Activities and campfires make our day!!

Hey...does anyone know where I can rock climb, crate stack, go on a challenge hike, play mud volleyball and then chill at the pool? I do! Camp Kupugani...these days just get better and better, no wonder we all love camp and its awesomeness. And, after our fantastic farm fresh hamburgers at lunch and amazing spaghetti dinner, we all continued our personal development journey with a great "My People Are" evening activity, followed by our talented camp guitarist and a moving campfire. Time for bed! J Catch you all tomorrow xxx

Pancake breakfast!!!!!!!

Goood morning all!!! Its 10AM and already a super productive day for our Kupugani ladies J Earlybird volleyball? Check. Community gathering? Check. Delicious pancake breakfast? Check. Camp chores to keep camp beautiful and instill responsibility? Check. I can hear "Little Sally Walker" being played in the rec hall, which means it must be time to break up into our morning teams! More later...

Its CAMP time :)

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Camp Kupugani 2011 has begun; the campers have arrived and have moved into their summer homes :) The Camp Kupugani flag is flying high (literally). We have already nearly finished our first full day, and the campers have already been super busy...tacos for dinner; campfire last night. Today, there have been swim evals, riverwalks, canoeing, pool time and morning and evening group activities. Super fun! Camp is back and better than ever!

Spring in the air, and empowerment on the way!

Now that the grass is greening, the birds are returning, and the smells of spring are in the air, it gets more and more exciting to prepare for camp. It's really magic contemplating what will happen this summer. What child will experience the first-time joy of doing something she didn't think she otherwise could do...from the “I can't” to the “I did!”. And carrying that over to her life—whether it's 5 days, 5 months, or 5 years forward, when another “impossible” task arises, and she has the confidence to attack it, knowing that she's already accomplished the “impossible” before at camp. So, this year, whether it's dam jumping, rock climbing, celebrating her identity, meeting a friend from a background that she would never have interacted with if not for camp...I can't wait!

10 tips to empower girls webinar link

Here's a link to download our recent webinar about empowering young women:

http://campkupugani.com/mp3/030611.wmv

When a child is "ready" for camp

A good friend asked me today when he and his wife would "know" that their daughter is ready for sleepaway camp. There is a certain level of surreality to the situation. I think back to us 20 years ago in college, as roommates. Certainly, the two decades-later prospect of me as a camp professional seriously advising him as a parent would have been a ludicrous one. Flash forward to today, with that being a critically important aspect of my job as camp director. With only a small trace of irony thinking back to the late 1980s...I advised him that:

Any camp decision should be driven by the child; the "best" age is when the child is "ready," which can be anytime between age 7 and 12 or 13 typically. Our camp program is tailored towards girls from ages seven to fifteen, and we have new campers within all of those ranges, eager to have a great camp experience.

A good progression for determining "readiness" is to start first with sleepovers at relative's houses, then sleepovers at non-relatives (i.e. school or neighborhood friends). When the child (and parents) are comfortable with that, then it's time for camp! There can and should still be some nervousness, since that's a normal part of growth. Also, the more the child can be involved in the decision-making process and reviewing information, the better. Checking out a camp DVD or videos, pictures, visiting the camp and seeing what the facilities are like--are all beneficial to a would-be-camper's readiness and confidence.

(I've come a long way from 22 year-old Kevin to me two decades later...!)

The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In

Checked out an interesting article about the ramifications of parenting while plugged in.

Nothing too earth shattering that we didn't already apply at camp, i.e. recognizing that human interaction is valuable--but maybe a little bit of a wake up call for certain parents...