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The Parent Connection May 2003
By Lester Laminack

A Monthly Newsletter for Parents

For a printable version click here. PDF 80KB

Happy Campers
Last year, more than nine million children attended summer camp. Camp can expose kids to a wide variety of activities – not only physical and outdoor activities, but also specialized activities ranging from crafts and music to computers and world languages.

Camp also gives kids the opportunity to meet and make friends with children from outside their own neighborhoods or schools. Having to share close quarters with bunkmates helps children develop a sense of community, as well as teamwork and conflict-resolution skills. Camp is a great place for kids to hone their interpersonal skills and develop an increased sense of responsibility.

Caring counselors are another important part of the summer camp experience. A good counselor can serve as a positive adult role model, helping to motivate kids to try new things without getting discouraged.

With over 8,500 youth camps in the U.S., choosing one for your child can be a daunting process. You'll want to know the answers to questions such as:

  • How long do the camp sessions run?

  • Where do typical campers come from?

  • Is the program co-ed? If so, what's the approximate ratio of boys to girls?

  • What is the camp director's background?

  • How are staff members trained?

  • What's the ratio of campers to staff members? Does that ratio change during different activities or at different times of the day?

  • Is there a nurse or doctor on staff?

  • What's the camp's philosophy or mission?

  • What kind of living/dining/recreational facilities does the camp offer?

  • What's the daily schedule like? How much free time do the children have?

  • What are the safety regulations? How much supervision is provided?

  • How does the camp's staff handle behavioral problems? What's the camp's discipline policy?

  • How does the staff handle homesickness?

Information about summer camps is also available from the American Camping Association (ACA), an organization that educates camp owners and directors about how to establish and maintain quality camp programs and the health and safety of campers and staff. You can search the online database of ACA-accredited camps at www.aca-camps.org to find a summer camp in your area.

Books Worth a Look

I'm Still Here in the Bathtub by Alan Katz (McElderry, 2003). This follow-up to Katz's Take Me Out of the Bathtub features more hilarious alternate lyrics to familiar songs. "My Country 'Tis of Thee" is now "My Sister Fights With Me" and "The Wheels on the Bus" has morphed into "The Meals at My Camp." Primary graders will love singing – and giggling – along.

Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic, 2003). Muth's beautifully-illustrated retelling of this traditional story features three monks who enter a village where the people mistrust one another. As the monks begin cooking a huge pot of stone soup in the village square, the villagers' curiosity is piqued. They venture out of their homes to watch the monks and, ultimately, they find themselves eager to contribute ingredients to the soup.

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page (Houghton Mifflin, 2003). This fun and factual picture book features cut-paper collage illustrations of 30 animals that have specialized physical features (a pelican's scooping mouth, a scorpion's stinging tail, etc.). A special section in the back of the book provides more information about each animal.

The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau (Random House, 2003). The isolated City of Ember is dying, and young Lina and her friend Doon are determined to find a way to lead their people to safety. Along the way, they uncover government corruption and the secret of the city's origin. Fans of Lois Lowry's The Giver (Houghton Mifflin, 1993) will love this futuristic novel.

A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements (Simon & Schuster, 2002). Mark, a fifth grader, is excited about putting his camping equipment and skills to use during his school's annual week-long camp-out. However, a disagreement with a teacher who views him as a spoiled rich kid causes Mark to wander off into the woods, where he gets lost. Complex, realistic characters and a suspenseful plot make this a great summertime read.

Touch Issues
Even if your children aren't in the habit of watching or reading the news, chances are they're seeing headlines in the print media and "film at eleven" news teasers during their TV shows. Those brief reports, and the images that accompany them, may be enough to frighten kids. Regular discussion about the news can help to lessen a child's anxiety and confusion. The website www.talkingwithkids.org offers a guide for talking with your kids about the news. It can be found at www.talkingwithkids.org and features "10 Tips For Talking with Kids about the News," which include:

  1. Explore the age-appropriateness of the news you allow your children to see.

  2. Watch or read the news with your kids.

  3. Create an open dialogue.

  4. Share your feelings about the news you see.

  5. Let your kids know the difference between news and reality.

  6. Acknowledge your child's fears.

  7. Explore the facts with your child.

  8. Acknowledge the complexity of the news.

  9. Select kid-friendly news sources for your child.

  10. Balance your child's news diet.

The website discusses these 10 points in greater detail and also includes specific tips for how to talk with your children about news items involving violence, race, sex, drugs and other potentially confusing topics.

Despite the strong influence of the media, parents still have the greatest influence on their children. I encourage you to do what the website's tag line says: "Talk With Your Kids...before everyone else does."

Playing With Fire Children who play with fire cause hundreds of deaths and injuries every year. Preschoolers are most often the cause of these accidents, and preschoolers are also the ones who most often die from injuries sustained in these fires.

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), most of the people killed in accidents that involve playing with fire are under the age of six. From 1994-1998, children playing with fire (typically lighters and matches) started 85,620 fires causing an estimated 303 deaths, 2,359 injuries and $146.1 million in property damage.

The NFPA's Learn Not to Burn® Preschool Program teaches preschool-age children match and lighter safety. Also available is an eight-minute video, "A Lighter is Not a Toy," which instructs parents and caregivers to store matches and lighters away from young children. For more information, visit www.nfpa.org


Summer Snacking
We all love to munch between meals, but snacks don't have to be junk food to be delicious and satisfying. Here are a couple of no-cook summer snacks that kids are bound to love. These treats are delicious, nutritious and fun to eat – in other words, everything a snack food should be. Happy snacking!

Graham Cracker Sandwiches: With a fork, mash 1/2 cup of peanut butter together with one large or two small very ripe bananas. Add 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and mash again. Spread this mixture on one graham cracker square and top with another. You can also use the banana mixture as a dip for graham crackers.

Turkey Roll-Ups: Put a wedge of pineapple in the center of a slice of turkey. Grate about one ounce of your child's favorite kind of cheese over the pineapple. Roll up the piece of turkey and secure it with a toothpick skewered through a black olive or a grape.

For a printable version click here. PDF 80KB

May 2003, Vol.33, No.8