About this Blog
Momfidence! cheers on commonsense parenting and sighs at the rest. How to worry less, wing it more. A.k.a. parenting by the seat of my mid-rise mom jeans.
About Paula Spencer
I'm the author of Momfidence! An Oreo Never Killed Anybody and Other Secrets of Happier Parenting, and a mom of four in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (where you cannot even buy Oreos at the two groceries nearest to my home).
A rare foto in which all six Spencers face the camera! by Charles Harris
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Parentopia
On mommy guilt The Mother of All Blogs My fave fellow mom of four MommaBlog in Fotos Looks like my house Parent Talk Today Kindred writer Momformation ParentCenter Free Range Kids Set them free! Jane Austen Addict For diversion Diet Naked For inspiration Dr. Helen For insights American Poetry Alliance For mind expansion Caring Currents Caregiver blog to which I contribute |
Don't Deprive Your Child of (Lots of) Summer Camp!July 13, 2008
I meant to mention the whole "kid-sick parents" phenomenon this week. That would be parents who miss their kids too much to send them to camp, or to send them more for a day or two, or a week.
You'd think it was just an invention of media except camps across the country are having to respond by starting "starter camps" that last only a few days or weeks (instead of the normal 2 to 8 or 10 weeks) and allowing e-mail and videocam and other apron-string glue. I only wish I had started sooner. My oldest was 10 when he first left for three weeks. Seven or eight is probably ideal. What's not to like? (Except the price tag.) Kids gain confidence and independence at camp, kids in teeny families learn to live in a group, they get unplugged (DON'T send them to computer camp, jeez!), they're outside, they learn skills like canoeing and archery and scary storytelling, etc etc. Funny "symptoms of kidsickness" here. (Except it's not written as humor.) Momfidence is... Being a kid-sick parent--meaning you get sick of your kids in a normal, healthy human way (as they get sick of you) -- and taking the "camp cure" by sending them away. It's good for them...even better for you! |
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