Campfire Conversation

Sammy Moskowitz and Julia Lindon, Happy Campers Podcast Description: If you are a parent listening to these podcasts, you probably wonder what the camp experience will do for your child down the road. Today's campfire guests, Sammy and Julia, will be happy to show and tell you! Hosts of the beloved Happy Campers Podcast, Sammy and Julia shed some light on how the experience of summer camp has impacted their lives in the past, present and into the future. Enjoy!

We've spent the last two weeks talking about girls and boys through the experience of 'single sex' camp directors. Today, we'll talk about mixing the two! Carolyn and Jed Dorfman, directors of Camp Walt Whitman, know what they are talking about from both a parenting and a camp perspective and offer a wonderful perspective on girls and boys learning, living, and laughing together.

There seems to be a lot of mixed messaging in regards to boys these days. Some are thriving: working hard, being creative, and enjoying the benefits. Many more, though, are struggling to find themselves and their purpose in the world. Josh Holland someone who can help lead boys and young men through the challenges of life into a thriving adulthood. Thankfully, he's offered to share many of his insights and ideas around the campfire.

Ginger Clare knows how to work with and inspire girls and women of all ages. Along with her husband, Steve, Ginger directs Camp Kippewa, an all-girls camp in Maine that focuses on celebrating the individual within the community of camp. If you want some ideas on how to raise strong, courageous women, you'd be hard pressed to find someone more thoughtful and knowledgeable than Ginger. Enjoy!

Working with thousands of campers and families, you start to pick up a few ideas that lead to successful, thriving people. Audrey Monke, the director of Gold Arrow Camp and brains behind Sunshine Parenting, has done more than just collect the good ideas. She's made them available to everyone in her new book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults.

What is better than a true friend? As parents, we want our children to have this luxury. But isn't it more important that our children learn how to make friends? That is something camp people think about all the time: teaching the art of building friendships. In this camfire conversation, Sam Borek, the owner / director of Woodmont Day Camp in New York, shares a lot of great ideas and stories we can use to teach "building friendships" to our kids back home.

Yes, technology has led to incredible advancements for us all. And yet it has also led to major problems for many of our children. Michael Jacobus, the executive director of Reset Summer Camp and parent of a screen-addicted child, joins us around the campfire to talk about the challenges of technology and strategies on helping our kids.

Cicero describes gratitude as the mother of all virtues. Recent research has born this out. We know that practicing gratitude lowers stress levels, increases connection and empathy, and boosts our immune system. The question is how do we instill the practice of gratitude into our kids (and ourselves!)? Dana Stassen and Kate Kelly, who have been leading a community focused on gratitude for a decade, join me to discuss what they've learned about instilling the practice of gratitude.

Camp Southern Ground, the passion project of Zac Brown, lead of the Zac Brown Band, is a revelation. Started from the ground a few years ago about 30 minutes south of Atlanta, Camp Southern Ground is creating a model of inclusion that will, I predict, change the nature of summer camp in the US. Camp Director Scott Hicock spends a few minutes around the campfire talking about how inclusion makes our homes, classrooms and summer camps better for everyone.

Summer camp is a gift that keeps giving. We've heard from experienced researchers and professionals about how camp helps to create lifelong skills, reduces anxiety, and fosters important connections. Today, we get to learn how we can support more kids to enjoy this life-altering gift. Molly Gallagher, executive director of SCOPE (www.scopeusa.org), joins us around the campfire to share the stories and lessons of her camp experience and ways which we can help others enjoy the same.