Video Advice: Ten Camp Director Responsibilities 10) Everyone’s Friend (6:21)

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:23:17 -0400

CampLeadership.org Co-Founder explains his Top Ten Camp Director Responsibilities to a group of camp professionals.

Video Advice: Ten Camp Director Responsibilities 9) Quality Control (3:14)

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:05:20 -0400

CampLeadership.org Co-Founder explains his Top Ten Camp Director Responsibilities to a group of camp professionals.

Video Advice: Ten Camp Director Responsibilities 8) Community Representative (3:35)

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:11:26 -0400

CampLeadership.org Co-Founder explains his Top Ten Camp Director Responsibilities to a group of camp professionals.

Written Advice: “Time for relaxation, relief, reflection, and refocusing” by Mike D’Avria

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:02:13 -0400

Today was always one of my favorite/least favorite days of the year. (Yes, I understand how grammatically incorrect that sentence is, but keep reading). Whether or not today is that day for you, all Camp Directors have have a similar day. The first day of work after summer camp ends.

It’s a mixture of relaxation, relief, reflection and refocusing. And yes, those words all start with the letter R. Either way, the first day back to work after sending the kids home is a difficult one for every Camp Director.

To refocus after the summer takes a lot of work, and a lot of the time we neglect this work. Some of us take vacations. Some of us sleep in a little later. Some of us wake up even earlier because we have new morning programs starting. Whatever your workload is the day after camp ends, we all have a mixture of emotions.

Afterschool programs are probably the most common programs run by people who are also Camp Directors. This happens because some people believe that because Camp and Afterschool serves children of the same age, that they are the same program. They are not. A great Camp Director sometimes makes a terrible Afterschool Director, and vice-versa.

I could write for days about the differences between Camp and Afterschool. Today, I want to focus on preparation for off-season programs — including Afterschool.

Think about how much time you prepare for camp. The marketing, the hiring of staff, the planning, the training, etc. Now, think about all the time you spend preparing for off-season programs. It probably isn’t the same amount of time. You probably spend much more time preparing for Camp then you do for Afterschool.

Why is that? Camp is only 10-weeks long. Afterschool is approximately 40-weeks long. Why do we spend so much more time thinking about Camp than we do our off-season programs?

Here are the following excuses we make:

- Camp is a bigger priority because the budget is so much bigger.
- Afterschool basically runs itself. Everyone knows what they are doing. They don’t need as much training.
- Camp is an experience that people pay a great deal of money for. Afterschool is basically inexpensive babysitting.
- We shape lives at Camp. We help them with their homework in Afterschool. It doesn’t mean as much.

There are plenty of other excuses we make on why off-season programs are not a priority, but there really is only one reason why we spend more time thinking about Camp than other programs. Because other programs are not Camp.

Simple as that. We LOVE Camp. Just admit it. We ignore other programs in the off-season because they aren’t as much fun as Camp. Just be honest. No one would do the job of a Camp Director if he or she didn’t love Camp. No one would be reading posts on CampLeadership.org if he or she didn’t love Camp. We tend to put up with all the other crap because we love Camp so much.

Admitting that felt good, right? Great! But that doesn’t mean your Afterschool program is going to be any better.

Having a passionate Camp Director run a non-passionate off-season program will not make your off-season programs any better. But, there are plenty of people who are passionate about off-season programs, and aren’t as passionate about Camp. There are plenty of people who like working from 1 pm to 6 pm everyday, or they love working on the weekends. It’s your job to find these people.

Some of the best Afterschool programs I have ever seen had a combination of Assistant Camp Director/Afterschool Director. Think about the responsibilities of your Assistant Camp Director. (Note, if the Assistant Camp Director’s responsibilities are just doing things you don’t get around to, it’s time to re-evaluate your organizational structure — more posts on that later in the year.)

Here is what my Assistant Camp Director’s core responsibilities were:

- Schedule staff, and organize timecards each week.
- Make sure busses were on time for field trips and swimming (we swam off-site), and communicate with drivers.
- Handle everyday discipline issues that did not require suspension or parent meetings.

Here is what my Afterschool Director’s core responsibilities were:

- Schedule staff, and organize timecards each week.
- Make sure busses were on time from schools, and communicate with drivers.
- Handle everyday discipline issues that did not require suspension or parent meetings.

Yes. Once it came to my realization that these responsibilities were so similar, I gave the reigns of Afterschool over to my Assistant Camp Director. She didn’t LOVE Camp, but it turned out that she LOVED Afterschool. You can’t make someone passionate about something he or she is not passionate about. It just does not happen.

If you analyze the functions of your staff, and are willing to change around some job descriptions, you’ll probably soon realize that there are right and wrong roles for everyone. Your job, ultimately, is to find the right fit for people — and that includes the right fit for yourself as well.

Video Advice: Ten Camp Director Responsibilities 7) Staff Leader (4:18)

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:59:24 -0400

CampLeadership.org Co-Founder explains his Top Ten Camp Director Responsibilities to a group of camp professionals.

Video Advice: Ten Camp Director Responsibilities 6) Budget Manager (3:35)

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:31:00 -0400

CampLeadership.org Co-Founder explains his Top Ten Camp Director Responsibilities to a group of camp professionals.

Written Advice: “A Mediocre camp experience Will eventually Get Donated to Goodwill” by Mike D’Avria

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:14:19 -0400

I’m wearing my one-time favorite shirt today. I haven’t worn it in a few years, but can’t remember why I stopped wearing it. As soon as I put it on, it brought back some great memories. I’m not kidding. I have memories in this shirt. That’s why I haven’t donated it to Goodwill, even though dozens of others have gone into the donation pile in the last seven years — which is how long I have owned the shirt.

The reason I remember this is because it was part of the new wardrobe I bought after college graduation as part of my interview attire. I wore it to my interview at the Athens Banner-Herald, my first full-time job. It’s distinct in my mind because I drove from West Virginia to Athens, Georgia while wearing it. After the interview I continued on to Atlanta and went to a Thrashers game with my future wife, and future father/sister/brother-in-law. I remember thinking, “I’ve been wearing this shirt for 16+ hours, and it still feels comfortable.”

It boggled my mind today that I hadn’t worn it in a few years. Why did I stop?

Slowly, throughout the day, I was reminded why I haven’t worn it.

It has stains on it.
It is missing a button.
It is faded.
It has a hole in it.
It looks like I bought it last decade.

That’s right, I did.

The shirt automatically made me think about camp. Look through some photos of past summers — specifically ones a few years ago. They will bring back some awesome memories, and most likely you will not see any photos of bad times. Why would you save those? We forget about the bad times, and want to remember the good ones. But more importantly, we forget completely about the mediocre times. The times that nothing goes horribly wrong, but aren’t worth taking photos of. Times that aren’t worth analyzing.

That’s why you need to analyze your 2010 camp RIGHT NOW, in order to make the 2011 summer a better one. If you wait, all people will remember are the good times, or the really horrible ones. What about the every day missteps — the ones that didn’t get any staff fired, but were still mistakes.

Camps who can take mediocre staff, and mediocre experiences, and turn them into GREAT staff and GREAT experiences are the camps who will thrive.

I’m not saying to ignore the bad experiences. You need to fix these first. But right now, at the end of the summer, all your experiences are fresh in the mind. In December, you’ll still distinctly remember all the things that went horribly wrong.

I couldn’t remember the reason I stopped wearing my favorite shirt because I hadn’t thought about it in so long. As soon as I put it on, all the memories came back. Make sure to take parent surveys seriously, and make sure to analyze your entire summer — not just the extreme parts of them.

Song: “Goin’ to the Y” (2:09)

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:03:32 -0400

Written Advice: “Don’t Let Your Counselor be the next Jet Blue Flight Attendant” by Mike D’Avria

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:26:22 -0400

Most people have heard about the Jet Blue flight attendant who lost his cool, cursed out a passenger, grabbed a few beers, opened an emergency exit door, slid down the inflatable slide to the tarmac and disappeared from the airport. If you haven’t, it’s probably because you are a camp director and national news about a weird freak out isn’t the most important thing you need to worry about at the end of your summer.

But I want to let you know that this is news that every camp director should be paying attention to, especially during the last few weeks of camp. There is one reason, and one reason alone, that the flight attendant reacted this way. Burnout.

The single action of a passenger knocking him in the head with a piece of luggage, and then refusing to apologize, did not create this reaction. The two decades of rude passengers demanding pillows, complaining about delays, refusing to stay seated while the “fasten seatbelt” light was on, and not putting their tray tables back up while landing did. Being a flight attendant is very hard work as there probably is not much gratitude involved in it. There’s only so much people can take.

TMZ ran a poll the day after the “escape” asking if the flight attendant should “Go to Jail” or “Let Him Slide.” An astounding 93-percent of the 77,000 people who responded clicked “Let Him Slide.” 93-percent!

How is this possible? Because we have all been there before. We have all had times of burnout, especially when working at summer camp. I know I have.

In the summer of 2001, I had a meltdown at the resident camp I was working for. Every Friday, it was my responsibility to take cabin photos right before our weekly cookout. Our summer camp director decided that it would help ease the lines for food by releasing each cabin one at a time to get their photo first and then go get food. This meant that I was last to get food at the cookout every week — which also meant that all the fresh baked cookies were always gone by the time I got to there. I always asked people to save me one, but most of the time they would forget or wind up eating it because I was always about 45-minutes late for the cookout.

The other problem that grew and grew were the number of kids who had never seen a digital camera before. Remember, this was 2001. The camera we had used a 3.5-inch floppy disk. I took their photo — about 25 kids at a time — and then they immediately wanted to see it afterward. The first few weeks I obliged, then I was told that I took too long taking the photos since dinner was ready. So each week I would have to tell kids that they couldn’t see the photo, and under no circumstances could I take a photo with their camera. So each week I would have dozens of kids calling me mean, while trying to explain why I couldn’t take an extra five seconds to take extra photos. It was just logistical, but they didn’t understand.

Now these were not the biggest problems in the world, and they didn’t bother me the first few weeks of camp. I told our summer camp director how much it bothered me, and could we re-evaluate how we did photos. She didn’t really think the problems were that big and didn’t care to change the methods.

But when week eight came around and I was visibly frustrated with the responsibility. A female counselor came up to me and asked me why I looked so deflated and I told her. She didn’t care and started to mess with me while I took the photos. She started to poke me with an award that cabins gave out each week to the cabin “MVP.”

I said, “Please stop poking me, I am not in the mood.”

She kept poking me.

I said, “If you poke me one more time with it, I will break it.”

She poked me with it again. I grabbed the award, snapped it in two, and threw it to ground. I yelled, “I told you to stop f---king poking me!”

I realized that a whole cabin of campers saw this — two dozen teenage girls — and I dropped the camera and walked away. I walked out of camp, and down to a boat dock on the nearby lake. I just sat there for a few hours knowing that I was going to be fired.

Eventually my girlfriend at the time found where I was and told me that I needed to come back to camp because the summer camp director wanted to talk to me.

I walked into her office expecting her to fire me. She said, “I heard what happened,” and then handed me a cheeseburger and a cookie. She told me to take the night off, leave camp for a few hours and be back before lights out. The next week we started taking photos before the campfire instead of the cookout. She never brought it up again.

I realized that day that my camp director knew why I freaked out. She knew that I was a great counselor who just got burned out. She knew that I had told her about my frustrations and that she did not help relieve them. She knew that all I needed was a few hours away from camp. She knew that all I really wanted was a cookie.

Meltdowns happen when the little things start to pile up.

What type of burnout issues can we resolve at camp to make sure our counselors are not the next Jet Blue flight attendant? Both he and I reacted the same way and for some of the same reasons. All he wanted was an apology. All I wanted was a cookie.

Sometimes the simplest solutions to burnout issues can be solved by understanding the root of the issues.

Song: Hold Up (1:02)

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:16:52 -0400

Song: Chili-Chili (2:16)

Fri, 6 Aug 2010 10:40:55 -0400

Dave presents at Ignite Charlotte (5:15)

Thu, 5 Aug 2010 14:21:42 -0400

Dave Bell, Co-Founder of http://CampLeadership.org, was a featured presenter at Ignite Charlotte on August 4, 2010. He spoke to more than 200 people on the topic: "If You Want Your Business to Succeed, Then Hire Camp Counselors."

From http://ignitecharlotte.org:
“Enlighten us, but make it quick” is the mantra and key to Ignite talks. This truly fun, exciting and unique presentation format brings together technology, arts and communications types.

Here’s how it works: During the 1st Ignite Charlotte, presenters will share their personal and professional passions using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total talk time of 5 minutes.

Written Advice: “Dehydration can be difficult to spot, but easy to avoid” by Bobby DeMuro

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 13:08:49 -0400

The standard recommendation of water intake for children is at least six to eight glasses (48 to 64-ounces), consumed regularly throughout the day and ensuring that plenty of additional fluid is consumed during warm weather and when exercising. "When exercising" means before, during and after exercise — and is not restricted to formal camp games and lessons. It’s also applicable to "active play" (e.g. football in the playground or periods of running around during open periods).
During the school year, children spend at least half their waking hours in class. When it's summer time, they may spend an even higher percentage of their day outdoors at camp, running around, playing games, and being in the sun. During this outdoor time specifically, they should be drinking more than half of their daily requirement, spread regularly throughout the activity sessions.
Readily available water coolers, water bottles, and cold towels strategically placed around camp premises can help to achieve these aims and prevent severe heatstroke and dehydration issues.
Frequent breaks for water, even for a minute or two, are also crucial to help maintain healthy hydration levels in children. Whenever possible, and relative to the temperature of the day, make it a goal to take a break every 20-minutes for a quick drink of water.
What is dehydration?
Quite simply, dehydration is not having enough water in the body. It may result from inadequate water intake and/or from losing body water and can develop rapidly or slowly.
The body is made up of 75-percent water. To retain the proper amount, make it a goal for your children to drink 60-percent of their body weight in water, every single day, in a pounds to ounces ratio. In other words, if a child weighs 100-pounds, they need to drink about 60-ounces of water each day to fully ensure proper hydration.
How can you tell if children are dehydrated?
A lot of people don't realize they are dehydrated because they have become so used to feeling below their best. Symptoms of mild dehydration can be difficult for counselors and professionals to spot. Some children may become irritable, tired and unable to concentrate. Be specifically observant of their concentration level; it's an almost sure sign of dehydration when a child begins to lose focus very quickly.
By the time they get home many children complain of tiredness or headaches, and some may be too lethargic to do anything but slump in front of the television. Although we may think of this behavior as normal, it is, at least in part, due to the effects of dehydration.
Children can be taught to recognize when their fluid intake is too low as the urine becomes concentrated (small amounts of deep yellow, cloudy urine). If urine is no darker than the color of pale straw, odorless and copious they're likely well hydrated for the day's events.
What effect does dehydration have on the brain?
Water makes up almost 80-percent of the brain, and is an essential element in neurological transmission. Poor hydration adversely affects a child's mental performance and learning ability. Symptoms of mild dehydration may include tiredness, headaches and a feeling like jet lag, as well as reduced alertness and ability to concentrate.
Mental performance including memory, attention and concentration can decrease by about 10-percent, once thirst is felt. Mental performance deteriorates progressively as the degree of dehydration increases.
Thirst is usually felt when dehydration results in 0.8 - 2-percent loss of body weight due to water loss. For a child weighing 60-pounds, for example, this is equivalent to one or two very large glasses of water (10-12 ounces of water in each glass), which is the amount a child tends to lose during a concentrated camp lesson, or running around the playground for an hour or so.
Water consumption also has an immediate alerting and revitalizing effect. The key to boosting the capacity to learn and interact with peers is to keep well hydrated throughout each day (ideally, from a personal water bottle within arm's reach of each child).
What are the effects of dehydration on children?
The early effects of even mild dehydration are significant for health, well-being, performance and learning - and in the long term carry a higher risk of a number of health problems and disease states.
These include constipation, continence problems, kidney and urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and some cancers. In some scientific studies, a decrease in cancer risk was specifically associated with water, as opposed to any other fluids.
What do you do if a child becomes dehydrated?
Most children older than two-years-old can have apple juice, chicken broth and a Gatorade-type sports drinks (although, be aware of the sugar and high fructose corn syrup content in Gatorade).

If the child is vomiting, try having them drink small amounts of liquids. As the vomiting subsides, more liquids may be introduced. Get them out of direct sunlight, and have them sit with their back up against a support.

If you have one on hand, use a towel or piece of clothing to wipe away sweat, as well as to protect them from the sun beating down on their skin. Ideally, keep several towels in an iced cooler, to be able to use quickly on a child's neck and forehead, should they begin to dehydrate and overheat.

Special commercial products, such as Pedialyte, and similar products, are often used to reintroduce fluids into an ill child. These liquids provide an ill child with an electrolyte solution to offset the changes in their blood chemistry that occur during dehydration, and a solution to a quicker recovery from the dehydration that can lead to possible heat-related illnesses.
Bobby DeMuro is the Founder of FusionSouth, a personal training/sports conditioning firm in Charlotte, NC. He is also the Executive Director of NoFizz Charlotte, a non-profit dedicated to bringing awareness on the importance of proper hydration. He resides on Lake Norman with his 2-year old boxer, Dakota.

Song: Mac n’ Cheese (1:20)

Mon, 2 Aug 2010 11:41:40 -0400

The lyrics are very simple.

“I’ve got to have it / I’ve got to have it / I’ve got to have it / I’ve got to have it.”

“Give me that Mac n’ Cheese! / Give me that Mac n’ Cheese!”