Camp Arowhon
Skills Building
Why Overnight Camp?
We hear more and more about the pressure on kids (and accordingly parents) to get a head start on university and career-building activities instead of good old fashioned outdoor play. Although there is actually a lot of compelling evidence coming out that camp in fact DOES provide kids with the skills they’ll need to survive […]
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What We REALLY Learn from Activities at Camp
By Jonathan Newman In August of 2011, I stood in the middle of the Main Lodge and looked out at the crowd of around 500 campers and staff. My heart was pounding through my chest and my palms were drenched in sweat. It was […]
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Homesick AND Happy
Now is the moment of the great Canadian camp jitters. Kids who’ve signed up for camp for the first time are having their oh no, this is REAL moment. Their stomachs plummet like an elevator in free-fall, as the warm weather and the deluge of camp emails make the reality of camp sink in. Some […]
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Defining “Bullying”
By: Mara Kates, Assistant Director “Bully” has been the buzz word amongst parents and people who work with young people for the past few years now. And it’s great that we are so aware of our kids’ social and emotional well-being. And it’s great that we’re teaching kids that it’s ok to reach out and […]
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Dear Justin
Joanne’s article from Friday’s Globe and Mail: Will a former camp counsellor make a good Prime Minister? You bet Dear Justin, I’m guessing that as you face the biggest challenge of your life, you’re thinking back on similar mountains you’ve scaled. Let’s face it, your resume is meagre. But your time as a camp counsellor […]
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From Camp Counsellor to Prime Minister
From this weekend’s Globe and Mail article introducing Canada’s new “First Family”: Before entering politics, Justin Trudeau – who worked as a teacher and a board member of the Katimavik youth program founded by his father’s government – had a long career working with youth, including the summers he spent as a counsellor at Camp […]
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Supporting Anxious Kids
By Mara Kates, Assistant Director At camp, we get a unique epidemiological perspective on childhood afflictions. I am not a scientist but I would hazard a guess that rates of childhood anxiety are on the rise. Whether a kid has a clinically diagnosed anxiety disorder or is simply afraid of the dark, children (and their […]
ContinueStop Googling. Let’s Talk.
COLLEGE students tell me they know how to look someone in the eye and type on their phones at the same time, their split attention undetected. They say it’s a skill they mastered in middle school when they wanted to text in class without getting caught. Now they use it when they want to be […]
ContinueWhy is camp so good for kids?
I love my iPhone. I fondle it. I can’t seem to tolerate a nano-second without its electronic stimulation, so in lineups (waiting to pay for almost anything) or even the most minuscule of downtimes, I’m on my cherished device. Sound familiar? And we’re immigrants to the internet. Imagine how much more addictive it is for […]
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. […]
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