Resident Camp

Why Day Camp Matters

Note to Readers: This blog from Cape Cod Sea Camps, a traditional New England summer camp and premier provider of summer education opportunities for children and young adults, is offered as a resource on youth development for families. CCSC is proud to offer both overnight programs and day programs for campers, with varying lengths of stay and even some brief overnight options at our day camp. In the most recent edition of Camping Magazine, Andy Kimmelman, the camp director at Tumbleweed Day Camp in Los Angeles, California, offers an interesting take on “Why Day Camp Matters.”

Early Childhood Education: Building Blocks

Note to Readers: This blog from Cape Cod Sea Camps, a traditional New England summer camp and premier provider of summer education opportunities for children and young adults, is offered as a resource on youth development for families. This recent article from the New York Times gives new life, and a new look, to the value of building blocks as an important part of early childhood education.

Beating Bullying

Note to Readers: This blog from Cape Cod Sea Camps, a traditional New England summer camp and premier provider of summer education opportunities for children and young adults, is offered as a resource on youth development for families. Conflict is an inevitable part of childhood, and not all conflict is harmful or bad. Constructive conflict helps children to learn, grow, and change for the better. Destructive conflict, on the other hand, damages relationships, creates bad feelings, and leads to other problems. Bullying behaviors fall into this second category because conflict is expressed in ways not intended to find resolution. Bullying, both direct and indirect, neagtively affects the entire camp, school, or community. Dr. Joel Haber, a frequent contributor to American Camp Association conferences, offers some great perspectives and advice on bullying on his website, RespectU.com.

INTERVIEW: Dr. David Elkind and the Power of Play

Note to Readers: This blog from Cape Cod Sea Camps, a traditional New England summer camp and premier provider of summer education opportunities for children and young adults, is offered as a resource on youth development for families. As is the case with most educational enterprises, the industry of camp, through the American Camp Association, has measured the “proven effective” outcomes of the summer camp experience. They are: Self-esteem Peer relationships Independence Adventure and exploration Leadership Environmental awareness Friendship skills Values and decisions Social comfort Spirituality All good things! But in our rush to measure, we ought not to lose sight of the simple power of play, something developmental psychologist and author, David Elkind reminds us in a revealing interview.

Kids Need More Than Sports for Positive Growth

Note to Readers: This blog from Cape Cod Sea Camps, a traditional New England summer camp and premier provider of summer education opportunities for children and young adults, is offered as a resource on youth development for families. Most of us are familiar with the role that sports can play in healthy youth development. But a study from Tufts University professor Richard Lerner points out that they are not enough. An article from US News.com tells us why!

Why the World Needs Summer Camp: An Essay to Parents

Note to Readers: This blog from Cape Cod Sea Camps, a traditional New England summer camp and premier provider of summer education opportunities for children and young adults, is offered as a resource on youth development for families. Parents sometimes struggle with the decision as to whether or not they should send their child to camp. Factors such as a child’s ability to adjust to a new environment, a parent’s separation anxiety, and potential other family plans may play a role. It’s the job of a camp professional to accurately highlight the many lasting benefits of the summer camp experience so mom or dad has all of the information they need to make an informed decision. The new edition of Camping Magazine features a number of articles focusing on exactly what those benefits are likely to be. One in particular stands out: Why the World Needs Summer Camp: An Essay to Parents.

Developing Healthy Kids Through Outdoor Play: The Whole Child Report

Note to Readers: This blog from Cape Cod Sea Camps, a traditional New England summer camp and premier provider of summer education opportunities for children and young adults, is offered as a resource on youth development for families. A new National Wildlife Foundation report highlights the role of nature education and outdoor, structured and unstructured play in healthy youth development. Of course, this is something summer camps have known for more than 1oo years – and is highlighted in various publications and postings of the American Camp Association (ACA). In fact, the current issue of Camping Magazine features three articles on the subject: Raising the Bar: A Case for Quality Outdoor Education Jim Parry Going to Outdoor School: Talking the Talk Brian Thomas Creating Community through Nature: An Interview with Joseph Cornell In addition, ACA’s national conference in Atlanta this coming February will feature a keynote address by Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle and Last Child in the Woods and Founding Chairman of the Children & Nature Network.

Resiliency and Youth Development

Note to Readers: This blog from Cape Cod Sea Camps, a traditional New England summer camp and premier provider of summer education opportunities for children and young adults, is offered as a resource on youth development for families. Based in part on the groundbreaking work of Bonnie Bernard, the issue of resiliency, and its role in healthy youth development, has gained considerable attention among camp directors, other educators, and parents. Here is an interesting and informative set of information about, and history of, the resiliency movement offered by the California Department of Education through its California Healthy Kids Survey. Be sure to check back next week for more information relative to young people and their path toward successful, healthy, meaningful futures.

What Kids Need: Thriving

What do kids need? Lots of things. The Search Institute says one of those is the chance to thrive. Kids thrive at CCSC! Thriving is a new way to define and understand the dynamics of healthy development. Thriving is focused both on how an individual is “doing” at any given point in time as well as the path that he or she is taking into the future, and effectively takes into account both the current status of a young person and a process that unfolds over time. Read more …

ACA CEO Peg Smith Talks About the Link Between Camp and School

It’s back to school season for many campers — what skills did they learn at camp that they can use in school? In this video, Peg Smith discusses the “Three Cs” learned at camp — Confidence, Curiosity, and Character — that parents can help keep alive in their children during the school year.