Tag Archives: Ontario Summer Camp

Summer Camp Still Busy Into December

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As a summer camp, you’d think that by December, things might be slowing down for us at Kettleby Valley. However, this fall has been particularly busy. We moved our office into the house at the front of the property and the projects have been non-stop. Prior to moving the office, people would just drive by the bus loop. Now that this area is the destination for visitors, cleaning it up and establishing parking became a priority.

We had to fix up the shop building and make it look presentable. A big barn door had to be built and hung and the contents in and around the building required organizing.

Gates had to be built and hung to direct people and deliveries to our new location. Cedar fences and other details defines where to (and where not to) drive and park.

We’ve built a kitchen for the basement so that Chex, our Outdoor Education Director has a new home. We cleared the brush from beside the road. We installed a flagpole at the new parking area. We built a new table for our meeting room.

Of course the new office required renovations to make it more like an office than a home. A wall was removed, rooms where painted, network cable was run and some dangerous electrical work was cleaned up.

And, while we were settling into our new office and trying to complete all the projects, our registration reached new heights. With all these projects happening, we can hardly wait to show the place off to everyone!

Summer Camp Could Help in Evaluating Campers With Exceptionalities

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Before the holidays, I was getting caught up with our former One to One Director at Kettleby Valley Camp. We got to talking about the connections that our special needs counsellors make with their campers and how they learn so much about the children as a result.

We both agreed that if there were some way for us to share the insights that the counsellors learn about the campers with doctors or other medical professionals, it might prove to be helpful in evaluating the progress of the child.

Generally, parents spend the most time with their children and their insight is certainly helpful in evaluating a child who has been diagnosed. However, parents have an emotional investment in their child and this can sometimes make it challenging to express information in a truly objective manner.

During the summer, our integrated program could prove to be helpful in evaluating a child by gathering accurate, objective information. In most cases, our one to one counsellors spend almost 8 hours a day with their primary focus on an individual camper. This is a unique opportunity to connect, observe and understand how a child interacts in various environments.

Although we don’t always train our counsellors to formally observe a camper’s behaviour, the insight they’ve shared with parents has been both appreciated and valuable. I’m sure that if they were taught the appropriate skills, this insight would prove helpful to medical professionals as well.

With a bit of effort and guidance, we might be able to create a partnership where everyone benefits.

Should Summer Camp Give Campers a Choice of What they Eat?

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A valuable component of summer camp life is the courage that is instilled in children to try new things. This is usually visualized as a child learning to canoe, or achieving a swim badge, or making it to the top of a climbing wall. Parents see a real value in their children learning to subsist outside of their comfort zone. But what about trying broccoli? What about eating brown bread for grilled cheese? In some cases, these are larger challenges for children to take on. I’ve seen kids brought to tears by the mere suggestion that they should eat their crusts.

Allergies, vegetarians, gluten and lactose intolerance are all common dietary restrictions and we happily accommodate. After all, these substitutions are a matter of health. However, for lunch we also begrudgingly offer pasta for children who don’t like the main course. And in recent years, we’ve seen more kids eat pasta, not because they don’t like the main course, but because they simply like pasta better. What could contain less risk than a bowl of plain pasta? Developing a taste for different foods relies first on trying them. And if kids have the option, they’d rather stick with what they know.

In some cases, parents are to blame for this. For years, I’ve cooked two meals because ‘I knew’ that my daughter wouldn’t eat what I was having. Then, about two years ago I noticed the things that she was eating at camp. Lasagna laced with veggies, cooked corn, scrambled eggs, salad – things that she refused to eat on my watch and yet at camp, she indulged happily. Since then, her choices at home have been far fewer when it comes to meals.

For our residential program, we don’t offer substitutions for breakfast or dinner and it doesn’t seem to be a problem. The campers simply eat what we serve. They’re not always happy about it, but it’s very rare that a camper won’t ‘like’ two meals in a row.

I think that a little adventure when it comes to our camp menu would have a positive affect on the campers. Wouldn’t it be great if we took the opportunity camp presents to expand the child’s pallet? It would certainly make packing lunches for children during the school year a whole lot easier.

Camp Staff as Teachers: What Draws Them To Be Educators?

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Last week, as I wrote a reference letter for one of our Section Directors looking to get into teachers college, it dawned on me how so many of our staff members, past and present have gone on to complete their post graduate degree in education. Summer camp is a great way to learn important teaching skills like building connections with kids, building and adapting lesson plans and addressing parents. However, the hope of finding employment as a teacher seems to become more remote each year. This begs the question, why are there so many people lining up to enter the education field?

To those who are not intimately familiar with the education field, the obvious answer is, ‘they get their summers off.’ Having known a teacher or two, I can attest that the summer off barely makes up for the planning, grading and other demands placed on a teacher’s time throughout the rest of the year. Being a teacher means that you’ll have homework – for the rest of your life. There is also the responsibility that a teacher has of continuing their education, which often carves into their summer.

Another obvious answer is that they have a great pension. Well, in order to get to the pension stage of a career, one needs to first find work. And although the teacher’s pension is considered one of the healthiest plans going, Jim Leech, the President of the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan admitted the funding for the plan is broken, which makes you wonder about its long-term prosperity.

So it’s not an easy gig to get, the time off comes with some pretty big conditions and the pension isn’t as golden as it once was. What’s drawing the hoards to teacher’s college? I can’t speak to everyone trying to make education their profession, but I believe that our staff want to be teachers for the same reasons they want to work at camp – they find the development of children important and rewarding. And they’re good at it too.

If I were to open a school with all of the staff we’ve had who are now teachers, it would be a pretty great school. It’s too bad that most of them don’t have jobs teaching in the classroom.

Summer Camp Open House is Important to Parents, Campers and Staff

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Our Summer Camp Open House at Kettleby Valley is coming up this weekend on June 9th from 10:00am until 2:00pm. The day represents a great opportunity for new campers and their parents to see the camp and meet our staff. This can alleviate the anxiety that may exist prior to the camp experience. For some, it helps to simply look around and enjoy the property. For others, engaging in a conversation with me or the other staff makes them feel at ease.

On Open House day, we have many returning campers come by and show the camp to their families. It’s a chance for them to talk about their experience last summer and introduce their parents to the staff.

For me, meeting the parents provides a complete picture. It helps me better understand who the camper is and I think it’s also an opportunity for our staff to do the same. During the summer, it’s easy to get wrapped up with the day to day events of camp. We sometimes misplace the idea that for every camper, there are caring parents at work or at home wondering how their kids are doing. By attending Open House, our staff develop accountability – not only to the families that they meet, but also to the families they don’t meet.

Above all, the Open House is fun, so please come and join us.

Summer Camp Almost Ready for Open House

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It’s a monumental task to get a summer camp ready for the busy season, particularly when we have so many school groups that visit Kettleby Valley during the spring. However with some hard work and a little luck with the weather, we’ll make it.

All the girls cabins have received new windows, doors and flooring. The basement of the lodge has a serving wall and the floor has been painted. New and improved screen doors are being made in our shop. The stairs leading down to canoeing have been dug up and new ones have been constructed and put into place. Stain and paint on the canoe and archery buildings have have made them look better than new. And this is by no means a complete list.

Most of the spring staff have had little (or no) experience doing the things we’ve accomplished. With hard work and a bit of direction, these people have done a fantastic job. Thanks to everyone for all the effort so far.

Summer Camp Isn’t Easy For Every Family

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For some families, summer camp is a given. Kettleby Valley Camp is located close to Aurora, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and Vaughan and these communities have their share of affluent neighborhoods. For others in these communities, the cost of camp can be a real struggle to swing, particularly for single parent families.

There are charities that can help and there are entire camps devoted to underprivileged children. But it’s the people who are in the middle that are looking for help. These families have homes and jobs, but lack the disposable income that makes paying for camp easy.

This year more than ever, I’ve been contacted by single moms looking for ways to make camp happen for their kids this summer. Some are looking for ways to break up the payments while others are willing to pay for camp through contributing to our staff training sessions.

As a business, we have (sizable) bills to pay and we’re not in a position to compromise on our camp fees. Kettleby Valley is by no means the most expensive camp. However we’re not the least expensive either and when we can, we try to help.

Summer camp isn’t an experience that should be taken for granted. There are some families that make big time sacrifices to ensure that their children have the opportunity to attend camp. This makes me feel like I’m doing something important and I hope it does the same for every one of our counsellors.

Great Summer Camps Offer More Than Fun and Safety

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Recently we were fortunate to be named in Heather Hadden’s blog entitled “Most Popular Camps in Ontario”. There are many things that parents look for in a summer camp such as safety, great staff, and a fun program. However there are other considerations that go hand in hand with these qualities when families make their decision about where to send their children.

For most families that use our camp, both parents work and flexibility is an important part of the services we provide. For our day camp, parents can drop their children off at camp, they can use our home bus service, or they can combine the two options.

With our residential overnight camp, we offer a weeklong experience for campers that’s close to home. For some families, a northern camp simply isn’t an option and we feel that Kettleby Valley meets the needs of a quality camp program without the three hour drive. With soccer, baseball and other commitments, our residential overnight program provides the option of a camper ducking out for for an hour or two for an important game.

Convenience is also a major consideration. For TD bank and IBM employees, we provide day camp transportation to and from their work locations throughout the summer. This means no extra stops between work and home.

Tradition has always been an important part of summer camp. However, in order to stay competitive, Ontario summer camps like ours have had to go beyond tradition and offer programs that meet the needs of today’s busy families.

 

 

Should Camps for Children in Ontario Allow Campers to Use Cell Phones?

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In the past several years, cell phones have been a contentious issue at Ontario summer camps. Parents, campers and staff alike have asked us about the use of cell phones and we’ve stood firm with our answer – no. Our answer is still no, but it’s not as firm as it used to be.

Everyone knows that smart phones can do so much more than a traditional cell phone. However there is one capability a phone has that is widely overlooked – the ability to make a parent feel at ease.

Many parents attended day camp or overnight camp when they were children. However, for others who never went to camp, sending their child away can be a stressful experience and receiving a text or email could go a long way to reassuring them.

At camp, we hope to foster independence, and cell phone use might actually help rather than hurt. A message to Mom or Dad might read, “Having fun, please leave me alone now”. This might be just the thing that would help parents realize it’s okay to give their kids some space.

Some camps are worried about a negative message going home from camp via a cell phone message. If a child is unhappy, the word will eventually get home and cell phones could serve as an early detection system that salvages what might otherwise have been a negative experience. Most camps already ask parents to inform them if their child sends word of a problem they might be facing by way of a letter or fax. We can simply extend this piece of advice to include cell phone messages.

Don’t get me wrong, living without the use of a computer or phone for an extended period of time is still a value I hold dearly. It’s rather liberating to be on a canoe trip with no signal for days. And for now, the answer to cell phones for campers is still no. But I’m beginning to see a day when a cabin group might have ‘connect time’ on their schedule.

Summer Camp T-Shirt Day in Ontario

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As a Summer Camp, we’ve always had shirts and I was recently presented with the opportunity to go through my collection of camp shirts to commemorate National Camp T-Shirt Day. As I did this, I realized that far more than 75 percent of my personal wardrobe consists of camp clothing. It also made me understand why I can’t seem to part with them.

As I looked at each one, memories came back from the time that they represented. The one from 1999 made me think of how Jennifer and Paula, our first Section Directors, had to do double duty as archery instructors. There was another shirt that reminded me of the massive ‘circus tent’ we used to be able to fit the entire camp under. Every staff member I worked with hated the process of putting that thing up. There was one that made me think of my daughter’s first year as an actual camper. I have a pink staff shirt, the year we had mostly female spring staff (the only exceptions being Chex, Fozzie and me). That was the first year (but not the last) that the basement of the old lodge became the recipient of our inadequate septic system. There was a shirt from the first year we had shirts that actually fit, a staff shirt from the first year we had a camp truck (other than mine) a shirt from the year we opened our new lodge. You get the picture.

So many shirts, so many memories….so little drawer space.