Camp Encourages Personal Growth for LifePosted by Beigette Gill on May 03, 2020

During any other year we would be sending information about Focus Activities, our instructional activities, to camp families. The timeline for 2020 hasn’t been anything like any other year. This certainly includes the plans for our pre-summer mailings. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t get excited about camp activities. Even better, this can be a unique opportunity to learn new skills at home. Summer camp encourages personal growth in a variety of areas. Being at home shouldn’t put personal growth on hold.

Personal Growth is a core value at Fernwood Cove. In almost all aspects of the camp day everyday there’s the opportunity to learn or further develop skills. The supportive community encourages taking safe risks and trying new things. Yes, summer camp encourages personal growth in unique ways. However, personal growth certainly isn’t limited to your daughter’s days in Maine. Our hope over the next four weeks is to help you encourage personal growth at home now and in the future. We will give you lots of tidbits from camp to help you along the way!

Personal Growth for Life

As parents and camp directors Alicia and Beigette are firm believers that there’s no end to learning and growing. Both are admitted lifelong learners and hope to instill the same values in their children and in Fernwood Cove girls. They both strongly believe that each day brings opportunities to learn and grow- even at their ripe old age of 40! By encouraging these values in Fernwood Cove girls we hope that campers will value personal growth for life. Not simply as something that is a part of their youth.

Each day, even when spent at home, has the opportunity for personal growth. Whether it’s learning something totally new or further developing existing skills. For the past few weeks Alicia’s family has ordered less takeout from local restaurants. Alicia has enjoyed learning how to make things like fried rice from scratch. And her children are learning how to make bread and desserts from scratch as well. This is just one example of how we can each seek opportunities to learn and grow, no matter how old we are.

Variety Provides Balance

During the summer we utilize a “choice with structure” system that allows campers to choose activities while also ensuring well-rounded activity schedules. Encouraging a variety of activities is important at home as well. Even professional athletes have other activities they enjoy doing. There are a multitude of benefits to participating in a variety of activities. One of the greatest benefits is the overall development of the body. In many ways variety provides balance in physical, mental, and neural development. Well rounded schedules help to grow well rounded individuals.

As we continue to work and complete the school year from home it can be difficult to motivate our children to do new things. Life is starting to become routine now and it’s easy to get in to stagnant or even unhealthy patterns. We have developed a Fernwood Cove themed BINGO game – Camp Activity MOXIE. Over the next four weeks we will provide a new MOXIE game card for campers, CITs, counselors, and parents to complete. Additional resources are available on the Fernwood Cove Pinterest Board.

There’s nothing like a fun summer camp game and fun camp activities to reinvigorate and re-energize ourselves! Beigette has already printed cards for Sylvie and Perrin. Print your own and get started in the fun today! We encourage you to share your creations, completed cards, and fun stories on social media. Don’t forget to tag #fernwoodcove – we may highlight you on our Instagram story!

Growth Mindset Encourages Continued Personal Growth

There are many facets to being a successful person. However, one of the most important things we see at camp is having a growth mindset. With a growth mindset Fernwood Cove campers and staff see struggles and failure as opportunities for growth. They also develop a strong understanding of health risk taking and seeking new opportunities. Through this they learn they are truly capable and through effort and practice they improve and perform at higher levels. Through their successes they seek greater challenges. Having a growth mindset encourages continued personal growth for a lifetime.

Developing a growth mindset isn’t something campers do alone. The support and intentional guidance they receive from their camp counselors is key. Focusing on the effort put forth rather than the outcome. Debriefing challenges and successes and the related lessons learned. And encouraging campers to stretch their comfort zones and try new things are all ways Fernwood Cove counselors encourage growth mindset during the summer. Use our first week’s MOXIE game to do the same at home. Print yourself a card and join in the fun. And model lifelong personal growth and growth mindset for your campers. You’ll learn something new and make amazing memories along the way!