Episode 80: The Magic of Camp (Happy Campers Book Excerpt)
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
Why are kids more optimistic, resilient, independent, and competent
after just a few weeks at summer camp?
Why do they feel less depressed, anxious, and disconnected at camp than they do anywhere else?
Why are so many campers heartbroken when it’s time to go home?
Veteran summer camp director Audrey “Sunshine” Monke, psychologist and parenting expert, shares what she’s learned from three decades of creating a summer camp that kids call their “happy place” and “second home,” a culture where research has proven kids become happier while gaining important social and emotional skills in just two weeks.
Based on thousands of interactions with campers, camp counselors, and parents, and on academic research in positive psychology, Happy Campers introduces a framework of intentional strategies to help parents create the same kind of transformational culture that kids experience at camp. Instead of raising a generation of kids who are overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, and unable to function as independent and responsible adults, parents can create an environment at home that promotes the growth of important character traits and social skills that kids need in order to have meaningful and successful lives. Complete with specific ideas to implement these summer camp secrets at home, Happy Campers is a one-of-a-kind resource for parents wanting to raise happy, socially intelligent, successful kids.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS
Episode 79: Creating a Happier World – The GAC Philosophy
Join Sunshine, Chelster, Gem & Delta for a chat about Gold Arrow Camp’s Vision, Mission, Goals. Learn about the positive habits and character traits we want our campers and staff to take with them far beyond their time at camp. Learn WHY Gold Arrow Camp exists and about the vision we have of creating a happier world, one camper at a time.
Watch a video about Gold Arrow Camp here.
Learn more about the Gold Arrow Camp philosophy here.
Hear what campers say about GAC here.
Podcast Credits
Music by Henry “Dobro” Johns
Narration (intro & outro) by Henry “Bravo” Pederson
Produced by JRS Production Creative Audio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS
Episode 78: Creating a Happier World with Speed
This week on the Gold Arrow Camp Podcast, Sunshine chats with Armando “Speed” Negrete about the lasting positive impact of his experience as a GAC staff member in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The communication and leadership skills he learned at GAC are professional skills Armando uses today as a Lead Public Safety Dispatcher (9-1-1), a track and cross country running coach, and a sports photographer. Armando also shares about how the skills he learned and practiced as a Group Counselor are ones he still uses and benefits from as a parent.
“I remember how incredibly in awe I was of the camp ground,
of all the different activities that Gold Arrow Camp offers.
I was just completely awestruck.”
Armando “Speed” Negrete
Article about Armando’s return to Fresno State to get his Bachelor’s Degree
Podcast Credits
Music by Henry “Dobro” Johns
Narration (intro & outro) by Henry “Bravo” Pederson
Produced by JRS Production Creative Audio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS
Episode 77: Creating a Happier World with Bagel
This week on the Gold Arrow Camp Podcast, Sunshine chats with fourteen-year veteran camper and staff member, Ben “Bagel” Bronstein about the community and positive culture that keep pulling him back for another summer at good ol’ GAC!
Bagel shares about what he enjoyed about being a camper and what he still enjoys today as a staff member.
“Especially when I came back on my own, I really realized the community I could build on my own at camp and how special it was a place to do that.”
-Bagel
Podcast Credits
Music by Henry “Dobro” Johns
Narration (intro & outro) by Henry “Bravo” Pederson
Produced by JRS Production Creative Audio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS
Episode 75: Creating a Happier World with Airborne
Welcome to the Gold Arrow Camp Podcast’s 2025 Season! We’re kicking off the season with a series on “Creating a Happier World,” because our vision at GAC is to create a happier world, one camper at a time.
In this episode, Audrey “Sunshine” Monke chats with Aaron “Airborne” Johnson about many topics related to creating and being part of positive communities for kids. Airborne’s GAC story started back in 1999, when he joined our staff as a Group Counselor. This summer (2025), he’ll be at our Shaver Island outpost camp during Session #2, serving as our Shaver Host. In the role of Shaver Host, Airborne provides leadership and support for our campers and staff while they’re on Shaver Island, which is about 20 minutes from our “Main Camp” location on Huntington Lake. When he’s not at GAC, Airborne serves as principal of Ironwood Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona.
Resources Discussed
Sunshine & Chelster’s Parent Orientation that includes information about parent expectations, reviewing camper standards of behavior, camper medications, communication during your camper’s stay at GAC, and more!
5 Steps to Help Kids Resolve Conflicts, Sunshine Parenting:
Conflict Resolution Wheel
How Big is My Problem?
“Effortful Fun” Laura Vanderkam
Podcast Credits
Music by Henry “Dobro” Johns
Narration (intro & outro) by Henry “Bravo” Pederson
Produced by JRS Production Creative Audio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS
Too Much Screen Time? Camp Can Help!
By Audrey “Sunshine” Monke, originally published at Sunshine Parenting.
I’ve learned to face my fears, I’ve tried new things, and I have learned that you don’t always need to have your phone or video games.
-Kimberly, Camper
Children between eight and ten years old currently spend nearly eight hours a day on media. Adolescents average nearly eleven hours per day, seven days a week, on screens. The negative impact of this digital lifestyle is evident in kids’ expanding waistlines as well as their growing lack of interest in being outdoors. Now there’s an additional worry about the impact of our kids’ excessive screen use: anxiety.
In a New York Times article—Why Are More American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering From Severe Anxiety?—Benoit Denizet-Lewis writes, “Anxious kids certainly existed before Instagram, but many of the parents I spoke to worried that their kids’ digital habits—round-the-clock responding to texts, posting to social media, obsessively following the filtered exploits of peers—were partly to blame for their children’s struggles. To my surprise, anxious teenagers tended to agree.”
Anxiety is on the rise—among children, teens, and adults—and our screen time is exacerbating the issue. The problem is not just with teens. Adults are modeling this uber-connected life and experiencing a similar rise in anxiety. Ubiquitous screens are all that this anxious generation has ever experienced, and as parents, we can feel powerless to stop devices from overtaking our family’s lives.
Whether sending or receiving SnapChat messages, watching YouTube videos, scrolling on Instagram, playing video games, or taking 100 selfies to find the best angle, our children are inundated with digital input while also feeling pressure to post the “right” things. The attraction of media is hard to resist, so most of us (including parents) simply succumb to having the near-constant presence of our electronics.
Many of us find it difficult to drag ourselves away from our laptops and smartphones, and often our schedules and lifestyles don’t allow for adequate time to just be outside and enjoy our natural surroundings. Richard Louv coined the term “Nature Deficit Disorder” in his book Last Child in the Woods to describe the alarming trend of children spending less and less time outdoors. Whether due to sensational media accounts of lost hikers that have fanned parental fears, or simply a lack of time in over-scheduled lives, children simply aren’t outside playing as much as they used to. Instead, they’re inside on their screens.
I don’t think anyone would debate that we all need to unplug more, but it’s very difficult to actually get kids off their screens, especially now that many schools are operating virtually, and most kids have their own smartphone by middle school.
Recently, I interviewed a mom who gave clear instructions before her twelve-year-old daughter’s birthday slumber party: devices would NOT be allowed. But this mom, unfortunately, is still the exception, not the rule. She lamented that when her kids go to other people’s houses, they complain that all the kids do is play on their devices the entire time. While we can get our kids to turn off and put away screens at home, it’s difficult to monitor them when they’re not at home. And, unfortunately, kids are drawn to homes where screens are not as limited.
While a few weeks at camp is not the only answer to all the screen and anxiety problems, camp experiences can be a great salve for our kids. Breathing fresh air, connecting face-to-face, and not worrying about “likes” and what they’re missing, kids relax and enjoy themselves. And they report feeling happier and less anxious.
Here are four ways summer camp can help with the parenting challenge of too much screen time:
- DETOX:
Just being completely unplugged for a few weeks is a new and refreshing experience for kids—a true digital detox. Because they’re having fun and staying engaged and entertained, they get over their screen addiction quickly. And, because it’s a “cold turkey” approach with no ambiguity (everyone’s following the same rules), campers don’t push back against being unplugged like they do at home. - CHANGED PERSPECTIVE:
By experiencing screen-free fun and friendships, many campers express a new desire to spend less time on their devices once they return home. Campers and staff have frequently reported examples of providing leadership in asking friends to participate in phone-free times. - APPRECIATION FOR NATURE AND OUTDOOR RECREATION:
While counting shooting stars, appreciating spectacular views from a hike, or smelling the smoke from their campfire, campers aren’t thinking about their TV, video games, and cell phones. Instead, they are experiencing nature and being truly present with others. Many discover new outdoor activities they enjoy, and they are inspired to spend more time outside and in the moment once they return home. - BETTER FACE-TO-FACE FRIENDSHIP SKILLS:
Social interactions can be difficult, and many kids choose to keep interactions safely behind a screen. At camp, while sharing stories around the campfire and spending quality face-to-face time with new and old friends, campers gain more confidence in their social skills and are more likely to pursue real, face-to-face friendships upon returning home.
Getting kids off their screens — and convincing kids how good it feels to be unplugged — can be a real challenge. Summer camp can help.
Swish
Episode 51
This time on the POG-Cast, we are joined by a former camper who was a photographer at camp for 2019, Swish! Swish has great insights as someone who consumed camp pictures when she was a camper, but also as a person who takes those pictures now as a camp photographer. There’s also a J.R.R. Tolkien based GACspiration and a Joke of the Cast that Soy really enjoyed.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS
Oyster
Episode 49
Sailing instructor Oyster joins Soy from Leeds University in England. They had a long discussion about the way camp allows campers to really be in charge. They also talked about the benefits of cultural exchange in the J-1 summer camp counselor visa program. Soy shares a friendship tip and a joke of the cast!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS
Magic
Episode 48
On this week’s POG-Cast, Soy and Magic sit down and chat about what camp holds for campers that come back year after year, and how Magic ended up working with a co-counselor she first met when they were both 7! There’s a great Dad joke for the Joke of the Cast, a new friendship theme, and a great GACspiration.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS
Luna
Episode 47.
Luna, who is a student at the Art Institute of Chicago as well as being an Arts & Crafts Counselor at GAC, stopped by the POG-Cast to chat about art, creation, and her favorite parts of working at camp. In addition to being an Arts & Crafts Counselor, Luna was also a Group Counselor for a session in 2019, so she had great insights into what it was like to do both of those jobs. There’s also a GACspiration and a dad-joke-based Joke of the Cast.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download