All posts tagged: responsibility

SleepAway Camp: A Stepping Stone for Independence & Responsibility?

Summer. I find myself wanting to re-create my idyllic childhood summers for my children. Isn’t that human nature, parenting nature, perhaps pure Mother Nature that drives us to re-create for our children what was good in our childhoods, while also adding in what we didn’t have? I always wanted to go to summer camp, sleepaway camp to be exact. My husband too. Whether it was financial restraints, or just not on our parents’ radar, sleepaway camp wasn’t part of the summer recipe. It’s not that I’m complaining. I was blessed with the perfect childhood summers. I spent weeks at the Jersey shore, time in Pennsylvania with grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins, all while spending my everyday summer time in my then hometown in Connecticut. Mornings were spent at swim lessons, followed by the library, and then long, hot, lazy afternoons at the pool. Capped by neighborhood nighttime fun of Kick-the-Can, Witch’s Hour, Spud . . . catching a few of the hundreds of fireflies . . . which later transformed themselves into a temporary lantern …

SleepAway Camp: A Stepping Stone for Independence & Responsibility?

Summer. I find myself wanting to re-create my idyllic childhood summers for my children. Isn’t that human nature, parenting nature, perhaps pure Mother Nature that drives us to re-create for our children what was good in our childhoods, while also adding in what we didn’t have? I always wanted to go to summer camp, sleepaway camp to be exact. My husband too. Whether it was financial restraints, or just not on our parents’ radar, sleepaway camp wasn’t part of the summer recipe. It’s not that I’m complaining. I was blessed with the perfect childhood summers. I spent weeks at the Jersey shore, time in Pennsylvania with grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins, all while spending my everyday summer time in my then hometown in Connecticut. Mornings were spent at swim lessons, followed by the library, and then long, hot, lazy afternoons at the pool. Capped by neighborhood nighttime fun of Kick-the-Can, Witch’s Hour, Spud . . . catching a few of the hundreds of fireflies . . . which later transformed themselves into a temporary lantern …

“But All My Friends Have Cell Phones!”

Is your kid clamoring for a cell phone? We’ve heard the pleading arguments from our kids before. And we’ll hear them again. Whether it was the pleading argument to convince you to allow your child to drink soda, watch that show, view that movie, or stay up “as late as everybody else,” you’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again. It’s their job, these kids . . . to test their boundaries . . . to get what they want — especially if other kids, and in particular, their friends have what they are pleading for. The cell phone is no different. It comes (or not) in its own time, according to what is suitable for us parents, our own kid(s) and our specific family. What age is the right age to have a cell phone? Rather than consider the age, per se, be SMART about it. If you are considering a cell or smartphone for your son or daughter, apply the SMART formula: Safety Is your child in locations or situations in which …