#CampReady: Dropping in This Summer
You’ve planned an amazing summer for your kids, one packed with camps, family travel, trips to the beach, time at the local library or just relaxing at home. But not everything always goes as planned. There may be gaps between when one camp ends and the next begins. Or maybe your family trip starts midweek […]
#CampReady: Last-minute Tips for L.A. Summer Camp Procrastinators
In March, I sat in a Silver Lake theater watching “Expressing Motherhood,” a show that gives women a platform for their mothering experiences. I expected to https://expressingmotherhood.com/ chuckle and cry as people shared their stories. I did not expect to be crushed by overwhelming summer-camp anxiety. A piano rolled onto the small stage and Mommy […]
#CampReady: What Could Go Wrong?
For some of us, the ruminating starts when we’re lying in bed at night, listening to the air conditioning whir. What if he hates summer camp? What if she gets sick? What if it’s the hottest day of the year and I forget to pack him sunscreen/a bathing suit/a fill-in-the-blank? What if she gets eaten […]
#CampReady: Camp, Kids and Communication
You chose your kids’ summer camp so carefully. You asked them about their summer dreams, attended camp fairs and open houses, chatted up directors and camp staff, perused brochures and websites, scoured online reviews and talked with trusted fellow parents. You found camps with great staff and activities your kids love. You gathered up all […]
#CampReady: ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go’
If I tell you about one of my and my husband’s biggest summer-camp blunders, will you hold our secret between your palms gently and without judgment? Do you promise to forget what duds we were – taking only the lesson inherent in it to save yourself from falling into the same pit? It was the […]
#CampReady: The Final Countdown to Summer Camp
May is here and your kids are no doubt counting down the last days of school for summer camp in Los Angeles to commence. Let them have their fun. You, dear parent, need to be counting down your final days to prepare for summer camp. Whether this is your first go-round or you are a […]
#CampReady: C is for Couselors-In-Training
Not all leaders are born. Some have been cajoled into leadership roles and molded into leadership material with the help of summer camps in Los Angeles. At least that’s Sasha Karlova’s story. While the young Karlova was soft-spoken and reticent, her mentors glimpsed a spark in her that they sensed could be stoked into something […]
#CampReady: What You Really Want in a Summer Camp
On a Saturday morning in early February, hundreds of families flooded the campus of Westridge School in Pasadena. Some drove from as far away as Santa Clarita, while others walked just a few blocks from home (a good idea, because parking was at a premium). The draw? The Westridge Summer Opportunities Fair, where 117 organizations […]
#CampReady in Los Angeles: Outwit Summer Brain Drain
Imagine, for a moment, that you are on “Jeopardy!” Host Alex Trebek rattles off the answer to the question you need to provide: “This phenomenon results in two to three months of academic learning loss in school-age children.” You punch your buzzer and light up your podium. “What is summer brain drain?” you yell, triumphant. […]