Camp Arowhon
Parenting
Arowhon Campers Making the World a Better Place
Our camper Noah Cohn has been organizing a bottle drive to raise money for people in need in Cuba. He will be delivering humanitarian aid (medicine, medical supplies, sports equipment and maybe even some chocolate!). His primary objective for the bottle drive is to raise enough money to purchase a wheelchair for the community. ($350)… Noah […]
ContinueHow Parenting Changes Us!
When we talk about parenting – which of course we parents do ad nauseum – we talk about the kids. When we do talk about ourselves – which is rare – it’s pretty much always about us only insofar as we bounce off them, for better or for worse. They did this, so I…. But […]
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What do DisneyWorld, Zappos and Camp Arowhon have in common?
I heard a radio documentary about training incredible staff. They talked about the superb staff at DisneyWorld, and how Disney’s staff training is the best there is – Every single staff comes out of that training living the Disney ideals (like that or not). They also talked about Zappos, the internet clothes and shoes giant. […]
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Regulating Emotions – a Life Skill our kids need
Regulating emotions is a dry expression used by psychological professionals to describe being able to calm down and not freak out for too long when you’re upset. It’s the difference between a five minute cry over a boo-boo (physical or emotional) and an hour-long drama. Nobody likes the latter. When grownups do it, it’s appalling […]
ContinueNew research on perils of protective parenting
Do we over-protect our kids – at great cost to them? The Atlantic magazine has a superb new article on how over-protecting our kids actually harms them. The article is HERE
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When Being Called “Incredibly Good” is Bad for Children
A new study shows inflated praise can harm kids with low self-esteem COLUMBUS, Ohio – Parents and other adults heap the highest praise on children who are most likely to be hurt by the compliments, a new study finds. Researchers found that adults seem to naturally give more inflated praise to children with low self-esteem. […]
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What Parents Need Most: Optimism!
Optimism is the prime directive of parenting. The late Gilda Radner said it better: “Motherhood is still the biggest gamble in the world. It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary – it’s an act of infinite optimism.” It’s kind of like being Torontonian in March. We know the crocuses will bloom. We […]
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Girl Power Grows at Camp
Girls and Leadership, an interview with Rachel Simmons Simmons is author of The Curse of the Good Girl and co-founder of Girls Leadership Institute, recently wrote an opinion piece for CNN.com about the reluctance many girls feel toward leadership roles. She argues that in order to take advantage of the access they now have to […]
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Why tell camp the hard stuff about your child?
As a mother, I always shrunk from telling people what’s challenging or difficult about my children. Even now that they’re young adults, I desperately want everyone to see them as positively as I do. That’s normal for parents. Which can make filling out the camp forms tough. Do you REALLY have to tell camp about […]
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The magic of listening
I had a meeting with this kid the other day. I say kid because he’s 17 and he goes to high school. But out of this kid’s mouth came wisdom that I wish to hear from grownups. We were meeting because I interview all our returning staff every winter, to celebrate their successes and agree […]
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