Camp Arowhon
All News
What’s a bad mother?
Two of my friends – in the last week – have called themselves bad mothers in conversation with me. This is so far from okay that it makes me feel like exploding. Which kinda reminds me of how I felt when I asked my now 29-year-old daughter if I was good mother to her. She […]
ContinueA Brain Is a Wonderful Thing to Rot, by Mike Sladden, director of Camp Pathfinder
How did the phrase ‘Summer Learning Loss’ get a strangle hold on the collective consciousness? What will befall our children beyond the classroom? Will my campers finish their summer reading? Will the polished fine edges of their academic wits dull from long exposure to sun, wind, rain, mud, bugs, swimming, hiking, paddling and just […]
ContinueCalming Down Kids Who Catastrophize
To Connect With Kids, Just Call ’em Like You See ’em by Dr. Chris Thurber As a parent, I sometimes find myself contradicting what my kids say. My 10-year-old son Sava, for example, has a tendency to catastrophize. When the LEGO structure he is building collapses, he’s likely to say something like, “I hate LEGOs. […]
ContinueI admit it: I was a pushy mom… perhaps still am
I was in a conversation, in a country not Canada, far away from home, with a woman. I told her an anecdote (subject not important). She responded: “Oh, that would be great for the essays.” Huh? Of course that went way over my husband’s head (more on that later, and no, he is far from […]
ContinueSex at camp?
Sex is such an interesting subject. We mostly agree it’s a good thing. Procreation aside, as parents we tend to think of sex as a delicious way to express and extend our love and intimacy together. But how about our kids having sex? Scary thought. More complicated. Some of us would like to put them in […]
ContinueA plea for vaccinating children, from The New York Times
The Vaccine Lunacy Disneyland, Measles and Madness JAN. 31, 2015 Photo CreditBen Wiseman Frank Bruni A FEW years back, an acerbic friend of mine who was a recent transplant to Los Angeles told me that she itched to write a satirical novel with the following narrative: A group of wealthy, educated people in Santa Monica […]
ContinueParenting the Stubborn Child
We all know this kid. This is the kid who says no more often than yes. This is the kid who always has an answer when you say it’s homework time, or time to turn off the TV. Or time to go to bed. And it’s never the answer you want to hear. This is […]
ContinueGoing on Vacation with Another Family? Read this!
Going on vacation with another family is an emotionally complicated pleasure. You know the upsides – It’s more fun for the kids, less child care work for you, and on a deeper level there is something incredibly fulfilling about the connections fostered by families. Being with another family for more than an afternoon or an […]
ContinuePerfectionism, an ill of the 21st century
I was talking to a distraught mom the other day, about her daughter who never feels good enough about herself. Funny (or maybe not so funny) thing is that the mom doesn’t feel good enough either. And she uses her daughter’s insecurities as a weapon to beat herself up. As in: The mom blames herself […]
Continue
Arowhon in Action!
The first ever Arowhon in Action event this past weekend brought out 150 Arowhon campers and parents to pack bags of clothes and food for the homeless, decorate them in true Arowhon Arts & Crafts style, and have a lot of fun while we did it – not to mention candy floss, caramel popcorn and […]
Continue