of recreational services.” Journal of Leisure Research, 22, 244-258.

Hultsman, W. (1993). “The influence of others as a barrier to recreation participation among early adolescents.” Journal of Leisure Research, 25 (2) 150-164.

It was 6:55 p.m.–which meant my son and I had a full five minutes to get inside, find the rest of our family and settle in to enjoy the always entertaining fifth-grade Christmas recital.

Like years past, this recital featured a passel of nervous kids performing–a skill only some of them actually had in front of a large audience.

As I watched kids unknowingly pick their noses, scratch themselves in unusual places and try to sing correctly (which I think means loudly) while also intentionally elbowing each other, I couldn’t help but smile.

I was also awed. Not so much by the talent on display (there actually was some), but by the moxy and unbelievable skill their teacher displayed. This petite woman ran the whole show–soup to nuts–while playing the piano.

In one sequence, I saw her start playing a piece one-handed while she used the other hand to get the kids started and keep them on pace. Then, still playing one-handed, she used her eyes and head to discipline a kid in the back row who evidently thought it would be fun to make up hand gestures to Frosty the Snowman.

The kid immediately stopped, squared up and got back to the business of yelling…I mean singing.

It was an awesome sight.

Even in this absolutely chaotic situation, she was able to work one-to-one.

As you well know, this is powerful, powerful stuff.

There are lots and lots of teaching methods; Lord knows I’ve experimented with them all, but in the end, absolutely nothing beats personalized, one-on-one instruction.

The ability to work with one person and tailor the instruction or program to address their specific needs is just naturally more effective than teaching a one-size-fits-all program to a group who, by definition, are different people in different phases of development.

Of course, truly awesome teachers find a way to work with groups of only vaguely similar people in a way that is more similar to one-to-one instruction.

Truly awesome teachers also are never satisfied with their efforts and are always striving to learn more and improve.

Because I know there are lots and lots of truly awesome teachers reading this issue, we worked hard to pack it with ideas you can use to improve your instruction. We offer a portfolio of programming ideas, ways to identify the core problem at the base of a kid who thinks dancing or arts and crafts are “for fairies” (and personalized, one-to-one solutions to those core problems), and more.

Since we are a business publication, we also included information on how to improve your bottom line without neglecting your facilities–see Chew On This.

All in all, I think it’s a great start to the New Year. I hope you agree.

If you do or if you don’t, drop me a line and let me know.

Till next month…

Rodney J. Auth
Publisher

Get in touch with other camp professionals on the Internet's social media sites.

While all of these are still great ways to attain knowledge and information, there’s a group of camp professionals that is using the Internet to share knowledge, experience and creativity with the camp community.

There are a number of websites, blogs, Facebook pages and YouTube channels geared towards the camp community. Here are five of the most significant ones:

1. SummerCampProgramDirector.com
I started my own site, SummerCampProgramDirector.com, because I couldn’t find a good resource for camp programming. My aim was to provide a site/blog with ideas for weekly themes, themed activities, evening activities, etc. While other sites were focusing on either counselors or camp directors, my focus was on program directors. However, I’m not the only camp professional (or former camp professional) sharing ideas. A handful of dedicated people are doing the same thing and, more importantly, they are maintaining their sites with updated information.

2. UltimateCampResource.com
Take Chris Pallato and Ron DeFazio, for example. They run UltimateCampResource.com–a comprehensive online resource for summer-camp staff to learn, watch, and download camp games, songs, skits, ice breakers and countless other summer-camp related activities. The duo started the site in 2005 because they didn’t have a central location for resources for their own summer-camp staff. They had a solid collection of activities and staff-training manuals of their own, but were always looking for new ideas and activities to improve their program.

3. CampLeadership.org
Then there’s Mike D’Avria and Dave Bell, who run CampLeadership.org. The site hosts videos of camp games and songs, a blog and a series of podcasts. At the time they started the site, there were no others that had videos of games and songs for camp. Other sites just listed text of how to run the games and/or song lyrics. They thought, “How can you learn a song without hearing the tune or seeing the hand motions?” Now counselors can learn songs and games quickly, and directors can spend more time on other training.

4. CampHacker.org
According to Travis Jon Allison, CampHacker exists to build great communities so that camps are inspired to change the world. Since camp completely changed Travis’ life, it’s a passion that he wants to share with others. Originally built to support the CampHacker podcast so that he and his co-hosts could link to the tools they talk about on the show, it has evolved into a much larger source of knowledge with a free newsletter and multiple weekly articles on how to run a great camp.

5. YouthWork-Practice.com
YouthWork-Practice.com is one of the world’s biggest sites for games and ideas for youth work. Hans Hirling lives in Germany, and started his site in 2002 after working with young people and collecting ideas for more than 30 years. In 2006, the site was translated into English. This site is not on many people’s radar. That’s too bad–it’s a wonderful resource.

Why We Do It
So, why do we take the time to create these sites and continuously add more information and ideas?

It’s not for the money. The minimal number of ads barely covers the cost of running a site. In fact, CampHacker and CampLeadership don’t even have ads on their sites.

And while most of us are available for training sessions or speaking engagements, nobody’s quitting their day job.

The reason we do it is to share our passion for the camping industry, to give up-and-coming professionals the tools we wish we had five or 10 years ago. We’re juiced when we get an e-mail or a shout-out at a conference from a reader. We love all things camp, and enjoy conversations with others who share that love.

Various blogs and websites can help you with camp programming.

A Call to Action
Websites are not the only Internet resources for camp professionals. The truth is all camp professionals–including you–have unique experiences, ideas and knowledge that can benefit others in this industry.

There are a number of ways to contribute to this community:

• Start a website/blog

• Leave comments on blog posts

• Write articles for publications like Camp Business

• Share ideas on forums like the ACA message board

• Create and post videos on YouTube

• Share in the conversation on Facebook pages like Summer Camp Professionals

• Lead workshops at conferences and other training events

• Submit your favorite games and activities to sites like Ultimate Camp Resource

• Write a book

• Start a podcast or videocast

Curt “Moose” Jackson is in the public-recreation and summer-camp industries. He lives in Northern California with his dog Max. He is a speaker and author, as well as a camp director and recreation coordinator. He shares his programming ideas on his blogs SummerCampProgramDirector.com and RecreationGuy.com.

Some tips for sticking to your New Year's resolutions.

It’s actually a bit of an interpersonal perfect storm, isn’t it? We tend to indulge a lot–in food, drink, and material objects–then commit to restraint the next week.

How many of you are about to pledge to exercising more, eating less, and managing your time more carefully?

In order to help us all be successful, allow me to indulge in a bit of psychological theory.

First, remember that habit reversal is difficult.
If you are really going to commit to a different set of habits, be patient with yourself.

For example, you can’t go from not exercising much at all (no, clicking the remote doesn’t count as exercise) to 90 minutes of hard-core aerobics and free weights.

What you can do is go from not exercising to a 10-minute walk every other day for two weeks. Then, bump it up to 15-minute walks with 15 minutes of weight training on the non-walk days.

Gradual change is more durable than sudden change. This is a hard notion to grasp, as evidenced by the dust collecting on the exercise equipment in your basement.

Second, hold yourself accountable to an external source.
If you decide to adopt some new practice, tell a trusted friend or colleague. Ask them to check in with you each week on your progress.

(This, by the way, is the secret to the Weight Watchers franchise. The weekly weigh-ins can be shared with the group, and participants feel accountable to their peers.)

Better still, find someone who shares your goal and wants company for the journey. Working out together, cleaning through the clutter in your closets together, or learning a new skill together is often more successful than the solo activity precisely because of the shared sense of responsibility.

Third, be specific in your goal setting.
Rather than saying, “I’d like to be more organized in the coming year,” say, “I will sort my mail over the garbage and recycle bins each day” or “I will pay bills on the same day they arrive.”

By the way, did you ever hear of the O.H.I.O. principle? When it comes to paperwork, Only Handle It Once.

Taking an action step (e.g., toss, recycle, pay, read) prevents all of those piles from accumulating around your office and kitchen.
In any case, specific goals are easier to achieve than vague goals, because the progress is measurable. Few people can persist in working toward a diffuse goal. Most of us need measureable progress to feel reinforced.

Fourth, forgive yourself.
If you slide back a step or two in your new habit, do not give yourself license to jettison the goal altogether.

Thinking, “Well, I slipped on Monday, so forget it” is behavior-change poison. Instead, think, “I can tolerate slipping up as long as I recommit to doing things differently tomorrow.”

Relapse is part of recovery, they say. And so it is, in most people’s experience.

So forgive yourself the small transgressions and refocus your energy toward achieving your important, specific goal.

If you’d like to share your own goals in a public way that is sure to garner peer support, I encourage you to post a response to this Week-Ender. I look forward to hearing from you.

Happy New Year!

Dr. Christopher Thurber is a board-certified clinical psychologist, father and author of The Summer Camp Handbook, now available online for free at SummerCampHandbook.com. He is the co-creator of ExpertOnlineTraining.com, a set of Internet-based-video training modules for camp counselors, nurses and doctors. He can be reached via e-mail at chris@campspirit.com.

This week only, you can add 1,000 ideas and programming resources to your files by purchasing The 2011 Summer Camp Program Director Email Roundtable Compilation.

Curt “Moose” Jackson has compiled great ideas on Pirate Themes, Best Programs, International Themes and Unique Camp Activities in a digital ebook.

Through Jan. 4, you can purchase the downloadable ebook for $25.

Proceeds will go to CureSearch, a children’s cancer charity.

For more information or to order, go to http://bit.ly/u344f2.

Keep your best camp staffers coming back for more.

Here are some tips on how to increase staff retention, from the folks at Mainstages:

Hire With Retention In Mind
Mention early on the importance of consistency in key positions. Offer salary and position growth in the future. Some of your best staff will sign multiple year contracts if they see such incentives.

Invest In Your Talent
Send your staff to trainings, workshops and conferences before camp and throughout the year. Help them network with like minded staff and alumni.

Give A Voice
Debrief after the summer. Ask your staff what they think before making changes to a program or tradition. Let them adapt and build their job descriptions.

Provide Year-Round Opportunity
Maybe your athletics director can teach a sports class nearby. Maybe your drama specialist can run a game show at the camp reunion. Provide some opportunity and income during the year and key staff will see the value in committing to a seasonal career at camp.

For more from Mainstages, go to http://bit.ly/seWf8i

Make some sweet holiday memories this year.

With each chilly morning, each holiday reference, each reindeer song, memories of Christmas pasts sharpen.

Dismiss this if you will, but I dare anyone to try to conjure a childhood Christmas memory with the same richness of detail and sensory depth while breathing spent sparkler fumes in July.

What I like best is that my most fond Christmas memories have nothing to do with presents. OK, I admit, that isn’t entirely true–Christmas, at age 10, when I woke to a Barbie Van and Hair Salon under the tree in the same morning has yet to be topped by any random combination of Starbucks and Applebee’s gift cards.

But by and large, the longings I hold for the holidays in my rearview are more for the people and time together, not items unwrapped.

One thing I miss most is making cookies with Grandma Alice. Coming from hardy German stock, baking with Grandma wasn’t one of those fluffy commercials full of sweet smiles and tots stirring crispy rice so hard it spills onto the countertop while mom giggles and pinches their noses.

No, baking with Grandma Alice meant if you made a mess, you darn well cleaned it up before someone else stepped in it and tracked it across the floor.

No-nonsense and full of passion for life–and with an ornery streak a mile long–her abundance of love and spunk was no secret.

Of all my years of memories with Grandma, “I can’t” never came out of her mouth. If she wanted something, she went after it with gusto–which included her vices.

Shorter than me by at least a foot, I tried convincing her, following a very serious seventh-grade health class lecture on the dangers of smoking, that her chain-lit Basic 100s were the reason for her shrinking.

But she’d have none of that. She had smoked since she was 12, she informed me, and she wasn’t about to stop now, even if she ended up no taller than a gnome.

I did my best to slow her smoking, going so far as to hide an unopened carton of her cigarettes against the far back wall of her tallest cabinet when she was in a different room, only to get a call at Mom’s house around 11 that evening demanding I get out of bed, come to her house and get the cigarettes down.

(I still don’t know how she figured that out.)

The only time she didn’t smoke was when we made cookies. And by “make cookies,” I mean to say that with the help of me and my sister, the three of us created such a gigantic sugary spread that we feasted on holiday leftovers into the following week.

Her recipe books were old, the pages stained with dots of grease and splatters of milk from previous generations, but those made the recipes all the more special, knowing aunts and great-aunts had used the same recipes from the same book to make the same cookies to bring joy to the people in their lives.

My favorite cookie recipe with Grandma first came about when I had to do a food project for Spanish class. Not knowing a taco from an enchilada, Mom sent me to Grandma’s to get her recipe for Mexican Wedding Cakes.

Though I questioned the wisdom of asking a small-town, German-blooded woman how to help me make Mexican Wedding Cakes, it only took a bite to know Mom was on to something.

A literal melt-in-your-mouth ball of butter, flour and sugar baked crisp yet soft, boasting chunks of hand-cracked black walnuts then double-rolled in powdered sugar, the class demolished the heap I’d piled into the Tupperware tub in less than five minutes and asked for more.

Not a single person questioned the authentic ethnicity of the recipe, only lamented the fact that there wasn’t more.

At least 20 years have passed since the first batch of hand-rolled Mexican Wedding Cakes came hot from the oven, yet the same warm feeling still touches me when I make them today.

The tradition passed down and refined over the course of what probably amounts to thousands of hand-rolled cookies keeps the memory of Grandma close in a way no ordinary gift ever could, in the absence of her signature cloud of cigarette smoke and throaty giggle.

In the hopes of passing on–or helping to start–a memory-filled tradition for your family, make a few batches of these delicious cookies along with someone special.

Grandma Alice’s Mexican Wedding Cakes
Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies

1 c. butter, softened
½ c. powdered sugar plus extra for rolling hot cookies
1 tsp. vanilla or almond flavoring
2¼ c. flour
¾ c. finely chopped nuts (preferably black walnuts, lightly toasted)
¼ tsp. salt

Heat oven to 400F. In a large bowl, mix butter, powdered sugar and vanilla/almond flavoring until well combined. Stir in flower, nuts and salt until dough pulls together.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls about an inch apart on a cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until set and barely browned.

Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack and allow to cool no more than 3 minutes or until balls are firm enough to pick up but still warm. In a bowl with the additional powdered sugar, roll each cookie until covered and return to rack to cool completely. Once cooled, roll a second time in powdered sugar and share.

Beth Morrow is an educator, camp program director and avid baker who loves using the holidays as an excuse to play with sugar in all its forms. Reach her at beth@bethmorrow.com.

Kids love playing in the snow!

Whether you’re planning after-school, day camp or winter camp activities, there are lots of options for those willing to bundle up and go outside.

There’s always sledding, skating and hiking, but here are some fresh ideas from the folks at Family Fun:

JUMP SNOW HURDLES
Lightly pack a bunch of basketball-size snowballs and then use them to build a course of hurdles to jump over in a round of follow the leader.

ROPE TOW
Team up for a slip-sliding variation of tug-of-war. Tamp down a wide, shallow trench in the snow to serve as the midline. Then, take up positions at the ends of a long, thick rope and let the tugging and towing begin. Whichever team pulls the entire opposing group over to its side of the trench wins.

FLAG IN A SNOW STACK
Tie a white cloth to the end of a short stick or around the bowl of a wooden spoon. Then, give each child a chance to hide it by staking it anywhere within a predetermined set of boundaries. Keep track of how long it takes for the rest of the group to find it. Whoever hid the flag that takes the longest time to spot wins the game.

STRIKE OUT
For this pitching contest, first mound up snow to create three bases and a pitcher’s mound. They should each be about 2 feet high and 20 feet apart. Next, build a tin can pyramid on each base. The challenge is to knock down the stacks in order from first to third base by throwing snowballs from the pitcher’s mound. The child who succeeds with the fewest pitches wins.

HAT TRICK
Once you’ve built a plump, frosty snowman to stand sentry in your front yard, make a game of topping him off in style. Take turns trying to land a hat on his head by throwing it Frisbee style from 10 or so feet away.

GET ON A ROLL
Pair up for a contest in which the object is to finish with the biggest snowball. The contest ends when the teams can no longer roll their entries or when you run out of snow.

POWDER-PUFF FOOTBALL
All you need are two teams of three or more people to play, along with a spray bottle filled with a mix of water and food coloring to mark the playing field (a large rectangle with a centerline should suffice). The teams line up at opposite ends of the field (the North and South poles) for a kickoff. Once someone on the receiving team catches the ball, he tries to move it back across the defense’s goal line by running with it or passing it to a teammate. Play stops if the person with the ball is tagged by an opponent or slides out of bounds. The teams then face off again on the spot. After four tries, or a touchdown, the ball goes to the other team. The game ends when either team gets cold.

For more great ideas, visit their website at http://bit.ly/rqdObz

Camps offer many kinds of activities and scheduling options.

Some camp programs are pre-scheduled, meaning the activities are planned out ahead of time for all campers.

Other programs offer campers a say in what they will be doing day to day.

Which type of scheduling is best for your child depends on the camper’s age, style and tastes.

So talk with your child about whether he would like to plan his camp days or whether he would prefer to leave the scheduling in the hands of the camp staff. And check with camps to find out what style of scheduling works for them.

For more information, check out this blog from America’s Finest Summer Camps: http://bit.ly/uCc2Hd

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What are your resolutions for the coming camp year?

I have never been good about making resolutions and, to be honest, I can only remember having one in my lifetime (I did not keep it), so putting this down in an article might help me stay on track for 2012 and help motivate others to pursue their resolutions.

My resolution for 2012 is to be intentional.

This might not seem like a big deal to many people, but I need to do a better job of living my life on purpose or with intentionality.

I need to be more intentional in my personal life (not just let things come to me and react) and in my professional life.

I don’t know how my intentionality will look in my personal life, but in my professional life, I have picked out a few areas where I will be more intentional in my work with the YMCA, with summer camp, with my co-workers, with customers and with volunteers.

• Intentionality of leadership: To be more intentional in my leadership, I am going to have to spend time with my co-workers and those I lead. I am going to have to listen to them (I can be a bad listener), provide opportunities for their continued success and challenge them in areas of potential growth.

• Intentionality of recruitment: We are in the people business at summer camp, and because of this I am going to be more intentional in how I engage with our customers and continue to push our team to a higher level of service and involvement with our campers and their families outside of their summer camp session.

• Intentionality of philanthropy: I want to create a culture of philanthropy throughout our staff and volunteer team. Philanthropy is not a six-week period every year when we ask people for money; it is a single thread of purpose that shows up in everything we do. A culture of philanthropy will drive us to better serve our communities and to always be looking for opportunities to share our stories of impact to connect and engage with our communities.

• Intentionality of programming: This will be the easiest of my list because I think about program opportunities often, but I can be better. I can be more intentional about asking for and listening to the feedback from our customers. Am I delivering what our customers want or am I delivering what I think they want?

• Intentionality of mission: I need to be more focused on what we are trying to accomplish at camp. I need to do a better job of articulating our mission, attracting volunteers to our mission and raising more money (philanthropy) to help fulfill our mission.

• Intentionality of personal development: I need to become better, and the way this is going to happen is by being intentional about whom I spend my time with and what I read. I will take the next year to intentionally connect with great leaders and innovators so I can be the best leader I can be and that we can deliver the best programs we can deliver.

I don’t know if you are inclined to setting a New Year’s resolution or setting yearly goals, but I know that the only way that I am going to become the best I can be is to hold myself accountable by writing my resolution down and asking my colleagues to hold me accountable.

What will you be focusing on in the upcoming year? Who will be the people that hold you accountable?

I will be more intentional in 2012, what will you be?

Dave Bell has directed day and resident camp programs for more than 15 years. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Camping Services for the YMCA of Greater Seattle. He is a former American Camp Association Southeast Section board member, a certified Y-USA Day Camp Director Trainer and a Y-USA partner YMCA camp consultant. Reach him via e-mail at dbell@seattleymca.org.

Winter fun makes for a great camp experience.

That’s when the real fun begins for campers who love winter sports and activities!

Camp Chief Ouray on Snow Mountain Ranch in Colorado is hosting two Ski and Snowshoe Weekends for teens and pre-teens this winter.

The first, for teens 14 and older, will be Jan. 20-22, 2012.

A second weekend, for pre-teens 11-13 years old, will take place Feb. 10-12, 2012.

These weekends will be a time to enjoy cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and fun with friends.

To learn more or to register, go to: http://bit.ly/rKKgD0.

It can be an overwhelming task at times, so here is a podcast from our friends at CampHacker to give you some helpful hints, examples and advice on staff applications: Our Staff Application Top Hints

Family is at the heart of the holiday season.

It’s the first full week of December 2011, and I slipped out of bed without waking your mother and came down to my office to write.

It is my favorite time to do that. It’s a time when the whole world seems to be sleeping except for me, and I love the stillness of that; like I have some well-kept secret.

I made a cup of coffee, which is now in hand, and Bruno is curled up under my desk as I write. When I let him out this morning, I smelled a hint of snow in the air, and you all know that makes me smile. As Cary Grant said, “You must always have holly in your heart.”

As I have always told you it is the days before Christmas that I enjoy the most; anticipation being the absolute spice of life.

Wasn’t Thanksgiving wonderful? Grandma Bea, with the incredible results of her operation, now has a pair of new knees and was walking around and working the kitchen like a champ. Giana, now a year old, was walking around too; she is nothing but adorable.

It was so nice to have your uncle make the trip in from Michigan, too, wasn’t it? His family seems to enjoy getting back together with us so much, and look how well his kids are doing in school!

I’m pretty sure Dante will be engaged by this time next year. His girlfriend and he seem to be “oblivious to everything / bump into the furniture” in love. That is so nice to see.

I write today to simply remind you to count your blessings and also to thank you for the ones you have given to me, as this holiday season endures.

You are so fortunate to have generous, loving grandparents that are more than just “alive” — they are integral, enjoyable parts of your life, and their constant adoration of you and your children is the stuff that dreams are made of.

You collectively have created nine grandchildren for your mother and I to love, and may God bless the miracle that grows inside Shanna right now that will round out that group and give us our tenth this coming February.

Girls, each of your husbands maintain solid jobs and you all live in comfortable homes. Boys, the two of you are performing handsomely at school and each of you maintain a reputation that Mom and I are proud of.

Someday you’ll know the pride in reviewing report cards that say, “A pleasure to have in class” over and over. Thanks, too, for pitching in at home and making life so easy for Mom and I to navigate. So many blessings!

If you think I ever considered for a moment that I would have all this family by the age of 50, you’d be kidding yourself. But as I look upon you all gathered at the table every Sunday, I can’t imagine a life without it.

With Sam being a generation younger than all of you, the link between him and your children is another source of great comfort to me. He sometimes reminds me of Gulliver as he takes charge of all of these little nieces and nephews, but he is fully unaware that this bounty will be his absolute source of pleasure and love someday when Mom and I have long since passed and you kids have moved into the “senior” roles. See how symmetrically odd life can be?

It was quite a year, and we all know that the challenges continue. Money is always tight. Cars break down. Kids battle colds and childhood challenges. Everyone feels tired, worn down, exhausted, but man, have a look around.

There are folks out there who are bearing crosses of monumental size. Not that we haven’t come through some of those ourselves; battles with cancer, illness and unemployment among them, but here we are today — solid and together. That is worth so, so much.

So many of my essays revolve around the importance of family and the greater importance of keeping life simple so that it can be properly managed, but I don’t think that is really a secret anymore.

Randy Gaddo, one of my colleagues at Northstar Publications, writes a monthly article called “LBWA,” which stands for “Leadership By Wandering Around.” Back when Randy and I were young upstarts, this theory was considered cutting edge, and employed the notion of getting out of your chair or leadership desk and visiting the field or the production floor at the plant.

It meant getting your hands dirty so that you could experience the things that were happening and learn more than just what you “heard.” When managers see and feel and are confronted with problems, they take a more active part in resolving them.

I hope you kids have come to see that this very theory is where we get our strength as a family.

When we have our weekly Sunday dinners, inevitably one of you has something going on in his or her life that needs to be resolved. By meeting with your family every week and coming forward with your problems, you get to hear some alternative opinions.

But even more than that, you get to hear that your brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents all have had to deal with similar problems over the years and have found their way out of rising waters to higher ground.

You suddenly feel not so alone, and talking things out and getting it out on the table helps you reveal that maybe this isn’t all that bad. Be it quarreling couples, troublesome kids, missed payments, loss of spirit, loss of direction; guys, we have all been there at one time or another.

By shouldering the troubled times together, I think it takes the sting and loneliness out of working out the shark-infested waters of life.

You can’t imagine the thrill I get when one has a problem and the other has the solution. Like someone’s car broke down, but someone else at the table will be on vacation all week and doesn’t need his car so the other can use it until their car is fixed. Instantly solved problems with family-strength solutions; what could be better?

So as we press ahead to 2012, keep hold of that principle. We are better together; stronger, more capable, more resilient, more likely to succeed. If I leave a legacy at all in this life, make sure this example stays in place.

As I turn to my family of readership, I advise much the same. Be there for each other. Find patterns and methods and ways in 2012 that reinforce that kind of working interdependence. It will ensure that every holiday to come is a happy one.

Wishing all of you the best this season, from my family to yours!

Ron Ciancutti is the Purchasing Manager for Cleveland Metroparks. He is not on Facebook, but he can be reached at rdc@clevelandmetroparks.com.

Camp fairs aren’t the marketing juggernaut they once were, but they can still be useful places to recruit campers–if you know the best way to approach them.

In this podcast, CampHacker’s Travis Allison is joined by two camp fair veterans: Joe Richards, executive director of Pearce Williams Christian Centre, and Dan Weir, director of camping services for Frost Valley YMCA.

Rock Out At Camp Fairs

Camp can be a great experience for kids of all abilities.

Choosing a camp for any child can be overwhelming, but especially so for parents whose kids have physical challenges.

This article from KidsHealth.org offers good advice for parents–and also for camp directors assisting parents–about choosing a camp and preparing their children for the experience:
http://bit.ly/ugYrRd

The article talks about choosing the right kind of camp for an individual child, what information to share with camp staff, what to pack and how to deal with possible anxiety or homesickness.

It also talks about gradually introducing children to the camp experience, perhaps starting with a day camp or sports activity, then moving on to a special-needs sleep-away camp and finally on to an inclusive residential camp.

It takes careful attention to make sure that children don't fall between the cracks.

The community of educators sat together and reviewed every student’s performance in classes, sports, extracurricular activities, and dorm life.

Although lengthy (the school has more than 300 students), the meeting was impressively efficient. Many students were reviewed quickly, and advisers offered relevant background and pithy recommendations when appropriate.

Those students whose situations were complex enough to necessitate in-depth discussions were tabled for a later, smaller meeting. Most importantly, no one fell through the cracks.

I found myself wondering how well most day and resident camps do at monitoring each and every camper’s well-being.

Individual members of the staff may notice that a particular boy or girl is homesick or evidencing poor sportsmanship. However, other staff may ignore problems, seeing their role as providing recreation, rather than promoting development though recreation.

As adults who are not our campers’ parents, we enjoy a unique power to influence the development of the young people we serve.

We naturally enjoy working with the attractive, athletic, artistic youth who get along well with grown-ups and follow directions. Duh. Those kids make us look good and feel appreciated.

Less enjoyable, but perhaps more fulfilling, is our work with young people who are emotionally, socially, or behaviorally challenged by the camp experience. To fully realize our role as youth development professionals, we must embrace this needier population of young people as well.

Although most camp directors would agree with me in theory that every child deserves attention and support, many are unwilling to protect the meeting time necessary to review every camper’s progress.

Indeed, more than half of the directors I know have chosen to lead just one or two full-staff meetings a summer. A tiered meeting system may be the answer, but only if you, as a camp director, are willing to protect this time for your staff.

In a tiered system, every young person is discussed every week. Here’s a rough outline of how a tiered meeting system works. Directors can customize this to fit their needs and schedules, of course.

Tier One
Tier One is composed of the cabin leaders or counselors who have the most direct contact with the child or adolescent in question. They should be checking in each day with each of the boys and/or girls with whom they have contact.

Any emotional, social, or behavioral issues can then be discussed in the evening, in small groups or divisional units, when supervisors and staff peers can offer guidance and suggestions.

Front line staff should immediately bring any major issues to the attention of their supervisors and/or the camp director. Discussion of garden-variety issues can stay within the unit.

Tier Two
Tier Two is the camp’s senior staff. The camp director should be meeting with his or her senior staff or leadership team every day.

These meetings can be brief and minimally invasive to the daily schedule. The 20 minutes before lunch or right after dinner is a popular time.

At these meetings, division heads or unit leaders can review the most problematic campers and receive peer consultation on best practices for responding to these issues.

Such meetings need not include every camper. (Remember, that’s the job of the multiple, simultaneous Tier One meetings.) Instead, these Tier Two meetings focus on problem solving and keeping the camp director up to speed on major issues.

Tier Three
Tier Three is the entire staff. These meetings should happen about once a week, typically after hours, when (at a day camp) the children have gone home or when (at a resident camp) a skeleton crew of young leaders can actively supervise the sleeping cabins.

These full-staff meetings should be brief (under 75 minutes) and include only that business that must be conducted with the entire staff or those quandaries that benefit most from the input or presence of the entire staff.

Among the best use of your Tier Three time is detailed review of a single camper case from the previous week. The director and the child’s counselors can co-lead a discussion or a debrief of an acute problem and the manner in which the staff dealt with the issue. Particularly helpful are suggestions for how a similar case could be managed better in the future.

When this tiered system (or one like it) is implemented, the chances are minimal that a camper will slip through the proverbial cracks. Every camper gets a look and the biggest problems get additional attention and skillful responses that are vetted by experienced peers.

Every staff member also benefits from the experiences of his or her peers with particularly tough cases.

We are at our best when we remember—as did the faculty at the school I visited—to act in the best interests all young people, not just the fun ones. Of course, not all problems can be solved at camp, but no problem should be ignored or dismissed.

Dr. Christopher Thurber is a board-certified clinical psychologist, father and author of The Summer Camp Handbook, now available online for free at SummerCampHandbook.com. He is the co-creator of ExpertOnlineTraining.com, a set of Internet-based-video training modules for camp counselors, nurses and doctors. He can be reached via e-mail at chris@campspirit.com.

This year’s conference will include an extra day of skill-building workshops for camp professionals and camp lay leaders on March 11, 2012.

The main program will be held March 12-13 with a keynote address by Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org and founder and former executive director of Dress for Success.

The Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, N.J., will host the conference.

For more information or to register, go to http://bit.ly/tehWdp.