Parent Hacks: Taking Ownership at Home
We are back for another one of our Parent Hacks blog posts, as we try to give some tips and tools on how to bring some of the camp magic home with you this year. A few weeks ago, we shared some Table Topics that will get the camp discussion going at home. Today, we are going to look into something your girls do a LOT at camp and that is taking ownership of themselves and their things.
This past summer, we introduced our new Honor Code, which included the phrase “taking ownership of what I do.” While this has been a BIG part of camp for many, many years, we talked even more about how owning your actions and responsibilities is such a big part of growth and becoming a confident, godly woman (something we want for all our campers!).
So, how can this spill over into life at home? Here are a few ways your daughter learned to take ownership at camp with some ideas on how that can carry over to life at home.
Daily Cabin Responsibilities: At camp, your daughter is responsible for so many aspects of her day-to-day personal care. She packs her bag for the day, puts her clothes in her laundry bag, makes her bed, cleans up her space, and completes a cabin job from the Job Wheel…and that is all before breakfast! Your daughter takes ownership of herself by showing up to meals and classes on time, helping to clear the table, and much more.
However, when girls come home, many campers don’t have these responsiblities any more! We talked about this with our Parent Book Club last Fall when we read The Secrets of Happy Families, and it is the same concept here: our campers are VERY capable and can often take ownership of many daily tasks in their lives…they show us they can at camp! Give some of that responsibility back to them at home and allow them to take ownership in this way.
Cabin or Friend Disagreements: When you live in close quarters with friends in a cabin, there are bound to be disagreements and arguments from time to time. At camp, we work on how to manage these disagreements in a healthy way by taking ownership of your personal actions. Sometimes that is saying sorry when you screw up. Other times, it is speaking up for yourself or for a friend. When a cabin needs to sit down and talk through an issue, we have each camper suggest a way that she can do better moving into the next few days.
At home, you can help your daughter take ownership in the same ways. Have a family meeting or talk over dinner about ways each of you did something great that week and also ways you can do better. Talk often about asking for forgiveness when you have hurt someone’s feelings or done something you shouldn’t have.
Positive Reinforcement: While we aren’t going to get into a deep dive on this one, as so many people have very differing ideas on how this plays out in a family, it is a great concept to think through for your family specifically. At camp, one way we help girls learn to take ownership is through positive reinforcements. Here are some examples:
- Do a great job cleaning your cabin, and then you’ll help your camp team earn points and (hopefully!) win the team competition for the summer.
- Work together as a cabin team to find as many signatures as you can during our Counselor Hunt Evening Program, and then you’ll help free your counselors and earn a shaving cream fight.
- Complete our Stumblers running club, and then you’ll earn a special t-shirt.
These are just small examples, and your home is probably full of them too! However, this is a great way to teach ownership with positive reinforcement. One idea I heard about recently is through a blogger who suggests the Family Economy and you can even receive a 20-page printable about it on her resources page (just search for the Family Economy info). While we aren’t necessarily endorsing this idea specifically, it is a great resource to read through as you’re getting your mind wrapped around positive reinforcement at home.
What do you recommend? Our parents are such great resources when it comes to ideas with their own children; if you have any suggestions or recommendations, especially about taking ownership at home, post them below or let us know! This is a great community of parents looking to support each other.