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Summer Matters Inspiring confident kind kids & forever friendships It’s Saturday at home. The phones get collected. Everyone agrees to the plan. But then the world keeps buzzing anyway. The restaurant menu is a QR code. Homework assignments are posted in a parent portal. The carpool group text needs a response. Snapchat stories need checking. Ordering pizza means DoorDash. Even when kids aren’t on their phones, they’re still living in a world designed around screens. The infrastructure…

Was trying to think of the simplest and most direct way to explain summers at camp which usually means going through all of the activities, schedules, and other pieces making up weeks at K&E. But really, it’s pretty simple. Camp is truly actually fun. You’re in it together. See, most places kids (and honestly, adults) spend time operate on a simple formula: Work first, then fun.

Remember in The Sandlot when the Babe Ruth ball lands over the fence into the Beast’s yard? Summer screeches to a halt. Smalls, Benny, Ham, Squints and the rest of the crew stand there knowing what’s on the other side. They’ve heard the stories. They know there’s some risk. But they also know they have to get it back. So they start scheming. Building contraptions. Coming up with increasingly elaborate plans.

Years of working with execs and business leaders, and I’ve noticed the most effective members of this group share a particular quality: High sensitivity to what’s really happening in a room. They can sense when someone has an idea they haven’t shared yet. They notice when the group is aligned and ready to move forward. They pick up on energy shifts during a meeting, even when nothing obvious has changed.

First: Wishing you strength, reflection, and peace this Yom Kippur. In 2016, a Dinosaur-themed monster truck tank drove into K&E and literally ate cars. There’s video of it happening. Maybe you or your kid was there. Everyone screaming. Cars getting crushed. Megasaurus was Color War breakout that year, and it was absolutely insane. See for yourself. It’s way hard to put into words. And this hasn’t been the only big moment.

Summer Matters Inspiring confident kind kids & forever friendships It’s easy to think of camp as a big and loud place. It’s easy because it’s true. Camp is a big and loud place! Days are packed with sounds and energy spilling over. Which is definitely the point. So when I ask kids about their most meaningful and memorable camp experiences, part of me is always waiting for those big, loud stories. That was the case last week in Dallas. I was there for ForumWithin work and got to meet up with…

Summer Matters Inspiring confident kind kids & forever friendships We had a camper here this summer who’s an elite U13 quarterback. Has a cannon. High schools recruiting him. Getting all the accolades, all the attention that comes with being really good at one thing. In the world, he’s a football player. Plain and simple. But at camp, he did a lot of different things. Played ping pong. Shot hoops. Spent time at A&C, laughing constantly. Still got to compete for sure, played U15 flag football…

Kids these days… Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders I’ll just say two things straight out: All of my best friends in the world are camp people. And most of the important things I know, I learned at camp. On the friendship front, it’s a common refrain from people who’ve spent weeks, months, years, and summers at places like Kenwood & Evergreen. How could it not? Camps across the country have people who’ve left them and taken those friendships out into the world. So…

Kids these days… Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders K&E Families, You know that feeling when you walk into camp and immediately sense something special? That’s not just random luck or some coincidence. That’s the result of people who’ve poured decades into creating something bigger than themselves. For many decades now, Jacki and Bob have been part of the heart and soul of Kenwood & Evergreen. They’ve shaped not just summers, but entire generations of campers, so…

Kids these days… Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders Let me get this out of the way. I like my phone. I love being able to text other camp directors, see what’s happening in the world, make quick connections with folks, answer your questions instantly, all of it. Phones make running camp waaaay easier in a million different ways. But this summer, like a lot of other summers, I spent loads of time thinking about phones and camp at the same time. Screentime “battles”…