Way back in February you sent in the deposit. Sleep-away camp, here we come! It was going to be fantastic—swimming in the lake, roasting marshmallows by the campfire, pillow fights in the cabin. Just weeks before opening day, your son’s excitement fills the air. I get to go away for two whole weeks! No school! No chores! No sister getting on my nerves! No parents to bug me! Then, as you’re ironing on the last of name labels, he wanders in and quietly asks, “What if I’m homesick?” Reality … [Read more...] about Sleep-Away Camp Separations
Letting go
The Unmentionable: Wiping Your Child
Sheepishly, the mom asked, “Should I still be wiping my seven year old’s tush after he makes a poop?” Some of you might be gasping in horror, but others of you are nodding in agreement as you wonder the same thing. The third time in a week that I was asked the question in a parenting group, I knew it was time to write about it: When should a child wipe his own bottom? Isn’t it funny that parents flock to my seminars on raising self reliant children…. and the next morning they run to wipe … [Read more...] about The Unmentionable: Wiping Your Child
Is It Time For Sleep-Away Camp?
On a cold, February day it’s hard to believe that it's time to start thinking about summer programs. It’s also the time when I receive a barrage of questions about sleep away camp. Most commonly, what is the right age for a child to go to sleep-away camp. The good news is that there are no rules about when and if a child should go to sleep-away camp. It is only common sense that reigns. In fact, often it is the parent who has more trouble allowing her child to go than the child not … [Read more...] about Is It Time For Sleep-Away Camp?
Let Halloween Be The Kids’ Holiday
“Professional Halloween Lighting” reads the sign on my corner. Are they kidding? I wondered as I inched toward my house, looking out for any of my young neighbors. My block is filled with kids of all ages, nursery through high schoolers. And their house Halloween decorations began appearing last week. Next door to me there is a menagerie of scary guys and body parts, bushes dripping with spider webs. Across the street there is a whole array Halloween creatures, hanging ghosts, spiders, … [Read more...] about Let Halloween Be The Kids’ Holiday
Life is Full of Separations
The emails were all the same: “I just can’t stop crying…my daughter hasn’t even been gone for 24 hours, and I miss her already.” wrote the mother whose ten year old was off to sleep away camp for the first time. “The house is so quiet. At first I loved it, but now I am so ready for him to be home,” confessed the mother of a nine year old boy off to two weeks at camp in the mountains. You wonder if your child is really ready for sleep away camp, when the question really should be, are you … [Read more...] about Life is Full of Separations