Top 5 Most Popular Posts

I was reviewing my blog/ Pinterest data, and these five posts are my most popular – and I threw in a bonus post too because it was a close tie for fifth place AND I believe in over delivering. 😉

Check em out in case you missed em.

 

Supporting your staff – Part 3 – Shout Out Wall

A quick, easy, and fun way to show your staff you’re seeing their awesomeness and creating a culture of praise at your camp.

The Campers Come First Philosophy

We all say it, our counsellors all say it, but do they REALLY know how to put others first without hurting themselves in the long run?

WOW Book!

Another fun and easy way to engage your staff  and to spread kindness and encouragement.

If I could do it over… self care at camp

After years of ‘pushing through’ and ‘sucking it up’ I finally had an epiphany – that in order to care for others, you had to care for yourself first. This is how I shared that concept with my staff.

Self Care at Camp

I actually followed my own advice about self-care at camp! Imagine that!
I took five simple steps towards self-care and had some really cool results.

BONUS

What is a… Campmance?

I think this is one of MY favourite posts. Mostly because there are some awesome pictures of my cats, for illustration purposes.
I talk about camp romances, my take on them, and how I prevent drama caused by campmances.

Looking at my most popular posts has shown me that camp directors are really concerned with making sure their staff and campers are happy & healthy – and that’s why you guys are so awesome.

What’s your favourite blog post? And what would you like to see more of (or any of, for that matter)?
Tell me about it in the comment section below.

Being Sick at Camp

There’s nothing worse than being sick at camp, right?
Ok, there are probably worse things in the scheme of things but being sick when you’re away from home and have a lot of responsibility is high up there on the list of things that suck.

 

As a director or leadership staff member, how do you manage staff who are sick, and what do you do when YOU get sick??

I remember the first time I got sick at camp, it was my first summer as a counsellor and in those days we used to have each cabin counsellor sleep in their cabin on a rotating schedule. It was my night, so I was in the cabin with about 10 campers, when I woke up just after dawn and felt SO SICK. I tried not to move, because I was afraid of what would happen, but it was no use… we didn’t have bathrooms in our cabins so I ran for the deck where I found an empty plastic shopping bag and, well, you know.

I made my way back to the bed and hoped for the best, no such luck. Within minutes I was running for the deck again.
I realized this couldn’t go on, so after I woke up the counsellor in the cabin next door,

Zones of Regulation at Camp

As you may or may not know, I helped out at a day camp for three weeks this summer.

It was awesome!

I was so impressed with their programming. The camp director, Megan, did an exceptional job of putting together the workshops, creating a sensible flow for the day, and being flexible with camper needs & interests.

One of the coolest things I saw was a “Zones of Regulation” area for campers and staff.

Self Care at Camp

You guys! I have some exciting news… ok well it’s mostly only exciting for me.

But I wanted to share!!

You know how I talk A LOT about self-care, and how we need to encourage and support our staff to practice good self care. Well it turns out that it actually works!!! haha

Ever since I started directing camps two things have always bookmarked my experience, a pre- season cold sore, and a post season migraine. Fun, right?

 

Cold sore & migraine, the bookmarks to my camp experience for 10 years

 

So this year I decided to actually practice what I’ve been preaching and I set some goals for self-care.

(Check out this post to find out what I’ve said in the past about self-care.)

They weren’t anything too lofty, I had checklist of 5 items on my phone, and I would try to do some combination of at least 3 of them every day. (During the camp pre-season I was checking off all 5 every day.)

Here’s my list:

The Campers Come First Philosophy

“Campers Come First”
Said every camp staff ever.

Yes. Absolutely. 100%
You are correct, friend.

Except, do our staff really know what we mean when we say that?

A few years ago, I had just taken over a shiny new director job, facilitated training session, went over all of our policies, taught best practices… everything went great.

Or so I thought. (dun dun dunnn)

A quick healthy snack for busy days

Sometimes camp gets a little chaotic, am I right?

There have been times where I’ve missed more than one meal, and realize that I’ve not had nearly enough (or any) water that day.

Those days aren’t great on the ol’ Personal Care O’Meter (man, I wish that actually existed!! That would be a super fun tool to use)

Annnnyway…

On those days when I don’t have time to turn around and think let alone sit down and eat a meal, I will try to grab a smoothie that I can sip on the go.

I try to have a few ready to blend smoothie bags ready to go for my most hectic days.

Here’s how I make mine.

Step 1.

Assemble ingredients
I don’t use dairy so I have some alternatives here, but you do you, man.

Kale
Spinach
Bananas
Almond Fresh (dairy milk alternative)
So Delicious yogurt (dairy yogurt alternative)
Frozen mangos
Frozen mixed tropical fruit

If I could do it over… self care at camp

I’ve been working at camp for a few years, I’ve been in a leadership position for most of those years. And it has taken me a really long time to realize that I’ve been setting a terrible example for my staff.

There, I said it.

I’ve fairly recently realized this and I’ve been working on setting a better example for my camp colleagues these past few years, but the other day I witnessed a conversation that made me realize that I’m not the only one who’s setting a terrible example for up-and-coming staff, it’s rampant in the camping industry.

People work at camp because they care, and almost every camp I know has the mantra “campers come first” which is wonderful, and as it should be. BUT (and that’s a big but), camper care shouldn’t come at the expense of staff health and well-being.