I ran into a male friend, 45ish, last week and he told me a story that made him sad. His wife was dropping their 10-year-old daughter off at school. She […]
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Why Failure is Good for Kids
One time, about a decade ago on his regular annual camp visit, my friend Seth Godin came out of the lake in a gorilla suit. A full-size theatrical rented gorilla […]
Read moreHomework
After the interrupted sleeps of infancy, and before the storms of adolescence, nicely sandwiched in the middle is the nightmare of homework. Not the kids’ nightmare. Ours. It’s ours because […]
Read moreAutonomy and Mastery – the Hidden Gifts of Camp
What do kids need, really need, in order to thrive? A smart guy at University of Rochester did a study on just that and he, Richard Ryan, identified three psychological […]
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Super Special Sunday
For our first sleep-in Sunday of the summer we went all out! After a fabulous buffet brunch that got a rave review from critic Joanne Kates, campers had plenty of […]
Read moreA Summer Camp Lesson: Good-bye, and Go Away, Thank You Very Much
Dropping a kid off for camp can test a parent’s resolve. But standing back to let a child develop autonomy is one of the most important things a parent can […]
Read moreNotes from PreCamp 2018
All our staff are here and it’s been a fabulous PreCamp training thus far… One nugget: In a session with our full staff last night (about 165 staff) I asked […]
Read moreAnxiety, the new epidemic
My camp team has been going to the biggest camp directors conference in the world, the American Camp Association Tri-State Conference, for years. 4000 camp directors, four days, about 20 […]
Read moreWords of advice for March break
I have a terrible memory of March break the year my daughter was 15. We – our family of four – are out for dinner in Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, […]
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Getting Through to Tough Boys
An excerpt from Arowhon Head Counsellor Jonny Reed’s recent article on #Metoo and teenage boy culture. This perfectly reflects Jonny’s (and Arowhon’s) approach to mentoring young men. Worth a read […]
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