Howdy and Happy Monday,
We had a terrific open house on Saturday. After chatting with some wonderful parents I thought perhaps a few tips would help get your happy camper ready for the summer.
1) Label your child’s belongings, be sure to put your child’s first name on the bottle along with the group name. Putting the group name on it will help us return it to the counselor of that group.
2) Sunscreen your child before you get to camp, and our staff will help facilitate and remind campers to re-apply. Spray sunscreen works very well for quick coverage, and a sunscreen stick is super helpful for application to the face.
3) Teach your child to use their “sock lockers” (also known as shoes) so that when they remove their shoes, the socks go in their little “sock lockers” and you might have better luck bringing the socks home.
4) Have your child pack their own back pack even if they are younger. This allows them to have practice with self reliance, and know what their towel looks like, what kind of sunscreen they have, get their refillable water bottle filled, and if they have a change of clothes what those looks like. It becomes a good teaching moment of learning to take care of their own belongings.
5) Leave the cell phone at home. Summer camp is a time to actually connect with others in real time. Cell phones are a distraction from the fun, can get sandy and lost in the lagoon, and will be confiscated if seen by a staff member. If a camper expresses a need to call home, they can come to the office and use the camp phone.
6) Speaking of connecting, your child’s counselor is here for your child. Take time to share your hopes and goals with your child’s counselor. Communication is a vital part of what they do at camp. They want your child to have a magical summer be sure to let them know your concerns, positive thoughts, and ask them questions.
7) Allow your child to peruse our website and look at some of the pictures. It will get them familiar with the activities they might get to participate. Also it is perfectly normal for families to attend several of our open houses to bring more familiarity to the site for their camper, helping ease their concerns about starting a new adventure like camp. We have many returning families that come to our open houses, just to say hi and see camp again. Our final open house this season will be on May 14 (Wed. 4-6 p.m.) mark your calendar to join us and please let your friends know.

Being that it is a Monday you might need a mood boosting song to get the week going, Pharell’s “Happy” is still #1 on the Billboard charts and our #1 jam in the office here. Pull that up on youtube and bust a move. If you are stuck in the 80’s like me, I’m pulling out “Rock With You” by Michael Jackson this week as my retro music choice.

Aloha,
Grey Squirrel