KCParent.com Best Parenting Website 2011

  • Top Five Things You Never Knew About Camp

    Camp has become a staple of the summer season. Each year, millions of children, youth and adults head to the hills, lakes, valleys and parks to participate in the time-honored tradition of camp. And, while most people easily conjure up images of campfires and canoes, there is a lot more to the camp experience. Here are five of the things you may not have known about the camp experience.

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  • The Great News About Homesickness

    What are the most effective ways of coping with homesickness at camp? What advice can you write in a letter or e-mail to your son or daughter if you get a homesick letter?

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  • Finding the Right Camp for Your Child

    You are considering a summer camp, but how to choose? There’s a camp that is ideally suited for every child, providing a summer of growth and fun whether your child attends a day or overnight camp, a specialized or traditional camp. With a little help from the camp professionals at the American Camp Association, here’s some sound advice that helps parents sort through the choices and benefits that camp delivers. As spring approaches, parents and children can look forward to planning for the future—a future that includes the opportunities for exploration and discovery that arrives with summer camp.

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  • Five Reasons Your Child Needs Camp

    There's no doubt that summer camp is fun. Kids get to sing silly songs, play funny games, swim in lakes and tell spooky stories around a campfire. This is the image of camp that has been captured and memorialized in films, books and television programs for the past 50 years. But there's much more to camp than just a good time. In addition to the fun, parents should be aware of these five reasons their child needs camp.

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  • The Bottom Line About Camp Costs

    Parents know that camp is an experience that will last a lifetime. However, they may worry about the cost, especially if there is more than one camp-aged child in the house. The good news for parents is that there is a camp for just about every budget. While fees to attend camp vary, they can range from only $75 to more than $650 per week for American Camp Association-accredited resident and day camps.

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  • Helping Kids Connect at Summer Camp

    Whether your children are attending an overnight or day camp this summer, one thing is likely to be on their minds: How will I fit in? Will I be able to make friends? Camp officials from around the metro are accustomed to this question, and they’ve got tips to help kids build lasting friendships around the campfire.

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  • Tales from Camp: How Camp Jobs Give Young Adults an Experience Unlike Any Other

    It’s common knowledge that summer camps are a place where children can have the time of their lives, but it’s not just the kids who stand to benefit. This summer, 1.2 million young adults across the country have joined the ranks of camp counselors and staff and are developing a pretty impressive – and wide-ranging – set of skills, including: leadership, management, mentoring, administration, nutrition, physical education, psychology, and teambuilding. And they’re doing all of this while working in the great outdoors.

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  • Fastest Growing Camp Trend: Family Camp Programs

    Frequently Kansas City parents pick their children up from camp to hear them tell tales of new friends, singing songs around the campfire, and other unique programming, such as rock star lessons, swimming with manatees, rock climbing, and even trapeze lessons! Listening attentively, parents find themselves wishing they could have gone to camp too, and now, they can!

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  • Dealing with Homesickness at Camp

    Worried about the effects of homesickness on your child’s camp experience this summer? While homesickness isn’t unusual, a proactive approach now can minimize homesickness hardships later. Amy Gragg, a licensed clinical social worker with The Family Conservancy, which provides family counseling and education throughout metro Kansas City, offers tips to prepare your child for a fun, positive camp experience.

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  • Overnight Camp: Is Your Child Ready?

    As the cold winter months near an end, are visions of summertime dancing through your head? If so, you’re not alone. Soon we’ll be saying bye-bye to cabin fever and a welcoming hello to the warm sunshine, flip-flops, bomb pops, summer vacation … and for some of our children, overnight camp!

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  • SPOTLIGHT ON SPECIAL NEEDS: CAMPS FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN

    Thanks to these groups, even kids with special needs can go to camp this summer.

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  • Ten Tips to Help Heal Homesickness

    As summer begins, millions of children head to summer camp - eager, excited, and…homesick? Research indicates that homesickness is the norm, and not the exception. It is common for campers to feel a tinge of homesickness at some point during the camp session. So, how can parents help? By exercising a little preparation and patience, parents can help ease any homesickness in their otherwise happy campers.

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  • Ready for Camp?

    Summer camp can be a lot of fun, especially if you are prepared! Involve your child in the packing process and begin packing several weeks in advance to avoid last minute shopping trips. Although it will probably take a while, label all items going to camp with your child’s name. Certainly, your child’s camp will send a packing list, but you can expect some of the following essentials to be on it.

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  • What the World Could Learn from Summer Camp

    Bringing down the veil of technology led to more open conversation between friends, better networking and the development of new relationships.

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  • Find the Perfect Summer Camp

    Tips for choosing your child's Summer Camp

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  • Camps for Kids

    Camps For Kids is a Kansas City based non-profit organization dedicated to helping disabled and disadvantaged youth in our community experience the wonders and the very real benefits of summer camp. Founded by Marjorie Powell Allen and other community leaders, Camps For Kids stepped in to help when the federal government withdrew assistance for youth summer programming in 1980.

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  • The Magic of Camp

    To gain a sense of what makes camp magic, we asked campers and parents to share their insights. Whether it's a one-week class for youngsters or a four-week hiking and horseback riding trek for teens, camp is remembered with words from the heart.

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