Stonybrook Day Camp's Countdown to Summer Giveaways!

Stonybrook Day Camp’s Countdown to Summer 16 Weeks of Giveaways is off to a fantastic start! We already have 200 plus entries into our first giveaway, a 250 dollar gift certificate to Shoprite, and you still have a chance to enter through Friday.  Fresh produce, a stocked deli, a deliciously tempting bakery, a large selection of groceries and a frozen yogurt bar as a bonus (at least at the Livingston location)…. Shoprite is truly a one place stop for all your food needs.  And with Stonybrook Day Camp serving a hot lunch daily, our lucky winner can use their gift card over the summer to plan for their household food needs minus their kids’ lunch of course!

After our Shoprite winner is announced this Friday, the fun will continue for 16 more weeks.  Every Monday a new giveaway will be announced with our winner chosen via random generator on that Friday.  The following is a list of upcoming prizes:

·         Dry Spot Cleaners Gift Certificate ($20.00)

·         Manicure and Pedicure Gift Certificate to Jane's Nails ($25.00 value)

·         Livingston Camera Gift Certificate ($25.00)

·         Frozen in Time Birthday party for up to 16 children (value $175.00)

·         Coach Rick/ Coach Mike Birthday party for up to 16 children ($250 Value)

·         Photo session by Paintchips and Cupcakes

·         iTunes Gift Certificate ($100)

·         Central Auto Body Shop Gift Certificate ($250)

·         4 carwashes with hot wax at Livingston Carwash ($66.00)

·         Hanklane Gift Certificate ($250)

·         Personalized cashmere stroller blanket from Butterscotch Blankees

·         2 hour Cleaning Service

·         2 Creative Mom’s 1/4 sheet cake with airbrushed image ($100.00 value)

·         Color and cut at Antonio's ($125)

·         Jays Shoe Box Gift Certificate ($20)

·         BBQ cooking demo by Gilenson  The Gas Grill Expert ($150)

·        And many more!

Be in it to win it, and help us count down the weeks till camp!  Don't forget to participate using our PunchTab portal on our blog.

Good Luck!

Roger

Summer Camps Make Kids Resilient

Great Article I had to post.  Here is link if you would like instead

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/nurturing-resilience/201202/summer-camps-make-kids-resilient

Sending children to a residential, or day camp, builds resilience

Published on February 5, 2012 by Michael Ungar, Ph.D. in Nurturing Resilience

I recently spoke to 300 camp directors about how to make children more resilient to life stress. Summer camps (Stonybrook Day Camp), we discovered, are perfect places to help children optimize their psychosocial development.

After all, summer camps are places where children get the experiences they need to bolster their range of coping strategies. There are the simple challenges of learning how to build a fire, going on a hike, or conquering a high ropes course. There are the much more complex challenges of getting along with a new group of peers, learning how to ask for help from others, or taking manageable amount of risks without a parent following after you.

The best camping experiences offer these opportunities for manageable amounts of risk and responsibility, what I term "the risk takers advantage" (see my book Too Safe for Their Own Goodfor more examples). The worst camps pander to children as if they are entitled little creatures whose parents are paying big sums of money. Children at camp can't be treated like customers if they are going to get anything out of the experience. They need to be treated like students whose caregivers, the counselors, know what the kids need to grow.

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Camps that pull this off and make kids, especially teens, put away the makeup, stash the iPods, get a little dirty and even a little frustrated while having fun and making new friends, are the kinds of camps that offer children the best of what they need. Looking at those experiences from the vantage point of my research on resilience, I know that camps help our children develop great coping strategies when they provide seven things all children need:

1)    New relationships, not just with peers, but with trusted adults other than their parents. Just think about how useful a skill like that is: being able to negotiate on your own with an adult for what you need.

2)    A powerful identity that makes the child feel confident in front of others. Your child may not be the best on the ropes course, the fastest swimmer, or the next teen idol when he sings, but chances are that a good camp counselor is going to help your child find something to be proud of that he can do well.

3)    Camps help children feel in control of their lives, and those experiences of self-efficacy can travel home as easily as a special art project or the pine cone they carry in their backpack. Children who experience themselves as competent will be better problem-solvers in new situations long after their laundry is cleaned and the smell of the campfire forgotten.

4)    Camps make sure that all children are treated fairly. The wonderful thing about camps is that every child starts without the baggage they carry from school. They may be a geek or the child with dyslexia. At camp they will both find opportunities to just be kids who are valued for who they are. No camps tolerate bullying (and if they do, you should withdraw your child immediately).

5)    At camp kids get what they need to develop physically. Ideally, fresh air, exercise, a balance between routine and unstructured time, and all the good food their bodies need. Not that smores (marshmellows, chocolate and graham cracker treats) don't have a place at the campfire, but a good camp is also about helping children find healthy lifestyles.