Session 1 Week 1 Recap
We’ve had a terrific start to Session 1 with a week full of new friendships, new challenges, and a whole lot of choosing kindness!
Our campers and staff have written lots of WOWs, made lots of friends, and challenged themselves to try new things. Our youngest campers (Bears) had a great Bears’ Adventure where they made forts, cooked dinner over a fire, and slept in tents under the stars. Our Bears and Tigers campers had Big Campfire on Saturday and showed off their cabin skits that they had been working on all week. Our Tigers campers also had their social where they played Bingo, had loads of fun, and even got ice cream!
All campers enjoyed carnival on Sunday where we played games, ate treats, and won some prizes! Our older campers (Lions and Eagles) have their Big Campfire this evening, and we are excited to see the performances they’ve planned. Lions had their social on Sunday evening where they practiced friendship skills and played casino games.
Thank you for sharing your campers with us! We have been having fun, making friends and growing this past week, and we’re looking forward to our final few days together this session.
Check out the Outpost Schedule to see overnight trips and special events happening this week!
Why Kids Need to Get Uncomfortable
As parents, we spend a lot of time making our kids comfortable. Feeling cold? I’ll grab you a sweatshirt. Hungry? Let me get you a snack right away! Kid being unkind? I’ll complain to the teacher and make her stop!
At times, I’ve felt like it’s my duty to alleviate any discomfort my child is feeling. I think a lot of parents feel this way during this unique era of “overparenting.” One friend described the “lawnmower” parent who grooms the path for their child to make it smooth and without any bumps.
Some of us by nature are more “gritty” than others, able to push ourselves and deal with discomfort. Think about endurance runners who stumble across the finish line, bloody and exhausted. Others of us are more prone to climbing deeper into our turtle shell when faced with life’s inevitable discomforts and challenges. We tend to hunker safely inside our comfort zone and not let anyone or anything pull us out.
No matter where our kid’s (or our own) starting point may be, it’s important to explore the concept of being uncomfortable and, as parents, learn to tolerate that discomfort when our kids are feeling anxious, nervous, or afraid.
It’s not easy. Our natural instinct is to protect our kids from any and all discomfort. And when they’re little, that natural instinct serves us (and them) well. We change dirty diapers, feed them when they’re hungry, grab them before they run into the street.
Emotional discomfort is even harder to handle as a parent. When a kid makes a mean comment to our child and hurts his or her feelings, we bristle. We want to alleviate the discomfort immediately, so we call the school, the other kid’s parents, and the FBI to come in and stop that horrid child from making our beloved feel uncomfortable.
How can we best help our kids develop into adults who persevere and can handle life’s inevitable setbacks?
We must learn to coach our children to tolerate their discomfort. If we help them figure out coping strategies, they will be better able to respond the next time an uncomfortable or painful situation arises. For our kids to develop their grit and learn to expand their comfort zone, we need to be supportive, engaged, and empathetic, without immediately swooping in to ease their discomfort.
Audrey “Sunshine” Monke has been the owner of Gold Arrow Camp since 1989. She is the author of the 2019 parenting book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. “Sunshine” has been writing and podcasting about summer camp, well-being, social skills, and parenting at Sunshine Parenting since 2012.
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2022 Kindness Calendars
Check out GAC’s Kindness Calendars for the 2022 year! Click on each month for a printable version or click here to print all 12 months!
Why Kids Flourish at Camp
Traditionally, psychologists have focused on studying psychological diseases – depression, anxiety, eating disorders, etc. – and their cures. But led by Martin Seligman (University of Pennsylvania), a new breed of psychologists called Positive Psychologists have, for the past decade, been studying the positive side of people. They ask not what is wrong with people, but what is right. Originally, Seligman had a theory of “happiness” outlined in his book Authentic Happiness, but he moved away from only using the word “happiness” to a new theory that focuses instead on well-being or “flourishing.”
Seligman uses the acronym PERMA to define his theory and the five measurable elements he has determined lead to well-being. As I read about each pillar of PERMA in Seligman’s book, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, I kept having “ah-ha” moments. “This happens at camp!” I would think. “And this, too!” In fact, as I read, I determined that ALL of the elements of flourishing that Seligman describes happen at camp. According to Seligman, “No one element defines well-being, but each contributes to it.”
PERMA at Camp
P: Positive Emotion
E: Engagement
R: Relationships
M: Meaning
A: Achievement
P: Positive Emotion
Positive emotion is exactly what it sounds like: feeling happy and having positive thoughts about yourself, the people around you, or your surroundings. At camp, positive emotions are the norm, not the exception. We’re singing; we’re dancing; we’re doing skits that don’t make sense but that cause us to laugh so hard our stomachs hurt. You can almost see a haze of happiness and fun surrounding everyone at camp.
E: Engagement
Seligman’s next element, engagement, describes when one is interested in and connected to what they are doing. At camp, kids are constantly exposed to new experiences and challenges – both recreational and social – that get them interested and excited to learn. They’re pushed to get outside their comfort zone and really engage.
R: Relationships
We all know that positive relationships are one of the main contributors to our happiness in life, so it’s no surprise that relationships are an important pillar of Seligman’s theory. Everyone comes to camp to see their old friends, make new friends, and just spend quality time connecting with others and building positive relationships. And camp is like no other place for that.
M: Meaning
According to Seligman, meaning comes from “belonging to and serving something you believe is bigger than the self.” Being a member of a cabin group at camp helps kids gain an understanding of how they are valued by others. For some kids, camp is the first place where they understand what it means to be a valued and accepted member of a community. Kids learn that they are important and valued members of their cabin group, and they discover their character strengths through recognition from peers and counselors.
A: Achievement
People flourish when pursuing goals or the mastery of a skill. Every day at camp, kids have the opportunity to try new things and master new skills. Some kids arrive at camp with a specific goal: a bull’s eye at archery or getting up on a slalom water ski. But others simply practice and work towards improving or challenge themselves to try something that frightens them – like completing the ropes course. And all of their progress and little achievements add to kids’ flourishing at camp.
Audrey “Sunshine” Monke has been the owner of Gold Arrow Camp since 1989. She is the author of the 2019 parenting book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults. “Sunshine” has been writing and podcasting about summer camp, well-being, social skills, and parenting at Sunshine Parenting since 2012.
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GAC Runners – Holiday Hustle
Here at the GAC HQ, we are gearing up for the holidays and enjoying the cooler temps outside! This year, our year-round GAC staff is participating in Run Across America’s Holiday Hustle! We have all set a goal to complete 50k by the new year. The best part is that it doesn’t have to be completed all at once! We can’t wait to get out for long walks with our families or even take small strolls during lunch.
We would love for you to join our team for the Holiday Hustle! All you have to do is sign up and join GAC’s team (our team code is FSJFL). Each registrant gets their choice of a sweatshirt or beanie, so be sure to send us a photo of your participants in their gear (bonus points for having GAC gear on, too)! We will send GAC socks to go along with it, as well as sharing some fun achievements from our team on social media throughout the challenge.
If you have any questions, please email Brittany “Delta” Grissett at delta@goldarrowcamp.com.
National Public Lands Day
National Public Lands Day is September 25, 2021! NPLD is a great way to connect with nature and give back to our public lands. There are many opportunities to help restore and improve public lands across the country. For more information about National Public Lands Day and to find an event near you, visit https://www.neefusa.org/npld.
If you participate in NPLD, please send us a picture to mail@goldarrowcamp.com or tag us in your social media posts!
June Specialty 3 Session Slideshow
We had so much fun during June Specialty 3! Enjoy these memories and we cannot wait to see you next year!
June Specialty 2/GACpacking Session Slideshow
We have so many great memories from June Specialty 2/GACpacking session. Here are some highlights as recorded by our awesome media team (AKA the “GACarazzi”):
Meet the 2021 Staff
We are so excited to be back at camp for another summer of fun, friends, and growth! Our staff is a big part of what helps make camp the special place that it is! Check out our Meet the Staff page to learn a little bit more about all of our counselors. Be sure to check back often as more staff members continue to join the team!
Be sure to also follow us on Instagram and Facebook for fun content! Every Monday is “Meet the Staff Monday” where we feature a few counselors and a little information about them. You can also find all of the past featured counselors on Instagram in the 2021 Staff highlight bubble in our profile.
Soy’s Well-Deserved Recognition
We are so lucky to have such amazing staff at Gold Arrow Camp, and every so often they are recognized for their incredible work outside of GAC. We want to take this opportunity to congratulate our very own Andy “Soy” Moeschberger on being awarded not one, not two, but three awards this year! He has worked so hard on many projects, especially legislative work to keep camps running and at the forefront of discussions amongst our political leaders. His work does not go unnoticed and we are so glad that it was noticed on a national level!
Grant Gerson Service Award – WAIC (Western Association of Independent Camps)
-The Grant Gerson WAIC Service Award pays tribute to those who make an extraordinary contribution to WAIC and to the advancement of the camp movement, and who have played an important role in the success of the association.
Southern California/Hawaii Service Award – ACA SoCal/Hawaii (American Camp Association)
-The Service Award is given as recognition to exceptional service to camping and the local area.
National Service Award – ACA (American Camp Association)
-This Service Award is designed to recognize continued and increasing service beyond the field/affiliate office level.