Podcasts about summer camp secrets

This week on the podcast we're featuring a short excerpt from the introduction to Audrey “Sunshine” Monke's book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults.  Learn about the research-based, intentional practices behind the “magic” at Gold Arrow Camp in this episode, The Magic of Summer Camp. About Happy Campers […] The post Episode 80: The Magic of Camp (Happy Campers Book Excerpt) appeared first on Gold Arrow Camp - California Summer Camp and Traditional Sleepaway Camps for Children.

Recent ReadsBlack Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson She Said by Jodi Kantor & Megan TwoheyHappy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids who become Thriving Adults by Audrey MonkeGood Inside: A Guide to Becoming the One Italian Summer by Rebecca SerleThe Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay AdamsGabi. A Girl in Pieces by Isabele QuinteroParent You Want to Be by Becky KennedyPodcast episode interviewing Becky Kennedy on Pantsuit Politics - https://www.pantsuitpoliticsshow.com/show-archives/2022/9/30/dr-becky-has-a-lot-to-say-about-politicsRecommended books on money mindset:You're A Badass at Making Money by Jen SinceroGet Rich Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-ThomasWe Should All be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers 

Oh, hey there, sexy! Welcome back to the latest erotic sex story of Lala's Bedtime Tales! This week's erotic romance is all about scorching hot hookups and messy young romances! Did you ever go to summer sleep-away camp? Or did you visit somewhere away from home every summer where you had crushes or friends you may not have in your hometown? Well, this week's female main character, Valentina Delgado, has run into the issue of falling in love with a summer fling. But, Valentina is afraid to profess her love for fear of ruining years of a great friendship. So, tune into the latest episode of raging hormones, summer debauchery, and the woes of young love. Let the THOT summer shenanigans begin! For more Erotic Stories, Sex & Love Advice, and Sexual Health & Education, Visit Lala's Website: www.lalasbedtimestales.com Join Lala's Bedtime Tales Facebook Group to become a part of a fun community of Sexual Liberators:https://www.facebook.com/groups/643493350188949Subscribe to Lala's Bedtime Tales Mailing List: https://www.lalasbedtimetales.com/lalasmailinglistTo watch videos content of the podcast & for bonus and exclusive content, be sure to subscribe to Lala's Bedtime Tales Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lalasbedtimetalesFor more sensual and erotic content, follow Lala's Bedtime Tales on Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lalasbedtimetales/Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LalasTalesFacebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LalasBedtimeTales/Episode Sponsorship:Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code LALASTALES20 at MANSCAPED.com! #ad #manscapedpodSmart Passive Income PodcastWeekly interviews, strategy, and advice for building your online business the smart way.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Sunshine Parenting host Audrey "Sunshine" Monke & pediatrician (and camp doctor) Dr. Heather Silverberg talk about how COVID is impacting kids this summer at camp. Want encouragement & simple strategies for raising thriving future adults? Check out Audrey's book, HAPPY CAMPERS: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. Happy Campers on Audible.

This week, Liz and Sarah have a special guest co-host, friend of the pod and camp owner extraordinaire, Audrey Monke! The three deep dive into grit—how grit helps at work, growing your grit, and why stepping out of your comfort zone is key to gritty resilience. Then, in Take A Hike, EVERYTHING has been going wrong on Season Two of Fantasy Island. Liz and Sarah run through the problems—rain, COVID, food poisoning, no plane (no plane!)—and discuss how they look for the silver linings. Next, in Hits & Bombs, Audrey has a Hit for health checks and a Bomb for burning time and energy. Finally, this week's Hollywood Hack will help kids and adults articulate their emotions: use the phrases “red zone” and “blue zone” to indicate you need a break from a conversation. Get in touch on Instagram: @Sfain & @LizCraft Visit our website: https://happierinhollywood.com Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/HappierinHollywood/ Happier in Hollywood is part of ‘The Onward Project,' a family of podcasts brought together by Gretchen Rubin—all about how to make your life better. Check out the other Onward Project podcasts—Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Side Hustle School, Do The Thing, and Everything Happens with Kate Bowler . If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends! LINKS Hollywood Hates Cancer Charity Buzz Auction: Virtually Meet Writers/Showrunners Liz Craft & Sarah Fain https://www.charitybuzz.com/catalog_items/auction-virtually-meet-writers-showrunners-liz-craft-2389065?preview=1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editor_notify_specialist_email&utm_content=editor_notify_specialist_email+ID_3ad5df6c-ad97-4e26-b176-d34aaf433c2f&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Click%20here Audrey Monke https://twitter.com/audreymonke Gold Arrow Camp https://goldarrowcamp.com/ Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults by Audrey Monke https://sunshine-parenting.com/happy/Get in touch on Twitter: @sarahmfain & @elizabethcraft Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Summer camp is a tradition for many kids. But does summer camp work for kids who learn differently? How do you find the right camp? Can the camp support your child's needs? Will your child make friends? In this episode, hosts Amanda Morin and Gretchen Vierstra get answers from the ultimate expert: a camp director. Audrey Monke has been running a summer camp for 37 years. She's also the author of Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. Hear Audrey's advice on summer camp — from how to choose one to what to tell camps about your child. Learn how camps help kids develop social skills, build relationships, and gain independence. Plus, Audrey shares her favorite summer camp tips to use at home. To find a transcript for this episode and more resources, visit the episode page at Understood. We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at init@understood.org. Understood is a nonprofit and social impact organization dedicated to shaping a world where the 1 in 5 people who learn and think differently can thrive. Learn more about In It and all our podcasts at u.org/podcasts. Copyright © 2022 Understood for All, Inc. All rights reserved. 

What we forget as parents is that building friendship skills is like any other skill, we have to teach it and support it. Just like learning math, learning friendship skills is a crucial part of our kids' future. Audrey Monke joins us on the podcast today to talk about some of the many things she has learned about raising thriving kids from running summer camps (and being a mom of 5 herself!) Audrey Monke, author of Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults, is the owner and director of Gold Arrow Camp in Lakeshore, California. She is among the nation's most well-respected experts on the topics of summer camp and friendship skills. For more than 30 years, Audrey has researched and improved practices at her camp to promote belonging, friendships, and character growth. Her parenting website and podcast (Sunshine Parenting) have a loyal following of like-minded parents wanting to raise kids who become thriving adults. She is the mother of five adult kids (ages eighteen to twenty-seven) and lives with her husband, Steve, in Clovis, California.  Connect with Audrey Monke: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-monke (https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-monke) Join us LIVE each week in our Facebook Group … https://www.facebook.com/groups/blissfulparenting (https://www.facebook.com/groups/blissfulparenting) Connect with Blissful Parenting: Free Workshop ► https://www.blissfulparentingworkshop.com (https://www.BlissfulParentingWorkshop.com)  Website ► http://www.theblissfulparent.com/ (http://www.TheBlissfulParent.com/)  Blog ► http://www.theblissfulparent.com/blog (http://www.TheBlissfulParent.com/blog)  Podcast ► http://www.theblissfulparent.com/podcast/ (http://www.TheBlissfulParent.com/podcast/)  Contact ►http://www.blissfulparenting.com/contact (http://www.BlissfulParenting.com/contact)  Follow Us On Social Media: Youtube ► https://www.youtube.com/theblissfulparent (https://www.youtube.com/theblissfulparent)   Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/theblissfulparent (https://www.facebook.com/theblissfulparent)   Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/theblissfulparent/ (https://www.instagram.com/theblissfulparent/)   Twitter ►https://twitter.com/blissfulparent (https://twitter.com/blissfulparent)   Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a note in the comment section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. You can also subscribe to the podcast app on your mobile device. Leave us an iTunes review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on iTunes, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on iTunes.

Audio excerpt from Audrey Monke's book, HAPPY CAMPERS: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. Now available at Audible.

Start listening to Happy Campers now! Just in time for summer, HAPPY CAMPERS: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults is now available on Audible! This week's podcast features an excerpt from the audiobook, "The Magic of Camp," that precedes the 9 Summer Camp Secrets. Learn ways to better connect with your kids, implement positive parenting practices, and help your family thrive, all during your busy days at home, at work, or on the go. Let HAPPY CAMPERS serve as a resource you'll refer back to throughout your parenting years as you connect with your kids, create a positive family culture, and coach your kids to grow their kindness, optimism, grit, responsibility, independence, and friendship skills. Thank you for joining me in raising a generation of kids who become thriving adults!  

Let’s be honest. We all need friends in life. And not just friends, but good, solid, healthy friendships. But do our kids really know how to do that? Do they really understand how to build a better friendship?   We do our best to teach our kids everything they need to succeed in life. But many of us just kind of gloss over the skills of making and cultivating friendships. We may nudge our kids to go talk to other kids on the playground or ask more questions about that one classmate who when our kid talks about them, they seem to light up. But honestly, how many of us taught our kids at a basic level how to introduce themselves to others, how to find a common interest with others, and how to keep that connection going?    Today we speak with Audrey Monke, a Camp Owner/Director at Gold Arrow Camp, host of Sunshine Parenting podcast/website - Author of Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults.  She specializes in raising happy, self-reliant, kind, responsible kids using secrets from summer camp! And Audrey shares with us the secrets of coaching our kids to build better friendships. Resources We Shared:Sibling Adventure Log Sunshine Parenting Gold Arrow Teacher Academy Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults Sunshine Parenting Podcast Parenting in Place Download the transcripts HERE The best mom is a happy mom. To better take care of you, download our No Guilt Mom mindset here .  These reminders will help you second guess less, and feel more confidence every day in your parenting.

My guest this week is Audrey Monke, owner and director of Gold Arrow Camp in Lakeshore, California, and one of the nation's most well-respected experts on the topics of summer camp and friendship skills. With over three decades of experience as camp director, Audrey Monke has devoted her life to helping raise happy, healthy, independent, responsible kids through the power of camping experiences. Audrey shares her wisdom and experience with parents and educators through her podcast, coaching, speaking engagements, workshops, and in her book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. In this episode, Audrey and I discuss how parents can create transformational camp culture benefits for kids at home during a pandemic. Audrey encourages parents with children of all abilities and challenges to never cross camp off their list of possibilities for their child. With research-based strategies and real-life stories, Audrey shows how beneficial and transformational camp culture can be for children of all ages to learn independence and flourish into responsible young adults. To learn more about Audrey Monke click here.  Where to learn more about Audrey Monke... SunshineParenting.com Happy Campers Book Sunshine Parenting Podcast Instagram Facebook Twitter

 SHOW NOTES Join the Sunshine Parenting PATREON squad for bonus perks, including bonus podcast episodes and exclusive posts and resources! Join Audrey's email subscriber community for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  Jean Rogers is the Director of the Children’s Screen Time Action Network, where she leads a coalition of practitioners, educators, advocates, and parents who collaborate on practical methods to reduce children’s time on screens and digital devices, mitigate the dangers, and preserve childhood in the digital age. Jean is the host of Action Network Live!, a webcast bringing experts to parents on how screens impact all aspects of child development. She writes a weekly blog and speaks widely to parents, teachers and activists, empowering them to implement simple solutions to a complex 21st century parenting challenge. Jean earned Masters’ degrees in Education and Parenting Education at Wheelock College, where she took up the mantel of Susan Linn and Diane Levin, trailblazers in media literacy, play-based learning, and avoiding a commercialized childhood. Prior to working at the Action Network, Jean was a freelance marketing writer, illuminating products and services for nonprofit and business clients. She was also a music teacher, director of a large church school, and a college writing center consultant. Her greatest role is mother to 5 children. BIG IDEAS • The Social Dilemma is fantastic because it helps you understand that social media apps were designed for profit for the companies that designed, not for the benefit of the users (a good term because of the addictive nature of the apps). • If you have preteens or teens, we encourage you to have them watch The Social Dilemma with you. They'll understand more at the end, they'll maybe see themselves or their friends in it or their cousins. They'll understand it from the perspective of one of those ages. If you have young children, the film is really a cautionary tale. It's something that if you watch it now you can prevent some of these things from happening. • While we do have the children's online privacy and protection act, that has not translated into the regulations for social media that you would expect, and kids are still able to scroll. They're able to find things. • For our kids, it's so easy for them to believe everything that they see and for us to need to explain that not everything is real on the internet. Fake news and stories spread much faster than true ones. LINKS & RESOURCES • Where to connect with and find out more about Jean and the Children's Screen Time Action Network: Website Facebook Book: Kids Under Fire Action Network Live • Jean's interview with Audrey and Lenore Skenazy on Action Network Live. Happy Campers at Home: Navigating Summer with Children during COVID-19 from CCFC on Vimeo. • "The Social Dilemma" • Cyberwise • "The Great Hack" • Cal Newport • Digital Wellness Collective • Wait Until 8th • Turning Life On QUOTES • Audrey: "I had heard that a long time ago about Steve jobs, that his kids weren't allowed to have iPads." • Audrey: "These tools that have been created are starting to erode the social fabric of how society works." • Jean: "The Children's Screen Time Action Network is a campaign for a commercial-free childhood." • Jean: "Creating routines reduces stress." • Jean: "I think one of the things they say in the film is, it's not like a bolt of lightning that happens. All of a sudden your kids are converted to this world. It's a gradual change in their behavior. And so we don't want to wake up someday and not know our kids." • Jean: "There are studies that say, we learn a lot more. We absorb a lot more by reading the real book." • Jean: "You can't change it. That only the industry can change it, but you can change what's going on in your own home." IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE... Ep. 156: The Tech Solution with Dr. Shimi Kang Ep. 148: Connecting with Nature & Each Other During COVID with Ariella Rogge Ep. 144: Raising Happy, Durable Kids in the Digital Age Ep. 116: Why We Need to Unplug and Connect with our Families ONE SIMPLE THING This week's One Simple Thing is one from Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. MY FAVORITE Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport I think we’re only scratching the surface on the damage caused by our current technology habits. As I argued in Digital Minimalism, these tools are both powerful and indifferent to your best interests. Until you decide to adopt a minimalist ethos, and deploy technology intentionally to serve specific values you care about, the damage it inflicts will continue to accumulate. -Cal Newport, Do Smartphones Make Us Dumber? SUBSCRIBE TO SUNSHINE PARENTING THANKS FOR LISTENING! If you enjoyed this episode and know of others who would be encouraged by the ideas, please share! Leave a review for the Sunshine Parenting Podcast on iTunes! Reviews are very important for helping podcasts find their audiences, and I would love your support in helping people find Sunshine Parenting! Would you like to have access to bonus posts, resources and podcast episodes? Join me as a supporter on Patreon! Audrey

SHOW NOTES Join the Sunshine Parenting PATREON squad for bonus perks, including bonus podcast episodes and exclusive posts and resources! Join Audrey's email subscriber community for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  Bethany Saltman, this week's guest, is the author of Strange Situation: A Mother's Journey into the Science of Attachment. Bethany is an author, award-winning editor, and researcher. Her work has been in The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Parents, and many other publications. Bethany also works as a best-selling book coach, a communications director, and an in-demand mindfulness mentor, consulting writers and entrepreneurs at all stages of their creative process. She helps her clients envision and execute projects, from book proposals to content development and messaging to Big Ideas, and more. A longtime student of Zen, Bethany is devoted to the fine art and game-changing effects of paying attention. She lives in a small town in the Catskills with her family. BIG IDEAS • Being a Zen (or Buddhist) parent • How to come to terms with who we are as a person and as a parent. • Steps for being in the moment with our kids and returning to ourselves. • How meditation (noticing the thought, let it go, return to your breath/body, return to your intention to be a kind and attuned parent) LINKS & RESOURCES • Where to connect with and find out more about Bethany and her work: Website Instagram Twitter LinkedIn • Bethany's Flowers Fall: Field Notes from a Buddhist Mom’s Experimental Life column (Chronogram Magazine) • Dr. Dan Siegel • Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. • The AAI (Adult Attachment Interview) QUOTES • Bethany: "I learned that secure attachment is not what I thought it was, and it's much bigger, it's much more forgiving, it's really much more empowering than Dr. Sears would ever have you think." • Bethany: "That's the beautiful thing about this work is that it really directs us so much deeper than those superficial feelings." • Bethany: "It's a very primitive orientation towards security and towards safety." • Bethany: "Just let anything happen and stop talking. In time, your senses will return and you'll come back to yourself." IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE... Ep. 121: The Power of Showing Up with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson Ep: 136: Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. on Showing Up for our Kids During COVID-19 Ep. 103: How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t with Your Kids Good Things Come to Those Who Breathe Ep. 97: Parenting the Challenging Child Ep. 151: Dealing with Uncertainty & Building Resilience with Dr. Nicole Beurkens ONE SIMPLE THING This week's One Simple Thing is one of the "Sticky Note Solutions" from Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. MY FAVORITE Half Time: Moving from Success to Significance by Bob Buford   SUBSCRIBE TO SUNSHINE PARENTING   THANKS FOR LISTENING! If you enjoyed this episode and know of others who would be encouraged by the ideas, please share! Leave a review for the Sunshine Parenting Podcast on iTunes! Reviews are very important for helping podcasts find their audiences, and I would love your support in helping people find Sunshine Parenting! Would you like to have access to bonus posts and podcast episodes and be part of my next book? Join me as a supporter on Patreon! Audrey

In Episode 149, I’m talking with repeat podcast guest Stephen Gray Wallace about his new book, Impact: An Introduction to Counseling, Mentoring, and Youth Development. The book offers insightful commentary on the important role of mentors in the lives of children and teens. While it specifically addresses camp counselors, Impact is equally relevant for all key youth influencers, including parents, teachers, and coaches. Ep. 27: Raising Teens who Thrive with Stephen Wallace Ep. 92: Creating Strong Relationships with Teens Stephen has broad experience as a school psychologist and adolescent/family counselor. He is president and director of the Center for Adolescent Research and Education (CARE), a former associate research professor at Susquehanna University, and the past national chairman and chief executive officer at SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions/Students Against Driving Drunk). Stephen also works with the American Camp Association (ACA) as a feature magazine writer, media spokesperson and faculty member at its e-Institute for Professional Development. Review of IMPACT Decades of experience and research are packed into Wallace’s guide for leaders at summer camp. Wallace communicates the responsibility and life-changing impact counselors can have and the many facets of their role, which go far beyond what most people think of when they hear the job “camp counselor.” Covering a multitude of topics that are critical for counselors to understand, with discussion questions at the end of each chapter, the book is user-friendly and can be quickly incorporated into staff training. Lists that offer key takeaways of each concept on topics including developmental stages, disciplinary dos and don’ts, leadership styles, and effective teaching techniques (to name just a few) are instrumental as both a reference and training tool for camp staff. IMPACT needs to be assigned reading for every camp counselor, as the guide clearly communicates the magnitude of the responsibility counselors have for the physical and emotional well-being of other people’s children, the critical importance of developing positive relationships with each of the campers they serve, and an understanding of what to expect and how to handle the different challenges they will face. Camp leaders wanting to be informed and have a positive impact (without having to read the scores of books and articles Stephen Wallace has read) need to read IMPACT and keep it as a resource to refer to when planning training and coaching staff. - Audrey Monke, camp director, speaker, & author of Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults Big Ideas   Quotes   Resources/Links   One Simple Thing Ep. 133: What's Working (and What's Not!) During COVID-19 My Favorite Related Posts & Episodes Ep. 27: Raising Teens who Thrive with Stephen Wallace Ep. 92: Creating Strong Relationships with Teens Ep. 81: The Power of One with Travis Allison Ep. 87: The Impact of Camp Experiences with Laurie Browne, Ph.D. Ep. 123: Connection Comes First Ep. 89: The Power of Connection to Build Good Men with Michael Reichert, Ph.D. Ep. 121: The Power of Showing Up with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson Ep. 68: 12 Parenting Tips for Happier, More Connected Families 10 Parenting Tips from Camp Counselors

Show notes & links. Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. has encouraging advice to share during COVID-19. We talked in January (Ep. 121: The Power of Showing Up with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson) about her new book with Dr. Daniel Siegel, The Power of Showing Up, and the message of the book is so relevant to our intense time with our kids during this pandemic. We chatted again last week (during Week 4 of "Iso for the Rona") on a Facebook Live interview. This week's podcast is the audio from that interview. Big Ideas During hard times, it's easy to focus on what's going wrong instead of what's going right. We all need to find ways to stay sane and grounded. Some ideas are: gratitude practices, physical exercise, being in nature, and finding ways to connect with your loved ones. Showing up and being present for your children is one of the best predictors for future success, as well as for overall health and wellbeing. The four S's help to promote secure attachment, helping kids feel safe, seen, soothed, and secure. It is during insecure times like these that our biological attachment system compels us to connect with people in our lives who help us to feel safe, seen, soothed, and secure. Just being present for your child is enough. Parents need to work on their own emotional balance, resilience, insight, and empathy and that work will carry over and strengthen their relationships. Ep. 95: Raising a Yes Brain Child with Tina Payne Bryson Quotes Tina: "I love my work, but I love being at home. So I'm really cherishing this time and I go a little stir crazy at times." Tina: "I felt like I was going to go crazy yesterday for a little while and I just went outside without even a purpose. I just went and followed my dog's lead, outside in the fresh air." Audrey: "Parents are being inundated with so much right now, it can be overwhelming." Audrey: "Isn't it fortuitous that the Power of Showing Up just came out?" Tina: "The message of the book is even more germane now. The idea in the book is based on 50 years of attachment research that says one of the best predictors for how well kids turn out is that they have someone who shows up for them, or what's called a secure attachment." Tina: "The whole purpose of the attachment system in mammals is that during distress, fear, terror, and danger, that's when our attachment system is activated. That's when we have the biological drive to go to someone who will help give us the 4 S's." Tina: "It is our attachment system that sets us up to be resilient in the face of exactly this type of thing." Tina: "One of the main messages I want to give teachers and parents is, first of all, you don't have to be perfect. We're all going to mess up at times. We're all going to be fearful, we're going to be grumpy. Just repair and move on." Tina: "Just by you walking through this with your child, even in imperfect ways, you're doing it. What your kids need most from you is YOU." Tina: "I'm going to focus on helping my kids feel safe, seen and soothed and just being present to them. And that's all I need to be doing. That's more than good enough parenting." Audrey: "I think that it's an important thing for people to understand that we are all people with our own feelings going on, though this and every other time, and you give the guidance of what we need to do for ourselves, too." Tina: "We all need people who help us feel safe, seen, soothed and secure. That's a message that's really important to tell parents." Tina: "We sacrifice so much for our kids and that mammalian need to be connected and have people show up to us, is not just for our kids, it's for us, too." Audrey: "There are simple things we can do just to let our kids know that, 'we're here with you and we're going to be okay.'" Tina: "When your kid is complaining, it activates a fear or threat response and it's really annoying but if we can really just be present to our child's experience and say, 'it's frustrating, isn't it? It's not like it used to be. It's such a bummer we have to do this right now, isn't it?' Just keep it simple." Tina: "But if we respond to our children's complaining with argument or criticism, and say, 'you should be grateful.' we are actually criticizing them for sharing what they're feeling. So our kids will make that association...and stop sharing how they feel." Watch Tina's Video Messages for Teachers & Parents During COVID-19 A Message for Parents from Tina Payne Bryson, PhD on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/399730541 2 Things that Increase Chronic Stress & 2 Things that Reduce it in Our Kids from Tina Payne Bryson, PhD on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/402633303 Fear Messaging vs. Safety Messaging from Tina Payne Bryson, PhD on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/402467778 Access Tina's Resources for Coping with the Coronavirus Watch Tina & Audrey's chat on video One Simple Thing This week's one simple thing tip is to create a gratitude wall or board using sticky notes. Each family member can have their own "color" sticky note, and you can each put up at least one sticky note per day with something you're grateful for. More gratitude resources: Flourish: A Visionary Understanding of Happiness & Wellbeing, Dr. Martin Seligman A Grateful Family is a Happy Family: 5 Gratitude Practices Ep. 63: Growing Gratitude with Sara Kuljis Ep. 114: Precursors to Gratitude Raising Grateful, Not Entitled, Kids Growing Gratitude My Favorite I love all of the Soul Pancake videos, which also include the fun Kid President series. If you need some inspiration, check out Soul Pancake's YouTube channel. Listener Question How should I respond when my child is complaining about unimportant, seemingly selfish things during this pandemic? Validate their feelings! I made a short video about the importance of validating and not dismissing our kids' feelings: Related Ep. 121: The Power of Showing Up with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson Ep. 95: Raising a Yes Brain Child with Tina Payne Bryson Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults (Foreword by Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.)

A Day Camp Pod Interview with Audrey Monke Sometimes, when comes to selling our camp, we shoot ourselves in the foot. We're just a little bit too humble. We either don't want to be too “pushy” or aggressive and we end up undervaluing what we do.Hello!? We change lives! We give kids the type of community experience that they don't get ANYWHERE ELSE. You are great, we are great and we need to get those 80% of kids who don't go to camp, to camp!You should be shouting it from a milk-crate on the street corner. Except this is 2019 and there are many virtual street corners that you need to be on.To help you find, and speak from your milk-crate, The Day Camp Pod is joined by Chief Visionary Officer and Gold Arrow Camp, Author, Blogger, Brand Manager and mom, Audrey Monke.Audrey Monke is the brains behind Sunshine Parenting and the author of Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets from Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. She joins Andy, Sam and Ehren to talk about:Audrey's camp origin storyHow Audrey used her love of summer camp and entrepreneurial spirit to create Sunshine ParentingHow to use email newsletters, podcasting and blogging to become your community's expert on children and youthHow to capture the attention of your key decision makers: ParentsAnd more!Any questions? Ideas for shows? Topics? Guests? Please send them to daycampquestions@gocamp.proDAY CAMP PROGRAM TIP OF THE WEEK!Andy: Teaching American Sign Language (ASL) to your campers, as young at 5 years old!Sam: Cheese Ball Relay (see pictures below)Ehren: PlaymeoAudrey: 5 Things Game & Home-made question ball - All you need is a marker, questions, and a beach ball!YOUR HOSTS:Andy Pritikin, Owner/Director - Liberty Lake Day Camp, past president ACA NY/NJ, partner/founder Everwood Day Camp, founder/past president NJ Camps Government Affairs Project

In this episode, I am speaking live with parents from Wayne Highlands School District and Superintendent Greg Frigoletto at Lakeside Elementary. We discuss my book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults, and my key parenting tips and takeaways from lessons learned at camp. I spent the first week of October in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin speaking with teachers, parents, and camp professionals. You read about these events and see more pictures in this post. Big Ideas Parents need to have a growth mindset when thinking about their parenting skills. Lessons we learn at camp are: how to relate to kids how to make sure kids feel connected how to handle different behavioral issues as they come up It helps parents to "begin with the end in mind" (Dr. Stephen R. Covey) when deciding where they can make a more of an effort with their kids. Connection is crucial. Begin a daily habit of checking in one-on-one with kids and let children take the lead when they have thoughts to share. Independent kids become the kind of adults that people enjoy working with. Allow kids to find solutions to their problems and issues as they arise. Respond with, "Tell me your decision and I'll tell you why its the right one." This statement shows kids that you believe in their abilities. A habit of "purposeful positivity" and optimism promotes resilience. Allowing kids to be themselves and focusing on their strengths, instead of their weaknesses, brings out the best in them. We discuss positive tactics for dealing with common issues parents face, such as: whining fighting picky eaters kids who don't listen making transitions; routines and structure stressed-out teens gossiping Sometimes ignoring bad behaviors is the best approach. It's important to talk with your kids about the rules and have real conversations about your values so that they understand the "why" behind your expectations. Quotes Audrey: "What I'd really like the subtitle of my talk to be is, 'All I really need to know about parenting, I learned at summer camp.' Sometimes, as parents, we tend to overcomplicate things." Audrey: "To me, a growth mindset is just remembering that we can all do little things to get better and so can our kids. I think sometimes it's really simple, small things that do make a big difference. You have to keep evolving anyway because kids change and each kid is different so just being open to thinking about the little things you can do is really important." Audrey: "Kids need at least five positive messages for every one critical or feedback message." Audrey: "Most of the world does not go to camp. This is true, but many of the things that we do at camp can help the rest of the world. That's what my book is about: how to create that camp like growth and setting at home." Audrey: "Instead of feeling overwhelmed that there are so many things you have to do, just think about one thing at a time and make sure that one thing is on the path towards your end goal." Audrey: "If there's just one thing that you can do, give your children or your child your full attention for at least a couple of minutes every day." Audrey: "We can be so distracted that we forget to actually look in someone's eyes and say, 'What's going on? How are you doing? What can I help you with today?' A one-on-one check-in is not 'How much homework do you have? What time is practice?' or those kinds of logistical questions." Audrey: "One of the things we enjoy about the people we work with are self-starters who figure out how to solve problems. It's a really important trait for adulthood." Audrey: "I think when we are so fearful, we hold our kids back so much that they don't get the chance to show us all they can do." Audrey: "Reframe your child's negative characteristics or weaknesses into more of a strength. You can have a more positive mindset even about negative situations that come up." Audrey: "We can really change what our kids believe about themselves, their dreams, their lives, just by how positive we are about things and optimistic." Audrey: "Oftentimes things that we think of as weaknesses can be reframed as how they're going to serve them...A lot of differently-wired people do amazing things. In fact, the world really needs people who think and do things differently. Those are often the people who have the best innovations. We don't want to stamp them down by trying to make them conform." Audrey: "Sometimes ignoring things is good as long as you're doing the positive, full attention for good things. They can't be ignored for everything. They need attention. They need connection." Audrey: "I love the whole village idea. If you have extended family, good friends, teachers, coaches, these other people pouring into our kids' lives are really important." Greg: "To have parents to rely on to talk through things is a great asset for kids. Minus you, there is a great struggle that they might not be able to overcome. In a stressed world, you being there for them and having them know that you are is really important." Audrey: "Identify them as their best self. Instead of telling them not to do things, it's more helpful to help them to focus on where they want to be and who they want to be." Audrey: "Remember that kids save their worst behavior for their parents. If they're getting good reports from teachers and everyone else, you're doing just fine." Audrey: "We need to have real conversations with them so that we can feel confident that they will be able to problem-solve, that they will be able to make their own good decisions. If we don't give them that opportunity, they never get a chance to try it out." Audrey: "One of the best ways that you can raise kids who become thriving adults is showing them what that looks like. Make sure you spend time with your friends and figure out a way to do your hobbies each week. That offers your kids a great model of what it looks like to be a thriving adult." Related Podcast/Posts If you enjoyed this discussion, listen/read: Ep. 100: Teens' Advice for Raising Responsible, Independent Kids Ep. 68: 12 Parenting Tips for Happier, More Connected Families Ep. 54: Parenting Tips from Summer Camp to Raise Healthy Kids with Dr. Jim Sears 10 Parenting Tips from Camp Counselors Questions for Connection Links Discussed Sunshine Parenting Book Hub How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims Yes Brain, Tina Payne Bryson, PhD Anatomy of Trust, Brené Brown B.R.A.V.I.N.G: The Seven Elements of Trust

Liz and Sarah give an update on a listener suggestion that they coordinate their meeting outfits. They did it! And it was surprisingly easy. Their new vow? Try a personal shopper together. Then they discuss how to be — and create — happy campers at work with parenting expert Audrey Monke, author of Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. Audrey owns Gold Arrow Camp, and her tips for developing a positive culture at camp are just as relevant to the workplace. Some advice? Take a moment to say good morning. And build in time for compliments! This week’s Hollywood Hack: arrive early. Nordstrom stylist:https://shop.nordstrom.com/c/personal-stylists Happy Campershttps://www.amazon.com/Happy-Campers-Secrets-Raising-Thriving/dp/1546081798/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31953NQYNKAUF&keywords=happy+campers+audrey+monke&qid=1568760000&sprefix=Happy+Campers+audrey%2Caps%2C543&sr=8-1 Audrey Monke:https://sunshine-parenting.com/ Tony Dodds:https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3386150/

In Episode 100, I'm chatting with an amazing group of young adults ages 16 and 17 who participated in a month-long junior counselor program. They share their thoughts on ways parents can raise thriving, independent and responsible young adults. BIG IDEAS To help kids learn, gain confidence and independence, there are things parents should be letting their kids do early on, such as: traveling alone, navigating the airport, even flying by themselves packing bags, getting their own school stuff together doing their own laundry cooking (especially holiday meals), managing their time Establish expectations and a level of trust with your teen. Using technology to track your kids can cause unnecessary stress. Camp is a great break for parents because they don’t track their kids. They know they’re safe and so they can relax. Talk ahead of time about safe, comfortable ways to communicate with your teen while they are out so that you can be there to help when needed. Trust first. Trust that your child is responsible until they prove you wrong. QUOTES Audrey: "When parents are there (kids) just kind of default to letting them do it all because they’re so used to doing it. It's easy for parents to just drag (kids) along. But parents can start putting kids in charge, even when they’re there, and they can start that really young.” Audrey: “When you think about college and who you want in your dorm, you want people who’ve had experience taking care of themselves a little bit and living in a shared space.” Audrey: “When kids are going to preschool and you’re helping them get their lunchbox ready, that is appropriate.  But I think sometimes it just keeps going a little too long. You could switch over to just saying, ‘Okay not that you’re in (whatever grade) you get to start being in charge of remembering your own lunch’ and that kind of thing.” Audrey: “If someone else packs your backpack for you every day, at what point do you figure out what you need and how to do it yourself?” Audrey: “Being aware that you have things to learn is the starting point. A lot of it is your responsibility to figure out. So, if your parents empower you like, ‘Hey—what are the things you want to learn this year?’ that is a big deal." Audrey: “It’s kind of interesting how focused we are on academic stuff, but we neglect to learn some things that are part of being an independent person like being able to take care of your belongings, your laundry, your feeding, all that stuff.” Teens: “Kids love to cook, too. Instead of saying, ‘No, can I just get this done?’ allow them to do little tasks like mixing the brownie mix, cracking the eggs. Encouraging that at a young age spikes interest and eventually, you don’t even realize that you already learned how to scramble eggs or make a quesadilla.” Teens: “I wish my parents gave me more responsibility and made me feel like they trusted me. My parents do track me wherever I go, check all my social media, look at my phone and I have no privacy. That makes me feel like I’m not trusted or like I don’t have as much of my own life. If they gave me more freedom, I feel like it could be better.” Audrey: “The problem is that you can’t prove to someone that you can do something until you’re given the opportunity to try it.” Audrey: “We’re living in a time where parents are very fear-based. They’re so worried that something terrible is going to happen and we believe that if we know where you are, something terrible is not going to happen. But it’s kind of weird because just knowing where someone is doesn’t mean that or really make the difference.” Audrey: “If something’s not going well, I want my kids to come to me and ask for advice if they need me to help but I don’t want my kids to be thinking that I’m going to take care of it for them.” Audrey: “Anything that someone else if doing for you means that there is no motivation to figure it out for yourself. If you know someone else is going to take care of it, why would you start?” Teens: “If you establish expectations and your kids know that you’re there if needed but also what is expected of them and if you want your kids to do those things, then there’s a level of trust that exists that is necessary for a healthy relationship.” Audrey: “I think it’s causing a lot of stress for parents because now they think they’re supposed to be checking their kids’ everything, every day. That is like a whole other job.” Audrey: “There's so much dangerous stuff happening on college campuses and kids go from like the kind of things that we're all talking about to basically being unsupervised 100% of the time. And for a lot of kids it leads to just bad decisions because they haven't had much practice. Because if you've been so closely monitored, you haven't had any practice making decisions.” RELATED: Ep. 92: Creating Strong Relationships with Teens Ep. 27: Raising Teens who Thrive with Stephen Wallace https://sunshine-parenting.com/2018/05/what-do-kids-need-at-different-ages/ LINKS: Audrey's website www.sunshine-parenting.com Audrey's email: audrey@sunshine-parenting.com I wrote the book, Happy Campers, 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults, because I really wanted to share with parents and teachers some of the simple strategies that we use at summer camp to create these really amazing experiences for our campers, where they grow in their confidence, social skills, and happiness, over just a few weeks at camp. You can find out all about Happy Campers on my website at www.happycampersbook.com. If you're interested in joining a group conversation, seeing videos and additional resources related to Happy Campers, there's lots more information about my summer read-along on my website, in the Book Hub.

Jess is going gangbusters on her summer writing, and KJ may be struggling, but they’re both plowing through some serious recs for  your summer reading list from them and from members of the #AmWriting Facebook group.#AmReadingKJ:Rules for Visiting: A Novel (https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=rules+for+visiting) , Jessica Francis KaneHonestly We Meant Well: A Novel (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250143150) , Grant GinderWhat You Don't Know About Charlie Outlaw (https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=what+you+don%27t+know+about+charlie+outlaw) , Leah StewartThe Gifted School: A Novel (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525534969) , Bruce HolsingerCity of Girls: A Novel (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781594634734) , Elizabeth GilbertRange: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735214484) , David EpsteinThe Sentence is Death: A Novel (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062676832) , Anthony HorowitzBowling Avenue (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780985210007) , Ann ShayneThe Library of Lost and Found (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780778369356) , Phaedra PatrickJeeves and the King of Clubs: A Novel in Homage to P.G. Wodehouse (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781549170935) , Ben SchottThere's a Word for That (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316437165) , Sloane TanenMostly Dead Things (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781947793309) , Kristen ArnettThe Bride Test (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451490827) , Helen HoangEverything Is Just Fine (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781538745649) , Brett PaeselThe Late Bloomers' Club: A Novel (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781101981238) , Louise MillerAfter the End (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451490568) , Clare MackintoshI Miss You When I Blink: Essays (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781982102807) , Mary Laura PhilpottHappy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781546081791) , Audrey MonkeJess:Top Secret (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942444800) , Sarina BowenRaising a Screen Smart Kid: Embrace the Good and Avoid the Bad in the Digital Age (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143132073) , Julianna MinerBasketball Junkie: A Memoir (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250006899) , Chris HerrenRough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781948226196) , Lara Prior-PalmerThe Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780762468454) , Nancy Davis KhoStoney the Pony's Most Inspiring Year: Teaching Children About Addiction Through Metaphor (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781462403110) , Linda MyersEverything Is Just Fine (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781538745649) , Brett Paesel How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735224155) , Michael Pollan#FaveIndieBookstoreBrookline Booksmith (https://www.brooklinebooksmith.com/) , Brookline, MAThis episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwriting for details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s 2-tier outline template.Find more about Jess here (http://www.jessicalahey.com/) , and about KJ here (https://kjdellantonia.com/) .If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship (https://www.marginallypodcast.com/) . This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 98, I'm chatting with Tom Rosenberg, CEO of the American Camp Association. Last year, in Episode 46, we talked about summer camp, accreditation, and #CampKindnessDay (July 23, 2019). In this episode, we talk about the research about the positive impact of camp, our joint passion for partnering with parents to bring camp to schools and homes. Tom uses my new favorite word, "camplify," to describe this spreading of the camp message to other venues outside of camp. Big Ideas There are an estimated 14 million kids going to camps in the U.S. this summer. Ninety-three percent of American Camp Association camps offer financial aid and scholarships for campers. Parents need to work well in advance to apply for those resources. Parents can use the 'Find A Camp' tool on the American Camp Association's website to search for the ACA accredited camps. This is a parent's best assurance that a camp has met the foundational standards of a safe and healthy camp experience for their child. There are many different kinds of camps. There are camps for specific cultural groups, for kids with a particular medical disorder, for kids with a specific area of interest, and many, many more. It's important for parents to visit a summer camp before sending their child to one so that they can see what camp is all about. At camp, kids have the opportunity to learn to be themselves, make mistakes, learn from those mistakes, and try again. The American Camp Association website provides wonderful videos and other resources for parents. Camp helps kids build relationship skills and learn from people with different backgrounds and experiences. Camp is about positive risk. The more kids put into their camp experience, the more they get out of it. People who been camp counselors before becoming teachers or parents really have an advantage when it comes to relating to kids. Camp techniques work at home too. On Tuesday, July 23rd, we will be celebrating Camp Kindness Day across America. Quotes Tom: "All different kinds of camp experiences are more accessible than ever before and we're working hard to provide more equity around the affordability of camp, and the accessibility of experiences. Ninety-three percent of American Camp Association camps offer financial aid and scholarships. The trick is that parents have to work well in advance of the summer to apply for those resources." Audrey: "This is the time to start thinking about next summer. If there's a camp that you're really interested in, you can tour the camp while it is in session to see if its a good match for your family, meet some of the staff and campers." Tom: "I'm a former camp director and I'm the CEO of the American Camp Association but I still, as a dad, find myself trying to help my child not make mistakes. I find myself trying to protect him and camp is a place where kids have the opportunity to learn to be themselves and make mistakes. And learn from those mistakes and try again." Tom: "It's hard for a parent that hasn't been to camp before to have the experience, and to understand the experience, and to know how professional camp directors build a physically and emotionally safe place where young adult mentors and camp professionals create these opportunities for kids in ways that we, parents, can't do by ourselves." Tom: "At camp kids learn different ideas, like learning to accept that you and I might agree to disagree about something. At camp kids have the freedom to listen and communicate better with their friends about what they believe in. And even if they don't agree on everything, they learn to disagree amicably." Audrey: "In the world today, those communication skills, resolving conflicts and 'agreeing to disagree' are so important and many adults aren't modeling that. One of the great things about camp is that there are going to be conflicts in the group and that's what we want to happen. That's how kids learn to work through things and communicate." Tom: "Part of growing up and getting to go to camp is to have an opportunity to take some positive risks on a progressive basis, in a structured way, so that you take risks that you're ready for." Tom: "The Pure Research Center's study on teens, technology, and friendship found that just one out of four teens in the study were having daily out-of-school social contact time with a friend, in person. And that a great number of the new friendships that they were forming were digital. Only one out of five of those digital relationships were finding their way into the in-person realm." Audrey: "I'm finding that kids at camp really enjoy being off their technology when they're at camp. Just hanging out and making these really close friendships at camp is intense face-to-face time for them. It's very different now from their life outside of camp." Tom: "The Knowledge Works Foundation predicts that the most sought-after competencies for the best jobs for kids and young people in 2030-2040 are going to be those that, quite frankly, have camp skills. We're talking about problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, coordinating with others, emotional intelligence. So camp is positioned to help kids develop a strong inner self that will allow them to be resilient and reflective. And build strong relationships." Tom: "If we do our jobs right, as parents, teachers, and camp directors, this generation will be, I hope, a generation of inventors, innovators, design thinkers, and creatives." Tom: "Here at the American Camp Association, we are looking to help provide camp and camp-like out-of-school-time experiences for every young person in our country." Tom: "What we're really trying to do is help young people and their parents bring those camp values like empathy, kindness, generosity, and compassion from camp home, from home to school, and from school and afterschool activities back to camp." Audrey: "We need to just continue to go out and 'camplify' the world. That's the basis of what we do. We want to bring the magic of connection, relationships, nature and appreciation of differences to the whole rest of the world." Topics We Discuss, Links, & Resources American Camp Association (ACA) Videos for Camp Parents (ACA) Accreditation (ACA Standards) Camp Kindness Day On July 23, the camp community will participate in Camp Kindness Day – an event highlighting the practice of intentional kindness that happens every day at American camps. This is an opportunity to raise awareness of the great work that camps are doing to teach kindness in engaging, simple, repeatable, and high impact ways that live on in the daily lives of campers and staff members when they return home. Focusing on our youth and young adults, Camp Kindness Day will help showcase the commitment of the camp community to fostering the core values of kindness, compassion, generosity, and care, and integrating those values more fully into every aspect of our society. These values are already part of the fabric of the camp experience. We share the mission for our youth to be nurtured, taught, supported, and inspired to grow into our new generation of kind, compassionate, socially-minded, community-oriented citizens. Camp Kindness Day will allow camps to incorporate into their July 23 programming fun theme-based activities and cooperative games, cool projects, and memorable moments which will celebrate the value and impact of kindness. About Tom Rosenberg, CEO of the American Camp Association Tom Rosenberg has a distinguished career in the camp profession and a long resume of service to ACA. He most recently served as the executive director of Camp Judaea in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Prior to Camp Judaea, Tom spent more than two decades with Blue Star Camps in North Carolina, most of those years as a director. Tom is a past national treasurer and board member of the ACA as well as a past board president and treasurer of ACA Southeastern. A founding board member of the North Carolina Youth Camp Association, Tom was awarded the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Camp Industry Leadership Award as well as the American Camp Association’s National Honor Award and ACA Southeastern’s Distinguished Service Award. With an educational focus in business, Tom graduated with distinction from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California with an MBA and from the AB Freeman School of Business at Tulane University with a BS in Management. He is also a graduate of ACA’s Camp Director Institute. Tom melds his experience in the camp profession with business expertise, inspirational vision, successful fundraising experience, professional agility, organizational skills, and strategic focus — attributes that are essential to achieving success as ACA’s President/CEO. We are indeed fortunate to have such a thoughtful, dedicated, and experienced leader who is willing to take his commitment to camp, youth development, and ACA to a greater level. Tom, his wife Pam Sugarman, and their son Daniel live in Atlanta, Georgia. Links & Resources American Camp Association (ACA) Parent Blog (ACA) Find a Camp (ACA's searchable database) Accreditation (ACA Standards) Kindness Evolution Related Posts Ep. 87: The Impact of Camp Experiences Ep. 46: Camp Kindness Day (2018) Research Finds Children Learn Social Skills at Camp 5 Reasons Not to Worry While Your Kids are at Camp The Power of Kindness Too Much Screen Time? 4 Ways Summer Camp Can Help Happy Campers, 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults If you're interested in joining a group conversation, seeing videos and additional resources related to Happy Campers, visit the Book Hub.

  In Episode 97, I'm chatting with Signe Whitson. We talk about her book, Parenting The Challenging Child: The Four-Step Way To Turn Problem Situations Into Learning Opportunities, which is based on her work at the Life Space Crisis Intervention, an organization dedicated to training teachers, counselors, and parents on how to appropriately respond to challenging behaviors from kids. The program helps us to better understand the conflict cycle that we can get into with kids when they are exhibiting bad behaviors and how we can help break that cycle. Previously, in episode 66, I spoke to Signe about her research and article about distinguishing between rude, mean, and bullying behaviors in children. After Signe's visit to my camp this summer to do training with our counselors, we now call each other by our camp names, Sunshine and Ginger. Big Ideas One of the most important tools that kids have for calming down is deep breathing. Another important tool that kids have for calming down is movement. It's important for parents to be aware that their own kids trigger an emotional response in them that brings about quicker frustration or exhaustion than when they are with someone else's child. LSCI is an approach to working with young people that examines how a child's thoughts, perceptions, and feelings contribute to their behavior. While it has been used for 30 years to train professionals who work with kids, this book relates the concepts and strategies to help parents learn to help kids: to calm their emotional brain during stressful situations and to re-engage their thinking brain and problem-solve. The Conflict Cycle teaches us that before bad behavior ever occurs with a child, there is a set of thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and reactions from other people that grows within the child and leads to the behavior. With problem behavior with kids, we look at the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex of the brain. In stressful situations, the emotional part of the brain loses the ability to connect and communicate with the rational part of the brain and the children's emotions become dominant. Helping kids learn how to regulate their brain is a skill that we can and should be teaching them. Kids need adults to role model how to take a breath and handle things rationally and calmly, rather than acting on the emotions of the moment. Quotes Ginger: "I hope that this book is very practical for parents in terms of what is the garbage, nonsense behavior that we don't need to address right away, in the heat of the moment, versus, what needs to be done in a problem situation, and how to do that in a way that actually turns that problem into an opportunity for the relationship to get a little better, for the child to feel heard and understood, for the child to learn how to calm down." Ginger: "What the conflict cycle shows is that by the time a problem situation happens, let's say between a parent and child, the problem itself is all we're focusing on--the misbehavior, the talking back, the rolled eyes, the thrown bottle--whatever it is. What the conflict cycle teaches us is that before that behavior ever occurred, there was this whole set of thoughts, perceptions, feelings, reactions from other people that grew, and grew, and grew, and led to that behavior." Ginger: "If, as adults, we just go in and punish behavior or react to it, what we're missing is everything inside the child that is important and led up to it. We might be punishing the surface behavior, but it's bound to happen over again in the future because we didn't really address its roots." Ginger: "To the child, their perception of the event is reality for them. We might see it completely differently, but as we say in the book, 'to the corkscrew, the knife is crooked' so the way the child is perceiving that event is real and it is driving this huge, emotional response." Ginger: "Learning about the brain science behind behavior has been a total game-changer for me and my career. It takes us away from being angry and frustrated by kid's repetitive, challenging behaviors, and it takes us to a place of compassion where we understand that they are overwhelmed right now." Ginger: "Helping kids learn how to regulate their brain is a skill that we can and should be teaching them." Ginger: "Kids perceive things based on their own set of beliefs about themselves, about others, and the world. They have thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to that set of perceptions. As adults, it really important for us to ask questions and examine those perceptions. Sometimes a child is dead-on and the way they perceive something is exactly right and sometimes not." Ginger: "When a child tells you something that sounds awful, don't freak out. Just listen, let them tell their side of the story. But your face and all of your reactions should convey that whatever they're telling you is totally manageable. What we project really has an impact on how a child feels going into this problem-solving phase." Ginger: "Number one, don't freak out. Number two, let a child know that you're sorry for the way they are feeling. Number three, thank kids for sharing what is happening." Ginger: "We have to make kids feel like they have agency and power, and there's something that they can do. They're not waiting for an adult to rescue them, or another child to change." Ginger: "Our emotional brains are wired to protect our kids...but it's our job to take a breath, to smell some lavender and vanilla, to go for a run, just to take a pause and engage the thinking part of our brain instead of the emotional one. Because most of the time when we make emotionally based decisions, we're not actually making the best decision. Kids need adults to role model that we can take a breath and handle things rationally and calmly, as opposed to just acting on the emotions of the moment." Sunshine: "As kids get older they are exposed to some really crazy, sometimes dark, stuff from other kids and in the world. We want our kids to feel like they can come and talk to us about those things. It's so important that we stay calm, regardless of how bad it sounds." Ginger: "There's been great research and a study that recently came out asking thousands of young people what is it that you want when you go to your parents. And, overwhelmingly, the kids said, 'I just want them to listen. I specifically don't want them to try to solve it. I just want them to listen.' So we are actually doing them a disservice when we rush in and try to solve. It's so much better to just listen." Ginger: "As parents, we love our kids so much that we just want to fix their problems and make it all better. But first of all, that's not always what kids want. Second of all, when we rush in to fix it, we rob our kids of the opportunity to learn their own problem-solving skills." Breathing Beads Video Tutorial on how to make the "Breathing Beads" Signe and I talked about in this episode. It's linked from this article on Signe's website:   Images from Parenting the Challenging Child: The 4-Step Way to Turn Problem Situations into Learning Opportunities, by Signe Whitson Great questions to ask about children's perception of stressful events and well as their thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and what they observed in others' reactions (pages 40-41): Questions to Ask to Obtain a Good Timeline (about stressful events) (page 42): Displacement in an SOS Situation (page 74): "Displacement is the term used in LSCI training to describe situations in which a person takes his anger out on someone or something other than the actual target of his anger. The displacement of intense, uncomfortable emotions is a common self-defeating behavior among children and adults alike."   The LSCI Conflict Cycle "Flipping Your Lid" Dr. Daniel Siegel's Hand Model of the Brain: Resources/Related Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) Website Parent Courses (LSCI) Signe's Website Ep. 95: Raising a "YES Brain" Child Ep. 66: Is it Rude? Is it Mean? or Is it Bullying? with Signe Whitson Join Audrey for her Summer Read-Along of her new book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults on the Happy Campers Facebook group this summer, as she goes through one secret per week, each week of July and August. For information about Audrey's summer read-along of Happy Campers, visit her website at www.happycampersbook.com. While you're there, click on the Book Hub link for tons of downloadable resources that go along with the book. You can pick up your copy of Audrey's book, Happy Campers, 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Books a Million, Kobo, or wherever books are sold.

In Episode 93, I interview Dr. Alicia La Hoz, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Founder, and Executive Director of Family Bridges. Dr. La Hoz works with the Latino community in the Chicagoland area, where she leads her team in developing and coordinating Family Bridges comprehensive marriage and relationship programs. Away from the office, she spends her time with her two inquisitive children and devoted husband, exploring nature, visiting museums, and building lego-masterpieces. We talk about why she started Family Bridges USA and about the incredible work that they are doing to solve problems of the culture by helping people learn relationship skills. BIG IDEAS People need to learn to develop relationship skills and good attachment to others in order to lead healthy, happy lives. Family Bridges inspires individuals, couples and families to invest in their relationships' wellbeing. Marriage and relationships really do matter. Instilling a message of self-efficacy is very helpful for people living with difficult circumstances. By having goals in mind, you can overcome the obstacles you face in life. The power is within you to reach your potential. Family Bridges and their affiliates offer these services around the U.S. and the world. They provide relationship education workshops in schools, businesses and churches, and throughout the community. They are also active on social media, sharing messages on relationship topics from forgiveness to communication to conflict resolution, in English and Spanish.   QUOTES ALICIA: "We ask, 'What can we do that would be preventative to help young people know what they want for their life? What's their North Star?'" ALICIA: "There are a lot of very simple things that we can apply, amazing research and tips. How do we get it into the hands of people before they end up in the foster care system or victims of domestic violence?" AUDREY: "I love that. Get people set up so that their relationships that start off well, with healthy attachments." ALICIA: "We would love people to aspire for something bigger than themselves and so we're trying to promote a message of hope. We all need hope." ALICIA: "We want to be able to get a message of hope out there. Yes, maybe current circumstances are dark but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just continue to persevere. We want to be able to tell that story through the lens of so many people that have come before us that have overcome one thing after another. And in spite of their dire circumstance, they're stronger for it." ALICIA: "We can feel encouraged, built up and just have a sense that things can work out. Then that, in turn, can have a ripple effect in our communities." AUDREY: "While lack of hope is related to mortality, drug overdose and suicide, an optimistic outlook impacts marriages, finances, and less risk-taking behaviors. I so believe in that message of promoting more optimism, even among people who aren't naturally optimistic. We can help our kids develop that." AUDREY: "When you feel like you can do something, you can overcome. That hope is very powerful." ALICIA: "What we mean by self-efficacy is that there are different hurdles in life that you're going to face, yet you can overcome them by having some goals in mind. It is within your realm of control to achieve them." AUDREY: "It is so encouraging that you're not only doing your own workshops, but you're empowering more people and spreading the message through your training model." ALICIA: "If we run ourselves out of a job in that city or community, then we are doing a good job!" RESOURCES Trainings Available through Family Bridges A Better Me “A Better Me” training provides resources, lessons, and activities for teaching children how to make smart decisions, problem-solve and communicate effectively. Tailored for children ages 4 to 12, this curriculum teaches kids how to apply social-emotional learning skills and ethical values in everyday situations. GROWTH: Professional Development This curriculum provides companies with solutions for relational wellness by empowering employees with valuable skills and boosting their morale. Our curriculum provides training that encompasses team building, problem-solving, conflict resolution, communication skills, stress management, and leadership development. Strong Parents, Strong Schools This curriculum motivates parents to raise successful children and teens by teaching them strong character development skills, relationship smarts, giving them a desire for community-engagement, and instilling an aspirational vision for them to succeed academically. To request a training for your business or organization call 877-412-7434. https://www.facebook.com/familybridges Listen to Audrey's interview on the Family Bridges Podcast: The Struggle is Real: Modern Parenting: "School's Out" The Dibble Institute Family Bridges YouTube Channel Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. RELATED POSTS & PODCASTS If you enjoyed this podcast, listen to Ep. 31: Listen: 5 Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges Ep. 86 Conflict Resolution Skills for Siblings (and Everyone Else!) Coaching Your Child to Better Social Skills   Join Audrey for her Summer Read-Along of her new book, Happy Campers: Audrey invites you to pick up a copy of her book, Happy Campers, 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults and join her, on the Happy Campers facebook group this summer, as she goes through one secret per week, each week of July and August. For information about Audrey's summer read-along of Happy Campers, visit her website at www.happycampersbook.com. While you're there, click on the Book Hub link for tons of downloadable resources that go along with the book. You can pick up your copy of Audrey's book, Happy Campers, 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults, at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, Books a Million, Kobo, or wherever books are sold.

In Episode 92, I'm chatting with educator and parent coach, Helaina Altabef, founder of  Tame the Teen. We talk about building up the attributes parents need to form strong, caring relationships with teens. BIG IDEAS There is a lot of disconnection between parents and their kids. It is possible for parents to learn how to communicate effectively and connect with their teens. Our current society has become increasingly isolated, and it is sending a collective message of fear to parents. Some parents of teens tend to become isolated, thinking that their issue is only theirs. All parents struggle with connecting and communicating at some point in their child's development. Community helps us to stay grounded and to relate to other people. Our children should not be how we measure our success as people. What good coaching does is take you out of your perspective and offers another one. QUOTES: Helaina: "I realized that a lot of what was going on with parents and teens was a lot of disconnection between parents and their kids. And I became a liaison between the parents and the teens.” Helaina: "It became apparent to me that whatever I had as a teacher, that I could access teens successfully, was teachable to their parents.” Audrey: "Parents need to feel less fear about teens. Sometimes your anticipatory fear about something being hard actually makes it harder." Audrey: "Parents, in addition to their fears, have also gotten very isolated, thinking perhaps that their issues are only theirs when we know that everybody has different struggles with their connection and communication with their kids at some point in their development." Helaina: "Our society has become increasingly isolated. Many of us don't have families nearby. We feel so encumbered with just the responsibilities of daily life. And daily life has become busier. That is objectively true. Community helps us stay grounded, and helps you relate, and helps you realize that it's not just you.” Helaina: "There's so much guilt- parent guilt and mom shaming. This is a new thing that's just such an ugly part of the experience." Helaina: "Children should not be how we measure our success as people.” Helaina: "Take the judgment out of the room and just open to the experience of 'these are just human beings’. Who is sitting in front of you? What makes them tick? What are they actually saying? When you remove all those barriers, you get to know the person in front of you, who you care about more than anyone." Helaina: "Help your child understand that new experiences bring with them a normal mix of excitement and a little fear of the unknown, some anticipation. Speak with children in that way and presume that they're smart enough to understand that because they will. But when you label everything under the blanket of anxiety, they just presume that now this is actually anxiety. Embolden them to do things even if they feel fearful.” Helaina: "If your kid is expressing the jitters, get in there with them and help them to make concrete the things that feel abstract. Try to understand what their jitters are about. Really hear them out and help them.” Audrey: "To grow you have to get a little bit outside your comfort zone. If we just stay doing the same thing forever, you don't grow. But when you're growing, you feel stress." Audrey: "We need to be aware of where we're coming from and not just make it all about the kid. We're part of the relationship and we bring our own things to it." LINKS Helaina's website: www.tametheteen.com 10 Ways to Make Campers More Confident by Helaina Altabef Check out Audrey's book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults Resources/Related 7 Ways to Help Kids Through Their Teen Years Ep. 27: Raising Teens Who Thrive with Stephen Wallace Why Teens Need Summer Camp More Than Ever Ep. 65: Raising Engaged and Happy Kids

Camp director Audrey Monke talks about her book Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults, as well as how we can set our kids up for successful summer camp experiences. For more info, visit: www.tiltparenting.com/session162

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.

Ever wonder why your child comes home from summer camp a little more mature, confident, and independent? Today we welcome into the studio Audrey "Sunshine" Monke, veteran camp director and author of Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. Tune in to hear Audrey share all about the crucial role that summer camp plays in child development, and some great tips to make this "magic" continue at home. 

Today we welcome back one of our favorite guests, Audrey Monke, author of Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. Audrey has 34 years of experience as a camp director at Gold Arrow Camp in California, as well as raising 5 kids of her own, and she came by book writing after years of running her own parenting blog at sunshine-parenting.com.Audrey discusses her writing process with us, the joys of working with a book coach, and her multi-pronged approach to marketing (including an AWESOME read-along book club on her Facebook page, scheduled for this summer!). We discuss the pros and cons (aka the good and evil) of social media, especially for writers, and how to deal with professional jealousy when everyone's success is in your face 24-7. (We're so happy for everyone! We are! We just WANT TO BE YOU, TOO). Audrey points out that everyone's in a different spot in their writing careers, and we're all on this journey together and we need to support each other any way that we can.We explore how writing about your kids comes with a different set of rules in the age of social media. Audrey shares her secrets for raising happy, resilient kids in Happy Campers along with a hefty dose of camp wisdom, and talks about how parents can keep the lessons from camp applicable to their families year-round.And shoutout to KJ Dell-Antonia and Jess Lahey from #AmWriting, who make another Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon-esque appearance on the podcast, and who are inspiring Audrey to dream of writing fiction after years of believing she's solely a nonfiction writer."Now I have in the back of my mind I have this dream of writing fiction at some point. We should use these things - when you feel that twinge of "wow, they're doing it" you need to say to yourself, "hey, maybe I can do that, too." - Audrey MonkeAbby gets to pick Audrey's brain about camp activities because Abby's the CAMP DIRECTOR for our Find Your Book/Find Your Mojo retreat this fall in Maine (in Acadia National Park)! Audrey says that despite the nervousness newbies have to fight off, they really need to get to know each other the first day and she's got some tried and true methods from years in the first-day trenches at camp. So no worries, attendees, we've got you!Congratulations, Audrey! Happy Campers comes out May 7 - just in time for summer break. Pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, IndieBound or Kobo.

Interview with Audrey Monke

  In Episode 39, Sara Kuljis (of Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp and Emerald Cove Day Camp) and I continue our conversations and advice for parents new to the overnight camp experience. In Episode 37, we talked about how to prepare yourself and your camper for overnight summer camp. In this episode, we talk about preventing homesickness before camp starts as well as handling your child's homesickness once they are at camp! Prefer to watch our video chat instead of listening to the podcast? Resources/Related: Episode 10: Homesick and Happy with Michael Thompson, Ph.D. 10 Messages for a Homesick Camper Homesickness Help Secondary Homesickness: When Your Camper Doesn't Want to go Back to Camp Why Kids Need to Get Uncomfortable More information about Audrey’s new book is here: Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. In Happy Campers, Audrey shares what she’s learned from three decades of creating a culture where kids become happier while gaining important social and emotional skills. The book is based on her thousands of interactions with campers, camp counselors, and parents, her academic research in positive psychology, and interviews with camp directors from across the country.

In Episode 37, Sara Kuljis (of Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp and Emerald Cove Day Camp), and I share tips and ideas for parents sending kids to overnight camp for the first time. Camp Preparation Topics We Cover  Forms: What parents need to do now, including reading through camp information and filling out all your camp forms thoroughly and completely. Why camp staff needs the forms well in advance of your child's arrival. Importance of letting camp directors know any special circumstances that might impact your child's stay. Medications: Why it's never a good idea to make any changes in prescription medication right before camp. Importance of sending all medications in their original prescription containers. Thoughts on whether to continue vitamins. Encouraging Your Child to Reach Out to Camp Staff: Talking about and role-playing with your child how they can talk with trusted adults (counselors, directors) at camp. Packing for Camp: Importance of camper being involved in the packing process so they know where everything is! Packing as a life skill and a way to build responsibility. Make sure you know what items are not allowed at camp (so that those don't go to camp). How to pack (rolling outfits, using ziplock bags, and other methods). Not to bring expensive clothing items or ones that require special laundering. Bringing a comfort item, photo album, journal, and/or books. Sending Letters: Send a letter ahead of time so your camper has one at first mail call! Let friends and relatives know your camper's address at camp and any mail policies Planning for Downtime before and after Camp: Allow some margins in your family's schedule so your child can be well-rested before camp. Familiarize Yourself with your Camp's Online Services: Find out where to get news, photos, texts, etc. Opt-in to anything that isn't going to automatically come to you! The Gift of Letting Your Child go to Summer Camp: Why letting your child go to camp is a great way to set your child up for future independent experiences. [cp_modal display="inline" id="cp_id_7e768"][/cp_modal] Related Ep. 39: How to Handle Your Camper's Homesickness Ep. 10: Homesick and Happy with Michael Thompson, Ph.D. Countdown to Camp 5 Essential Summer Camp Packing Tips 5 Fun Ideas for Letters to Campers Messages for an Anxious Camper How Camp Helps Parents Raise Adults Label Daddy More information about Audrey’s new book is here: Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. In Happy Campers, Audrey shares what she’s learned from three decades of creating a culture where kids become happier while gaining important social and emotional skills. The book is based on her thousands of interactions with campers, camp counselors, and parents, her academic research in positive psychology, and interviews with camp directors from across the country.  

  In Episode 10 of the podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of my favorite parenting and camp experts, best-selling author Michael Thompson, Ph.D. For more than three decades, Thompson has been a clinical psychologist, school and camp consultant, and international speaker on the subjects of children, schools, and parenting. Throughout my career as a camp director, Michael has graciously offered his wisdom, advice and mentoring. I've written about his conference sessions, books, and wisdom in several of my posts, including Homesickness Help and Secondary Homesick: When Your Camper Doesn't Want to go Back to Camp. I continue to learn a lot from Thompson's books and conference training sessions and I highly recommend his book Homesick and Happy to parents who are unsure about whether to send their child to camp. Thompson wrote the book to "remind parents of how lovely it is to be away from home."   Order Homesick and Happy: Homesick and Happy: How Time Away from Parents Can Help a Child Grow Related Posts: 10 Messages for a Homesick Camper Homesickness Dos and Don'ts Kidsickness Parking Your Helicopter 10 Must-Read Books for Parents of Boys In the podcast, we also talk about some of Thompson's other books, including three of his popular books about raising boys, two of which I have just added to my own library (Speaking of Boys and It's a Boy): Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions about Raising Sons "With candid questions and thoughtful, detailed responses, Speaking of Boys covers hot-button topics such as peer pressure, ADHD/ADD, and body image as well as traditional issues such as friendship, divorce, and college and career development. This perceptive, informative, and passionate book will leave you not only with useful, practical advice but also with the comforting knowledge that other parents share the same concerns you do when it comes to raising our boys into well-adjusted, responsible men." Raising Cain "In Raising Cain, Michael Thompson and collaborator Dan Kindlon, Ph.D., two of the country’s leading child psychologists, share what they have learned in decades of combined experience working with boys and their families. They reveal a nation of boys who are hurting—sad, afraid, angry, and silent. Drs. Thompson and Kindlon set out to answer this basic, crucial question: What do boys need that they’re not getting? They illuminate the forces that threaten our boys, teaching them to believe that “cool” equals macho strength and stoicism. Cutting through outdated theories of "mother blame," "boy biology," and "testosterone," the authors shed light on the destructive emotional training our boys receive–the emotional miseducation of boys. The book makes a compelling case that emotional literacy is the most valuable gift we can offer our sons, urging parents to recognize the price boys pay when we hold them to an impossible standard of manhood. The two psychologists identify the social and emotional challenges that boys encounter in school and show how parents can help boys cultivate emotional awareness and empathy–giving them the vital connections and support they need to navigate the social pressures of youth." It's a Boy Thompson's It's a Boy is a chronological book starting from before your boy is born all the way through being a high school senior. Thompson recommends "dipping into" this book, not reading it all the way through until your boy gets to the age Thompson talks about it. "It’s a Boy! provides expert advice on the developmental, psychological, social, emotional, and academic life of boys from infancy through the teen years. Exploring the many ways in which boys strive for masculinity and attempt to define themselves, psychologist Michael Thompson, Ph.D., a leading international expert on boys’ development, and journalist Teresa H. Barker identify the key developmental transitions that mark a boy’s psychological growth and emotional health, and the challenges both boys and parents face at each age." Thompson also wrote an excellent book (which I have in my library and have read) about the social lives of children called Best Friends, Worst Enemies.   "Best Friends, Worst Enemies brings to life the drama of childhood relationships, guiding parents to a deeper understanding of the motives and meanings of social behavior. Here you will find penetrating discussions of the difference between friendship and popularity, how boys and girls deal in unique ways with intimacy and commitment, whether all kids need a best friend, why cliques form and what you can do about them." If you don't have any of Thompson's book in your parenting library, I recommend you pick one up and check it out. His warmth, breadth of experience, and practical advice are incredibly valuable. Michael Thompson's website More information about Audrey’s new book is here: Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. In Happy Campers, Audrey shares what she’s learned from three decades of creating a culture where kids become happier while gaining important social and emotional skills. The book is based on her thousands of interactions with campers, camp counselors, and parents, her academic research in positive psychology, and interviews with camp directors from across the country.