Conquer Your Fears

It was Franklin D. Roosevelt who reminded us that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Camp provides one of the most gentle, nurturing backdrops to encourage girls to face their fears and conquer their anxieties. As counselors we are an integral part of this process. Here are some simple tools to help your campers overcome three common fears at camp.

The Fear of Water

1. Start by encouraging the camper to ease into the water. Sit by the lake with only her toes in the water.
2. Once the camper is comfortable, move to standing calf-deep in the water. Ask the camper to splash herself with water on her thighs. Once confident with this, splash water on her arms and chest.
3. When the camper feels comfortable submerging most of her body in the water help her learn how to get her face wet.
4. Sprinkle only “raindrops” on the camper’s face and hair, to mimic the sensation of a shower. Once the camper’s hair is wet ask her to dip her chin underneath the water. Have her then tilt her face toward the surface of the water and get her forehead wet. Once the camper feels very comfortable performing these tasks, move to teach her to blow bubbles underwater.
5. Place your index finger in front of the camper’s face. Tell her to imagine your finger is a birthday candle that she must blow out. Once the camper masters the blowing technique, slowly lower your finger having the camper repeat the process until your finger is under the surface of the water and she must have her mouth is the water to “blow out the candle.”

The Fear of Spiders

1. Begin by educating your camper about spiders. Explain how important spiders our to our ecosystem and how many good things they do for us. Describe how most spiders do not wish to engage with humans (we are bigger than they are- that’s scary to a little, old spider!), primarily eat insects, and lack the capability to bite a human even if they wanted to.
2. Next introduce your camper to some spider-friendly books. In some cases, the more pictures the better, so that the camper can interact imaginatively with a friendly image of a spider. Other campers will respond to you reading aloud about spiders before bed. Some of our favorite books include Charlotte’s Web, Simon and Schuster Children’s Guide to Insects and Spiders, The Very Busy Spider, and The Eensy Weensy Spider Freaks Out!
3. Incorporate spider toys as part of your cabin decorations. These could be paper hangings your campers have designed and constructed themselves, toy models of spiders, or stuffed animal spiders. This will help the camper become acquainted with both the form and function of spiders.
4. Find a real spider (at camp this is not hard!) Have the camper stand next to you, but at a distance to the spider that she feels comfortable. While in the physical proximity of a spider have your camper recall all the ways in which spiders benefit society. Help her to visually identify different parts of the spider’s body and describe their function.

Fear of Heights

1. Encourage your camper to sign up for gymnastics. Here, she can begin by balancing on the low balance beam and work towards balancing on the full beam.
2. Once your camper has slowing exposed herself to these, move to take her on a hike where she can clearly see the altitude increasing, but is assured a gentle path with solid footing.
3. Before beginning the hike establish at “scared scale” with your camper. Tell her that at different points in the hike you would like to gauge her fear level. One representing “very comfortable” and ten representing “extremely fearful.”Ask her what number she feels comfortable reaching and tell her the moment she feels that number you will immediately turn around. Each day challenge your camper to get a little farther on the hike.
4. Once a camper has acclimated to a height where she feels comfortable spend time with her in this space. Encourage her to engage in activities that relax her in these elevated places. For example, bring a bottle of lemonade for your camper and her cabin mates  to enjoy at a mountain summit, or have your camper and her friends make bracelets on a waterfall bridge.

When helping a camper overcome a fear it is important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all policy that will work for every girl. The key is patience. Your job is to help a camper face her fear when she is ready, but only she can decide when the time is right.

Slip’n Slide!

Summer fun

Who doesn’t love a slip’n slide?! Haley Hudler, a long-time camper and current staff member summed up the benefits of working at a camp when she said, “Camp is great because it allows you to relive the fine points of your youth, yet also it gives you the opportunity to mature and grow due to the responsibility hat is places on your shoulders.” Here’s to slip’n slides, shaving creams fights and  crazy summer nights!

The Scent of Wood Smoke

Here is a poem we sometimes read at Spirit Fire.

To An Old Camper
by Mary S. Edgar

You may think, my dear, when you grow quite old
You have left camp days behind,
But I know the scent of wood smoke
Will always call to mind
Little fires at twilight
And trails you used to find.

You may think someday you have quite grown up,
And feel so worldly wise
But suddenly from out of the past
A vision will arise
Of merry folk with brown bare knees
And laughter in their eyes.

You may live in a house built to your taste
In the nicest part of town
But someday for your old camp togs
You’d change your latest gown
And trade it for a balsam bed
Where stars all night look down.

You may find yourself grow wealthy
Have all that gold can buy.
But you’d toss aside a fortune
For days ‘neath an open sky
With sunlight and blue water
And white clouds sailing by.

For once you have been a camper
Then something has come to stay
Deep in your heart forever
Which nothing can take away,
And heaven can only be heaven
With a camp in which to play.

Growing Up at Camp

As a staff member, you really get a chance to make a positive impact on campers! Rockbrook has a built-in leadership program. Campers slowly take on more responsibility and learn how to work as a team-player. During their CA year, campers throw an extravagant end-of-session banquet for the whole camp. Then, they come back the next year as a Hi-Up, live in a “secret” cabin, take care of the dining hall, start all the songs, and surprise younger campers with all sorts of goodies throughout the session.

Here is what a camper wrote about the significant role camp has played in her life:

” What can I say about Rockbrook? After 4 years, I guess I can say Rockbrook has been a wonderful place to go from a little 12 year old to a 15 year old who is close to independence. Rockbrook has shaped me into the young woman I am today – well, it helped and had a big part. I have made so many friends that I will keep forever! I am a CA now, and next year I’ll be a Hi-UP. I will no longer be a camper. BUt in my heart, I will always be a Rockbrook Girl.”

—– Jodi T.

Junior Campers

There are 3 main age groups at camp – Juniors, Middlers and Seniors. Juniors are 6 to 10 years old. Camp is sooooo magical to them. They love to play in the creek, be members of the bug-catcher’s club, sing the same song over and over again, and of course, hang all over their counselors! These little ladies think their counselors are the best! They look forward to bedtime stories and the chance to sit next to their counselors at lunch. For many of them, their first camp experience may be their first time away from home for an extended length of time. Homesickness is fairly common and it’s important for their counselors to be attentive and encouraging  – sometimes for longer than initially anticipated. Being a counselor can be hard because results aren’t always instantaneous, however, it’s important to remember that no kind action is ever wasted! This is a great job for any who loves kids, is an elementary education major, or who plans to be a mom one day.

What Campers Say about Camp

Spirit Fire

Here’s an endearing Carrier Pigeon (camp yearbook) entry a camper wrote about last summer. It really shows just how special and different of an experience we as camp staff help provide for several hundred girls each summer:

“Only one thing can inspire teenage girls to leave the comforts of civilization to go live in un-air-conditioned, wooded cabins where you wake up at 8 to the frigid mountain air and a list of chores. A place full of bugs, hills, and mostly, nature. A place that we all can’t  imagine summer without. Camp.”
—–Larkin J.

Camp Pranks

What would camp be without some lighthearted pranks? There’s a long history of the prank war between the CA’s – the oldest Senior campers, and the Hi-Ups – The oldest age group of all. Think turning their dining hall table upside down, or wrapping bunks in cellophane, freezing the other cabin’s bras. Here’s Anna Alsobrook, 2009 Hi-Up counselor’s, favorite prank from this summer (Note: Hi-Ups take on special tasks like throwing “fairy parties,” which is when they wake up a whole age group and surprise them with a party in the lodge, complete with lots of treats and dancing):

“One night my girls went down to the CA cabins and woke them all up screaming ‘Fairy party! Fairy party!’ Well, all the CA’s went down to the lodge only to find out that there was no fairy party and they had woken up in the middle of the night for no reason!“

Harry Potter Loves Rockbrook

Tally Singer, long-time Rockbrook girl and assistant director this past summer, lives and works in LA during the off-season. She’s worked on movies like The DaVinci Code, and other Ron Howard productions. Recently, she saw Daniel Radcliffe and friends. Here’s the poster they signed for all us girls at Rockbrook!