Mighty Thoughts

Hi Parents,

As we head into the holiday season, I want to share a new concept with you that I recently learned, a concept that I believe supports adults in giving children the ongoing gift of more adventure and growth through risky play. Before sharing, I want to take a moment to frame why this learning resonated with me. 

This fall, I’ve been reading a lot about the importance of youth participating in risky play. Risky play being play that pushes limits and gives space for experimentation. Essentially, I have come to understand that childhood rich in risky play supports children in learning how to manage risk and make safe choices without being limited by an adult or another outside force. Ultimately, children need risky play to ensure they develop the skill of regulating themselves. Without risky play, young people are likely to enter adulthood, where real-life life consequences are at stake, without the ability to independently assess and manage risks.

With a sharpened lens of understanding the importance of risky play, I am excited to share the concept of “yes and.” Essentially, when a child asks to do something that feels risky or outside of the adult’s comfort zone, the adult can respond with “yes and” versus saying no. By saying “yes and” we support the child’s need to stretch their limits and take risks while also addressing our adult concerns. 

Let’s put this concept into application. As a parent, let’s say my 12-year-old child want to ride his bike to a local natural space area to meet his friends to go fishing. The route to the pond crosses major intersections and it’s a bit of a distance. Instead of saying no, I can say “yes and.” From there, the two of us can talk through my concerns and I can support my child in preparing for the adventure ahead while building more trust that my child can handle the varying “what ifs” that I fear could happen. For instance, I could say, “yes and let’s talk about what you will do if…” 

• You get lost?
• You get a flat tire?
• You are approached by a stranger?
• You get hurt?
• You wreck on your bike?
• Your friends decide they want to do something else, somewhere else?

By walking through potential risks, we can give our children the gift of adventure and the gift of building essential skills. Specifically, the skill of managing risk through planning and thinking about how to navigate unexpected challenges. Ultimately, the gift of preparing for a lifetime of adventure because life is full of unexpected challenges.

May your family have a wonderfully connected holiday season and may your 2021 be filled with many adventures! 

With Gratitude, 

Christina Payne

Youth Programs

Executive Director

Genesis Health Clubs

Hi Parents,

At Mighty Camp, we exist to support youth in becoming confident, competent problem solvers. Each summer we diligently work to create experiences that help youth expand their positive self-talk and their autonomy. We love what we do, and we are so grateful for intentional parents like you, who give us the opportunity to use our time, energy and skills to make a positive impact in the lives of youth. Thank you for being a part of our Mighty Camp community!

This month, in the spirit of gratitude, I want to share one of my favorite resources with you, Let Grow! Let Grow is an organization moving across the nation supporting schools and communities with creating a counterculture. Today, as parents our culture sends us strong messages that it is our job to protect our children, to insulate them from pain, disappointment, failure, and struggle. Yes, I agree protecting our children is an important aspect of parenting, and I support the Let Grow counterpoint. If we protect our children from the natural experiences of life, we also limit their ability to grow the robust skills we want them to have to be thriving adults.

At Let Grow, the team is sharing a different message. A message that encourages parents to step-back and allow their children to step into independence and that doing so can be the greatest gift we can give our children.

This messaging really resonates with me. When I look back at my own childhood, the moments that I most fondly remember are the ones when I felt challenged, and my parent wasn’t there to catch me or fix the problem. These were true moments of “adventure” for me because I was responsible for the outcome and in being responsible, I had the opportunity to redefine my truth about who I was and what I was a capable of.

If the notion of giving your child more autonomy, more space for wholehearted play and adventure, which includes healthy risk, matches your family’s values, I highly encourage you to checkout Let Grow. Their site offers wonderful resources and data driven articles that help share a new narrative on what parenting can be.

To check out the Let Grow Blog click the link below

https://letgrow.org/blog/

To learn more about ways to support your child’s independence check out the following Let Grow Kit

https://letgrow.org/free-curriculum-independence-kit

To discover more ways to focus on gratitude this month, check out the Let Grow November calendar

https://letgrow.org/november-calendar/

Wishing your family a wonderful, safe, cozy and connected Thanksgiving Holiday!

With gratitude,

Christina Payne

Youth Programs

Executive Director

Genesis Health Clubs

Hi Mighty Parents,

It’s been a handful of weeks since the close of the camp season. I hope your family is doing well!

Since the close of camp, the Mighty Camp team has been hosting a “Mighty Learner” program to support a small group of children with their remote learning experience. We’ve witness first-hand how difficult and impactful this chapter continues to be on our kids. Knowing that our families and our campers are gearing up for yet another big transition, and that transitions bring stress and challenge, I wanted to share a few resources that I have found helpful in serving today’s youth during this chapter of change and uncertainty.

1. Reality check expectations. When we, or our kids, are doing something for the first time it will likely be a bumpy process because first-time experiences require real-time learning. Author and speaker Brene Brown refers to the process of learning through a first time experience a “tough first time” or a TFT. As a team, we’ve been using this language to remind ourselves to manage our expectations. This is the first time children are remotely learning, teachers are remotely teaching, and children are without the community and connection that comes with going to school.

For the Mighty Camp team, simply normalizing the challenges that come with learning as we go has taken the pressure off for the students we serve.

2. Use Growth Mindset Language:

a. Praise children for the effort witnessed: strategies, progress, persistence, hard work, and choice to learn from mistakes.

b. Use the power of yet when responding to negative self-talk. “I can’t do this” becomes “I can’t do this yet.”

c. Ask open ended questions that focus on process versus outcome:

i. What did you try today that was hard?

ii. What mistake did you make that taught you something today?

3. Help youth focus on what they can control by talking about what is outside of their control and what is inside of their control. This can be done visually with younger kiddos by placing what they can control inside a circle and what they cannot control on the outside. For instance, our children cannot control what group they are placed in for hybrid learning. However, they can control:

a. Their attitude

b. Mindset

c. Asking for help when they need it

These continue to be tough times and together we are going to get through them! Hang in there parents!

Wishing you well,

Christina Payne

Youth Programs

Executive Director

Genesis Health Clubs

Hello Parents,

Last month I really enjoyed Sunshine Parenting episode 129: A Manifesto to Strength: Raising Anti-Fragile Kids. In this episode, Audrey interviews Steve Baskin, owner and director of Camp Champions in Marble Falls, Texas. The interview left me with a lot to ponder.

In the interview Steve shares a story/ moment that he recalls from his childhood. It’s a story of his mom sitting him down, likely when he was 7 or 8, and sharing with him that there are three types of people in the world. There are the people who make a mistake and keep making the same mistake. Then there are the people who make mistakes, learn from them, and rarely make the same mistake twice. These people are smart. They choose to learn from mistakes. Then there are the people who observe and learn from those around them. These people don’t have to experience mistakes first-hand. They are wise. They learn from the mistakes of others without needing the pain, challenges, and consequences of learning through experiencing the mistake themselves. 

Steve goes on to share how much this moment in time impacted him and his decision making during his coming of age years. His parents didn’t need to tell him not to smoke or use drugs. Instead, Steve’s parents taught him to be an active learner and observer of those around him. Ultimately, his parents helped him to decide the type of person he wanted to be- WISE! 

I love this story! I think the story really resonates with me because it’s a story about teaching a child how to think and be an independent, conscious decision maker versus trying to influence each decision a child/ young adult makes. It’s a story of teaching autonomy early and often, and then extending trust. Trust that allows a child to become confident in their ability to make smart/ wise choices, regardless of whether a parent or adult is present. 

As the interview unfolds, Steve encourages parents to courageously move against the urge, social norm, of over protecting our children. He encourages and inspires, parents to allow their children to take on more independence. He essentially says, if you think your child can do it (it being a given task/ experience) let them. He gives lots of great examples of scaffolding skills, tracking data to ensure the child is ready for the independent challenge. Then he makes the case for courageously stepping back and allowing the child to independently navigate the challenge. 

At Mighty Camp, we leverage Steven Baskin’s philosophy, through our GRO (grow responsibility opportunities training). Counselors are trained to understand that one of their most important responsibilities is sharing the responsibility of leading the camp experience with their campers. If we think a camper is ready to own/ take on more responsibility, we provide the opportunity, stay close by to support if needed, and give the child the opportunity to increase their strength and responsibility by taking challenges head on. As the camp season progresses, campers own more and more of the responsibility of leading their camp teams by facilitating morning camp meetings, leading camp activities, resolving social conflict, building activity schedules, etc. 

Below are a few links to additional articles by Steve Baskin about parenting children for the strength needed to navigate the challenges that exist in life. 

Beyond Resilience: Fostering Anti-Fragile Children

A Manifesto for Strength

For me, the biggest take away, both as a parent and as a Camp Director, was the concept of stepping back and loving children through allowing them to do more for themselves. If I have an inkling that a child might be able to do something without support, I should let them. At camp, we have a saying, our success isn’t defined by what we do for our campers. Rather it’s defined by what we teach our campers to do for themselves. 

Thank you for providing the Mighty Camp Team with the opportunity to partner with you in raising strong kids! 

Wishing you well,

Christina Payne

Youth Programs

Executive Director

Genesis Health Clubs

Hi Parents,

As a camp professional, I have come to learn that making new friends and reconnecting with past campmates is the most important aspect of a child’s camp experience. As youth development expert Michael Thompson, Ph. D. says, “Friendships are the gold of childhood.” 

At camp, although we strive to honor friend requests, many campers come to camp or are placed on camp teams where they have yet to form a friendship connection. In recognizing the importance of building positive peer connections, each year pre-season camp counselor training includes a session on Friendship Skills. During this session counselors are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to support campers in building positive peer connections and friendships. 

In addition to learning how to make a new friend, pre-season counselor training also includes tools on how to help youth maintain friendships. Essentially, we unpack what great friends do and say and we spend time exploring ways we can help youth evaluate, for themselves, whether a friendship is a healthy, authentic relationship. 

Below are a few questions counselors learn to ask campers to help them evaluate their friendships to ensure they surround themselves with a positive community of friends: 

• How do you know this friend accepts you for who you are?
• How do you know that you can trust your friend?
• How does your friend show you that he/she considers you their equal?
• What common interests do you share with this friend?

Questions like this are asked daily in camp to help campers learn to actively evaluate their friendships to ensure they are finding a place of true belonging, which is one of the top indicators of a child’s ability to maintain resilience when faced with social challenges like peer pressure or rejection.

At Mighty Camp, we are all about building positive connections and are so honored to support campers in building, maintaining and evaluating friendships! 

Wishing you well,

Christina Payne

Youth Programs

Executive Director

Genesis Health Clubs

Hi Parents,

This month I wanted to share a resource that was delivered to my inbox! 

At Mighty Camp, we are a big follower of Big Life Journal- which is a wonderful resource for us as a camp, and for parents too! In camp we leverage some of the Big Life Journal curriculum in our Life Skills program. Earlier this year, Alexandra the author and owner of Big Life Journal shared a resource on the top 35 Parenting Podcasts focused on cultivating a growth mind-set in today’s youth. 

If you happen to be a podcast follower, and it serves, I encourage you to check out the podcast recommendations below by clicking the image. At Mighty Camp we are active followers of “On Boys” and “Sunshine Parenting”. After receiving this information in my inbox, I was thrilled to discover more resources that are in alignment with our camp goals: building confident capable problem solvers and expanding the positive self-talk of campers! 

Happy Listening! 

Wishing you well,

Christina Payne

Youth Programs

Executive Director

Genesis Health Clubs

Hi Mighty Parents,

I came across the following article and I thought of you! In the article below, the author shares different ways to engage with youth, by asking questions that are more likely in increase open communication and feelings of connectedness.

24 Better Questions to Ask Kids About How Their Day Went

At Mighty Camp, we are passionate about making more moments of connection! Stoked to spend camp season 2020 with your family!

Wishing you well,

Christina Payne

Youth Programs

Executive Director

Genesis Health Clubs

Hi Mighty Parents,

The Mighty Camp Team is so excited to spend another camp season serving and celebrating your family! This year, as we move towards the summer season, I’ll be sending you a monthly communication with the intention of being useful. 

In each month’s email I will share resources or learning that are actively shaping the Mighty Camp Team as we prepare for the season ahead; resources that may also be useful to you. 

This month, I am sharing a few resources on empathy! 

• Brene Brown on Empathy – This is a short video that we view and unpack with our seasonal counselors each year to help us understand how to turn frustration into empathy, which has been a much more useful way of connecting with campers
• For Families: 5 Tips on Cultivating Empathy – Article for parents on tips for cultivating empathy in their kids
• How to Foster Empathy in Children – Research shows that we are each born with a given number of neurons that participate in an empathetic response. But early life experience shapes how we act on it.

Thank you for giving the Mighty Camp Team the gift of spending another summer season with your family!

Wishing you well,

Christina Payne

Youth Programs

Executive Director

Genesis Health Clubs