Parents in Los Angeles have created a ‘Common Sense Camp’ to teach kids basic life skills for the future.
Oona Hanson, a Los Angeles parenting coach, and her husband Paul have 2 children, daughter Gwendolyn, seventeen, and their son, Harris, twelve.
Unfortunately, when the coronavirus took over the world in 2020, sleep-away camps were put on hold, which meant that they had a long summer ahead with their children.
But, even with the pandemic, it seemed as though there was a silver lining to camps being canceled because the parents took it upon themselves to create their own camp for their children…
Common Sense Camp.
The parents split lessons into eight weeks where their children focused on skills such as “kitchen confidence,” “safety and emergency preparedness,” “laundry and cleaning,” and other lessons like “anti-racism,” and “social skills,” as per TODAY.
The inspiration came as a result of Catherine Newman’s book; How To Be A Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn Before You’ve Grown Up.
The book, to Hanson, helps children engage more because it doesn’t talk down to children.
“I chose to use this book as a guideline because it’s written and illustrated with charm and joy and infused with humor and empathy.
“It’s not an adult talking down to kids; it’s an adult inviting kids into the world and explaining how you function in daily life,” Hanson explained.
A big part of the idea that Hanson loves about the camp is that her children are able to learn how to be independent, and it shows Hanson and her husband that they can be independent, as well. But, this isn’t the only thing it does for her children.
“Being able to do something you couldn’t do before — that is self-esteem,” Hanson explained.
“Being someone who knows how to do things builds the social-emotional skills and the resilience that is even more important than the actual list of skills that we’re trying to teach,” the mom of 2 continued.
Hopefully, many other parents will follow in the footsteps of the Hanson family, encouraging their children to reach out beyond the scope of what they think is possible for them to achieve.
What do you think of the idea? Because we love it!