Positivity... and negativity.

I believe that every camp has a place or person that is supposed to instill fear in children.
We had "the barn."
In school, there was "the office."

Threats were thrown in advance, "Do you want to go to the barn?" "If you keep this up, you're going to the office!"

Normally it worked. when I was younger, the threat of the office was intense - it left a bad feeling in my stomach. I even got nervous about the office when I was there for good purposes. The office was a bad place.

Of course, there were other children - some fairly friendly ones, in fact - who were not phased by the office... who had been to the office several times without turning white or wetting themselves.

When I was an instructor at camp, I noticed the same two kids always in the barn. Sure, there was a series of children that changed based on the threat... and then many more who cried and pouted in the barn, never to return again. Two campers, however, made the barn their home.

A couple of years later, I was in charge... and in a position that I could change camp in any way that I liked. I was able to rewrite the rules from the beginning and completely rethink how things were done... and I thought about my barn boys.

What is the purpose of the barn? Is it to modify the behavior of campers who make bad decisions through punishment? If the barn is a successful mode of punishment, then why are the same two campers spending more time there than arts & crafts?

I posed these questions to my directors... and suggested eliminating the barn entirely.

But now what...?

Kid disturbs class -> Class is disrupted -> Kid needs to be removed to restore order

That's the normal order of things. How, then, can this be remedied?

We established a new title at camp, a type of floating director called the "Care Worker." Dr. Bob was hired (the second year... when we got it right) as a 26 year School Psychologist with the instructions of keeping kids from disrupting while keeping them out of the barn... while freeing up my directors to manage the staff and do paperwork.

Bob used anticipation and positive redirection to change the landscape of camp discipline. He made reporting sheets for the counselors to fill out during the day and send home at night for campers who were "at risk." Bob's success came from a simple scoring method that allowed campers who had a certain number of smiley faces over a given time to participate in extra activity time. Most chose fishing, but others went for swimming... or anything. No matter what, Bob would arrange it with the counselor and give that camper a whole period of one on one attention while doing their favorite camp thing...

And it worked.

I have more to write about this after learning about other methodology, but I know one thing for certain: the barn didn't work. We scared campers into following the rules and every so often, we lost... and I think we can do better than ignore the problem.

Ah! Too Many Videos!

Ok, ok...
I promise I will stop posting the videos here. They have been occupying my life, so they ended up being shot over to Blogger when posted. Anyway, I have great news (as noted before) --- I am designing an activity curriculum for a camp company that serves approximately 15,000 campers a year!

Exciting, huh?

All of the work I do will be documented thoroughly and my own, in case I want to take it to other places or turn it into a book... what do you think? Book or consultant?

Kid's Site 2: The Webpage - "Episode 17" Tuesday, October 7th

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On this momentous Tech Trek Tuesday, Pete talks about the different video game consoles... plus lots of unexpected wackiness from Jerry Jingles and Barry Buttons!

Kid's Site 2: The Webpage - "Episode 18" Wednesday, October 8th

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It's Wacky Wednesday here on Kid's Site 2: The Web Page and Pete and Bryan demonstrate how to draw their quadraltastic masquot, Skwarie. Sharpen up your pencils, this one is a lot of fun!!!

Kid's Site 2: The Webpage - "Episode 19" Thursday, October 9th

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In this very special and particularly short episode, Bryan shares a rather odd story about... well, you'll find out! Enjoy!

Kid's Site 2: The Webpage - "Episode 16" Monday, October 6th

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Another wonderful "Knot Monday" is upon us, where between silliness and songs, Bryan teaches everyone how to do the entirely useful butterfly knot. Get your short rope lengths ready, 'cause this ones a winner!

"Episode 15" Friday, October 3rd

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It's Friday here on Kid's Site 2: The Webpage and we're celebrating in usual fashion with a Casual Competition! See who will triumph in this daring fight for the glory of a rare bead... Will it be Pete or Bryan this week?

Kid's Site 2: The Webpage - "Episode 14" Thursday, October 2nd

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It's Story-Thursday and what better way to end the warm season in NYC than by taking a trip to the Bronx Zoo! See Bryan and Pete checking out all sorts of interesting animals on Kids Site 2: The Webpage!

Kid's Site 2: The Webpage - "Episode 13" Wednesday, October 1st

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For our very THIRTEENTH (spooky!) episode, Pete shows off how to make a basic airplane... and we're introduced to a new character, Larry Sponsorship. Enjoy!