It is an impactful 70-year legacy worth celebrating:

“Working with Brown & Haley these past 70 years has given our youth tremendous growth opportunities,” said Rick Taylor, CEO of Camp Fire Central Puget Sound based in Seattle, Wa. “[Young people] got to use candy sales to work on goal setting, developing a plan and tracking progress, having conversations with adults and realizing the successes of their time and efforts. Though the boxes and the count may have changed over the years, the one constant in our eight-decade partnership with Brown & Haley has been Camp Fire Mints. Whether eaten straight out of the box, frozen then put in your coffee or used to make the best s’more you ever have tasted, mints will always bring back fond memories to generations of Camp Fire youth.”

This was a difficult decision based on market demands, production efficiency, and Brown & Haley’s own business objectives. In dedication to our long-standing partnership, Brown & Haley has continued to make mints over the past two decades on one machine dedicated to Camp Fire alone.

“We have been grateful for the opportunity to work with Camp Fire for over 70 years,” said John Melin, CEO & President of Brown & Haley. “We appreciate the positive impact that the Camp Fire organization has on our communities and youth, and we are proud to have played a role in your organization’s success through the Candy Fundraiser. Camp Fire is an important part of Brown & Haley’s company heritage. We would like to express our continued support and admiration for the important work that Camp Fire does in our community. We believe in the important role that the organization plays in providing valuable experiences and opportunities for young people, and we remain committed to supporting your mission.” 

Camp Fire Mint-lovers will have one last year to stock up!

Brown & Haley will re-do the packaging and mints will be sold in plastic pouches. Affiliates will consider other offerings for the future that will work best for their own programs and communities that can engage youth in entrepreneurial and business development activities.

Mints may be gone but the memories, skills learned, and nostalgic taste will linger for all time. A huge thank you to Brown & Haley, Camp Fire affiliates and youth, alumni, and mint-lovers for such a cherished and long-standing relationship. Cheers to the next chapter and new ways to best adapt and serve our youth and families for the decades to come. 

Contact your local Camp Fire affiliate to buy your candy!

###

ABOUT CAMP FIRE

Growing up is hard. That’s why Camp Fire connects young people to the outdoors, to others, and to themselves. Founded in 1910, Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multiracial organization for girls but today is an inclusive national youth development nonprofit that serves all young people. By creating safe spaces where young people can have fun and be themselves, its 46 affiliates in 24 states provide affirming, year-round, youth-driven experiences—school day programs, afterschool programs, leadership programs, and camps and outdoor education—that enable youth to develop essential skills that have long-term benefits and make a positive social impact on the world. 

For more information please contact:

Erin K Risner, Director of Marketing & Communications, Camp Fire National Headquarters, 913.289.4773, erin.risner@campfire.org

The post After 70 Years Camp Fire’s Famous Mints Take a Bow: The Final Season of Camp Fire Candy Sales to Celebrate a Valued Partnership, Legacy with Brown & Haley appeared first on Camp Fire.

Living out your values is never easy. One of our core Camp Fire values is, “We honor the power of young people.” To us, honoring power means sharing power through significant youth participation and decision-making.  

But what does this look like in practice? We’re working hard to authentically integrate youth voice through all layers of our organization. It takes forethought and extra energy to upend the adult-led status quo, but it’s worth it if it builds a Camp Fire truly for and by young people.  

It’s a matter of equity 

Youth Voice isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a justice issue. 

“A huge part of it for me is the equity piece,” said Ben Matthews, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Access Manager. “Young people are also a marginalized and oppressed group of people, because of their age and adults’ assumption that they don’t know how to make decisions for themselves.”  

This bias is called adultism, and it’s pervasive in our culture. Ben explained that a major red flag for an adultism attitude is responding to questions from young people with “Because I said so,” “Because I’m the adult,” or “Because that’s just the way we do things.”  

“It’s so much easier to shut down the conversation, rather than to reflect on, ‘Wait a second, why do we do that?’” Ben said.  

Being open to questions doesn’t mean a rule has to change. But treating young people as valuable members of a community means listening to their concerns, brainstorming solutions, and letting them share responsibility for taking action. After all, being a kid or teenager now is completely different from being a kid or teenager 20, 10 or even five years ago. Every generation has unique experiences, challenges and needs. Growing up is hard. 

“Technology, language, the way relationships work—all of that has changed so much,” said Ben. “There’s really no way an adult or anyone more than a couple years older can have any idea what [young people] need right now,” said Ben.  

Challenging adultism by championing youth voice ensures young people get the Camp Fire they need, not the one adults want them to have. 

What is youth voice? 

Inspired by the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality’s work on youth voice, Nikki Roe Cropp, Senior Director, Program Effectiveness, explained that when youth voice is fully integrated into an organization, young people share leadership with adults. On the way to that holistic collaboration, organizations often start with seeking youth input and giving young people more choices. The goal is to build on those valuable beginnings to arrive at true power-sharing.  

• Input: Creating opportunities for youth feedback on activities, programming aspects, and more. 
• Choice: Creating opportunities for young people to make relevant, meaningful and authentic decisions.  
• Shared Leadership: Creating opportunities for all youth to lead in diverse, varied and age-appropriate ways. 

“Youth voice has been a crucial part of Camp Fire for a long time,” said Nikki, “but it’s one of those areas we need to talk about, concentrate on, and ensure we’re doing intentionally—and developmentally.”  

Going from status quo to youth-led 

Making the shift to shared leadership means overcoming ingrained cultural beliefs about how adults and young people are supposed to interact. Both Ben and Nikki emphasized how liberating (and even relaxing) it can be for adult leaders to share power with young people. 

“It’s really getting adults to act as facilitators of learning rather than instructors of content,” said Nikki. “It’s having power with young people instead of power over.”  

Sometimes organizations think of youth voice as something for older teens only, but shared leadership can start early and deepen as children grow alongside their leadership skills. Adults still need to be responsible for making safety decisions along the way, but other leadership roles can be shared at all ages. Youth voice isn’t always a linear trajectory, and Camp Fire creates space to share power in multiple overlapping ways. The leadership opportunities listed below roughly correlate to developmental stages, but don’t underestimate younger kids’ abilities to carry out more high-responsibility power-sharing. We want young people to be the leaders they are today, not just build leadership skills for the future.  

• Lower responsibility leadership tasks:  
• Handing out materials 
• Presenting ideas to a small group 
• Helping peers 
• Setting up snacks 
• Helping a group stay positive 
• Taking responsibility for daily routines 
• Explaining directions 

• Intermediate-responsibility leadership tasks:  
• Leading a group discussion, song, project, event, etc. 
• Co-facilitating program activities with an adult 
• Participating in a program task force or leadership program 

• High-responsibility leadership tasks:  
• Planning program activities 
• Facilitating program activities 
• Mentoring other youth 
• Participating in a youth advisory group 
• Starting their own initiative or group 
• Shared power in organizational decision-making 

Advising the adults 

Youth advisory groups deserve a special mention in any discussion of youth voice. They are a powerful channel for integrating youth voice into the larger organization—if the advisory component is prioritized. Leadership programs aren’t the same things as an advisory board whose function is to practice leadership. It’s easy for adults to blur the lines between youth programming and youth advisory cabinets, but adult sponsors can help maintain the focus.    

Julia Fleenor Bejarano, Camp Fire Marketing Manager, and Hannah Howard, Camp Fire Evaluation Manager, both serve as Youth Voice Coordinators for the National Youth Advisory Cabinet (YAC).  

“We think of our YAC like a person on our staff,” explained Hannah. “We treat our YAC members equally; they are important.” 

YAC members are 16 to 18 years old, have Camp Fire experience, and commit to meeting (virtually) with Camp Fire adult leaders (our CEO, president, senior directors and directors) once a month, September through May. As experts in youth experience, they are paid for their time. 

“We try to be really clear,” said Julia, on making sure other adult leaders understand the purpose of the YAC. “The youth are here to help you make decisions. Come ready.” 

YAC meetings include educational content when it’s necessary for them to fulfill their mission, but the first goal is shared leadership. YAC has advised on a wide variety of topics including website design, social media content, how to word youth survey questions, internal training courses and more. In the past, the YAC has led the redesign of awards and recognitions and traditionally been one of the first stops for strategic plan feedback.   

Julia and Hannah have led a professional learning community for Camp Fire affiliates interested in expanding youth voice and have met with other national youth organizations who want to start youth advisory groups. They report that it’s hard for adults everywhere to make the youth-voice shift.  

“It’s really hard for folks to wrap their brain around,” said Hannah. “It’s a longer process of rewiring our brains to understand that young people are equally if not more important in conversations about youth development. It’s a reframe of the power dynamics between adults and youth.”  

Learn more about youth voice at Camp Fire 

The post It’s not a program; it’s a practice appeared first on Camp Fire.

2 pm. You have 5 minutes before your next meeting starts. Without thinking about it you open Facebook.  

4 pm. The work day is almost over. You just need to reply to some emails. You take a quick break before doing so. You check your messages and stories on IG. Maybe watch a few reels. 

5 pm. Dinner time. You’re reading someone’s rant on twitter when it’s time to sit down. You can finish reading it. Having your phone at the table for a couple minutes won’t hurt. You don’t realize you start scrolling when you are finished. It is halfway through the meal before you realize you haven’t said much to your family since you sat down. The kids even pulled out their phones and are scrolling and eating.  

8:30 pm. The kids are in bed. You finally have time to yourself. There are lots of things you know you could spend this time doing but you really just want to zone out and not have to think. You open TikTok. An hour and half goes by without you noticing. You go to bed and keep scrolling until you fall asleep.  

Does this day look similar to yours? It looks very similar to a lot of people’s.

The average American spends 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media every day. And that number only increases as you look at younger users (U.S. teens spend an average of 4.8 hours on social media every day). 

2 hours and 24 minutes is a lot of time when you factor in work, taking care of family, connecting with friends in real life, enjoying hobbies, etc. We all know how precious time is.  

We also know that the more we spend time with something or someone, the more we take on their attributes as our own. The same goes for the content we consume: the more we watch a type of content, the more it affects how we see the world, ourselves, and others. 

Enter the algorithm. 

Whether you are aware of how social media algorithms work or not, they are playing a huge role in your online life. And the online life of young people.  

“Social media algorithms are designed to serve up content they think a user will like, based on the history of past ranking signals…If the user likes, interacts with, or follows any of these posts or accounts, the algorithm quickly learns to serve up and suggest even more of the same.” (Thank you, Hootsuite) 

Each social media platform has its own algorithm that functions a little differently but the general idea is: the algorithm is watching and learning from the way you interact with the content in your feed, and who you follow. 

The algorithm also has a motive: to keep you scrolling.

The more content that you see in your feed, the more you interact, which leads to more notifications, comments, and tags, activating the same dopamine pathways involved in reward, motivation and addiction. 

Additionally, our brains love to doomscroll. The term “doomscroll” was coined in 2020, and it’s no coincidence that COVID-19 was in full swing as doomscrolling became more prevalent. “Doomscrolling” is when you spend a lot of time online consuming negative news or content. It is hard to tear ourselves away from negative news. It seems counterintuitive, but we do this to feel comfort. If we are feeling anxious, depressed, etc., our brains want us to seek out information to confirm that is how we should be feeling, creating a feedback loop. The scrolling ends up being less about finding news, and more about calming our anxiety (and spoiler alert, it actually does the opposite.) 

How to make your algorithm work for you and your mental health: 

So, if the algorithm is driving the content we see and the experience we are having on social media, what control do we have over it and the content it feeds us? 

1. Save your likes and comments for types of content you definitely want to see again. Only interact with content that is educational, uplifting, and creating connection.  

2. Disable algorithmic feeds on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see posts only in chronological order. 

3. Unfollowing and muting are your friends. Your social media platforms are an extension of your space, so protect it! Unfollow or mute accounts that do not benefit your mental health and well-being.  

4. You can also mute keywords or phrases so content that uses them does not show up in your feed. 

5. Limit the amount of news, politics and diet culture content you have in your feed.  Staying in the know is important, but there is definitely a limit to how helpful consuming that content can be. Avoid doomscrolling.  

6. Know how to spot misinformation and be “news literate” online. News Literacy Project is a great place to start. 

Find more tips here. 

• Want to learn even more about algorithms, social media, and mental health? Check out this study done on Mental Health Content, Community, and Algorithmic Curation on TikTok! 
• If you are also interested in how culture shifts change how we experience entertainment and content, check out The State of the Culture, 2024 by The Honest Broker.

The post Caring for your mental health when the algorithm has other ideas appeared first on Camp Fire.

But access to high-quality early learning opportunities is far from equal! In the U.S., only around half of 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in preschool programs.³ Families in higher-income areas tend to have better access to early education programs than those in disadvantaged neighborhoods. And systemic racism limits both the respect and resources available to early childhood educators: Low wages lead to high turnover and challenges finding qualified early educators, with women of color disproportionately doing this critical work. 

As the Center for American Progress notes, “Despite ongoing oppression and exclusion, women of color—and Black women in particular—have been leaders in the movement for child care, organizing community-led solutions such as family child care networks to fill child care needs in the absence of federal or state support.”⁴  

At Camp Fire, we are working to expand access to powerful early learning experiences, both by taking early education outdoors and by supporting early childhood educators. While 3% of the youth we served last year were pre-K and 29% were in kindergarten through 2nd grade, our impact on early learners extends beyond direct programming.  

Here are two great examples:  

Taking Early Childhood Education Outdoors 

Catherine Hubbard, Outdoor and Nature Programming Manager for Camp Fire National Headquarters, joined the organization in early 2023. Before joining Camp Fire, Catherine spent 16 years at the Nature School at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She started as a teacher and ended up as the director of the innovative outdoor-based school. With co-author Pattie Ensel Bailie, Catherine wrote a book based on her experiences there, Partnering with Nature in Early Childhood to help other educators take early childhood learning outside, and she also is developing an online course, “Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Outdoors,” for Camp Fire’s staff and volunteers. 

Catherine emphasizes that high-quality early childhood programming lays a foundation of social-emotional skills that makes all other learning possible: “Anybody who works with youth at an older age is seeing all of these issues arise—with mental health, emotional health, and self-regulation—and it’s probably because those foundational skills were skipped,” said Catherine. 

She sees nature as one of our best SEL collaborators. “What I learned through my years at the Nature School is that I’m interested in how nature can be a partner in social-emotional learning (SEL),” said Catherine. Getting very young folks outside aligns with Camp Fire’s three-part vision to connect them to the outdoors, others and themselves.  (More than 40,000 kids of all ages took part in 79 Camp Fire environmental and outdoor programs across the country in our most recent program year!) 

In addition to the obvious nature tie-in, Catherine says that learning outdoors creates more equitable classrooms that enable connection to others. “There’s an endless amount of resources outside if nature is the source of your teaching materials,” said Catherine, comparing limited supplies in indoor spaces to the wealth of natural toys (sticks, sand, pinecones, etc.) and open space outside. “So there’s enough to go around. It creates this sense of community.”  

Learning outdoors also offers opportunities for self-discovery: Young children navigate new environments, solve problems and see themselves as part of a larger ecosystem. “As you’re testing your skills in an environment where you’re free to be yourself, you’re really discovering who you are.” explained Catherine. 

She promotes the power of unstructured outdoor play for early childhood students. “It never works to take a group of 3-year-olds outside and start lecturing them about plants and animals, right?” she laughed. “That is not how they learn. They learn with their whole bodies, and they need to play and wiggle and throw themselves into the mud puddles.” 

Catherine said this wisdom isn’t new; it’s just been discounted by those who have viewed early childhood education as “babysitting,” not foundational learning. 

“Early childhood educators have been talking about SEL for a long, long time,” said Catherine.“

Empowering Early Childhood Educators 

Camp Fire First Texas is doing the opposite of dismissing early educator’s experience: It’s amplifying through their Early Education Workforce Development program.   

Travis Davis, Vice President of the program, said the 20-year effort grew out of a long-time Camp Fire family’s passion for supporting early childhood education, the affiliate’s past experience running an early childhood center (now led by Early Head Start), and Camp Fire First Texas’s role as the area’s child care resource and referral touchpoint.  

“The initial work of Camp Fire First Texas serving as Dallas / Fort Worth’s Child Care Resource and Referral Agency has served us well to meet the needs of early childhood teachers and directors today,” said Travis. 

The Early Education Workforce Development program offers in-person and virtual workshops, an early education apprenticeship program, and Child Development Associate and Child Care Director Administrator credential courses. Travis says they try to offer professional development for people just starting their early childhood careers and those who are looking for more advanced continuing education.  

There’s healthy crossover between the Workforce Development program and other Camp Fire offerings, especially afterschool initiatives. Travis is able to offer afterschool staff continuing education opportunities. 

Most importantly, empowering effective early childhood educators aligns with Camp Fire’s mission, including helping very young children connect to others.  

“At the heart of our work is helping young children have good relationships, both with caregivers, but also with other children in the program,” said Travis. “Then that translates to good relationships with people down the road, too.” 

He cited an Early Learning Alliance study of how Fort Worth kindergarten teachers defined school readiness: Instead of focusing on academic readiness, the teachers were mostly concerned with incoming students’ social-emotional skills, such as getting along with peers, self-regulation and being able to follow simple instructions.  

“That’s what being ready is really all about,” said Travis. “And that comes back to people creating environments where children can feel included and supported. And where adults have the skills they need to help build successful relationships within their program.” 

Starting a lifetime of connection early 

We all need to feel like we belong, whether we’re 2 or 92. And we all need to feel connected to each other.  

“The essential human needs don’t change,” Catherine said. “Really small children, middle-aged people, and really old people all need to feel that they matter. They all need to feel safe and loved. And they all thrive when they have access to the outdoor world. It doesn’t really matter what age you are. It’s just a human need.”  

Find a Camp Fire program near you! 

Find Your Camp Fire!

1. “High-quality early child care and education: The gift that lasts a lifetime,” Brookings. 4 November 2021. Accessed 17 April 2024. 

2. “Early Childhood Education,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed 17 April 2024.  

3. “Enrollment rates of young children,” National Center for Education Statistics. May 2023. Accessed 17 April 2024.  

4. “Data Dashboard: An Overview of Child Care and Early Learning in the United States,” Center for American Progress. 14 December 2023. Accessed 17 April 2024. 

The post Little Kids, Big Impact appeared first on Camp Fire.

Kazumi Haag is a fourth-generation Camp Fire participant and a National Youth Advisory Cabinet member. Her dad, Eric, a biologist at the University of Maryland, started Spark Seekers, a Camp Fire group for Kazumi and her friends in College Park when they were grade schoolers. Growing up in Nevada, Eric had joined his sister’s Camp Fire troop because he wanted more outdoor experiences than he was getting in the local Boy Scouts. Eric’s dad (Kazumi’s grandfather) led that Camp Fire group. He was inspired by his mother (Eric’s grandmother and Kazumi’s great-grandmother), who joined Camp Fire in Florida in 1910, the year it began.  

Kazumi grew up hiking and car camping with her family and Camp Fire buddies, but her relationship with the environment deepened when she joined the crew team her freshman year of high school.   

“One time, we went down to this site on the water, but there was no dirt next to the river, it was just packed trash,” remembered Kazumi. “There was just layers of plastic and plastic, almost like sedimentary rock” 

“We filled up 30 30-gallon trash bags, and you couldn’t tell that we did anything,” said Eric. “The trash was sort of like a geological feature. After that, I pick up any piece of plastic I see in the gutter now because I know where it’s going.” 

Kazumi’s crew team has a strict prohibition against plastic bottles and is working to reduce trash at their boathouse. They volunteer to help clean the smaller streams that flow into the Anacostia and plant trees, which help catch trash and filter stormwater runoff.  

“Camp Fire changed my perspective; it took me from loving animals to wanting to save them,” said Kazumi. “But also Camp Fire helps people just take a breather. Camp Fires helped me and the other kids in our troop see that if you take a second to be outdoors and be at peace, it definitely helps.”  

Eric echoes the importance of understanding the natural systems we live in. “It’s around you all the time if you open your ears to it,” he said, citing neighborhood organizations doing grassroots environmental work, the vast educational resources at state parks, and scientists like Jason Munshi-South, who study wildlife in urban environments. 

The post Embrace your own ecosystem appeared first on Camp Fire.

You’ll find in this report the many ways that we continued to learn and grow as an organization. Advancing equity will remain a priority as we move forward as a values-led organization and strive to be relevant to today’s youth and families, meeting the current moment we all find ourselves in.

Our 46 affiliates in 24 states served more than 713,000 youth, adults and families across 5,100+ program sites over the past eight years. Numbers are important, but what really matters are the individual stories of impact at the local level.

We share the following snapshot of Camp Fire’s impact across the country to connect you with the work you make possible. Thank you for being with us on this journey.

Wishing you more courage for more connection,

Greg Zweber, CEO | Camp Fire National Headquarters

Download the Report

The post Camp Fire’s People & Impact: 2022-2023 appeared first on Camp Fire.

Praise is one of the best techniques when working with kids!

It builds confidence, helps them to know what we like, and can reinforce the behaviors we want to see more. 

The key is “catching” the good stuff, so we can praise and acknowledge it. How do you do it?

1. Start noticing what they’re doing and saying it out loud.

• “I love that you’re putting your puzzle away.”
• “It was great to see you sharing your toys with your cousin.”
• “Thanks for waiting patiently while I was talking with the neighbor.”

2. Be as specific as possible.

• “Good job” is less meaningful than “I noticed you put your dinner dishes in the dishwasher. Thanks for doing that.”

3. Share praise regularly.

• It takes about five positive comments to balance out one negative one, so make sure you’re sharing plenty of positive comments and observations.

It’s not a magic wand, but you might be surprised about how powerful praise is when you take the time to give your children some positive attention.

Need more ideas on building up your child’s happiness and mental health? Check out OnOurSleeves.org!

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day® is March 21st!

Every year, millions of people write/tell a young person in their life why they matter and what makes them amazing. Camp Fire founded this holiday in 1997 to encourage and inspire young people nationwide. Learn more at campfire.org/kidday.

Your words are powerful. Encourage a young person. Make an impact.

The post The Power of Praise appeared first on Camp Fire.

We know that kids who have a certain set of competencies and skills are better able to navigate through challenging times and cope with adversity.  The process in which youth gain these necessary skills and competencies is called social-emotional learning or SEL.  Social-emotional learning is nothing new—teachers, counselors, coaches, and youth workers have been modeling and teaching social and emotional development strategies for a long time.  There are decades of research that illustrates the benefits of SEL for kids both in and out of the classroom.   SEL is infused into Camp Fire’s program framework, making it a cornerstone of the Camp Fire experience.     

SEL has changed over the years.  It was changing before the pandemic as folks implementing it started recognizing that this process of building social and emotional skills needs to be contextualized to different cultures, norms, and priorities. Just as regular teaching has evolved over the years to include more culturally responsive practices, so has SEL. And then during and after the pandemic and racial unrest in our country, SEL had to evolve again—as kids’ needs changed during that time.   

Transformative SEL was born in response to us finally acknowledging the disparities in education and opportunities based on a kid’s socioeconomic status, race, zip code, home language, disability status, and other factors. “Transformative SEL” is a form of SEL implementation where young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships to engage in co-learning. It facilitates critical examination of individual and contextual factors that contribute to inequities and calls for collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being.  It recognizes that youth can be a part of creating just environments now and for the future.  

Today’s young people are primed for Transformative SEL. Search Institute recently reported that youth are more invested today in caring, equality and social justice, cultural competence, and valuing diversity than they were in 2016.   

Graph to the right: Internal comparison of trends between 2020 and 2022 Attitudes & Behaviors Survey aggregate data 

We know that empathy and compassion are not enough to advance equity.  At Camp Fire, we employ practices and programming that center humanity, honor identity, promote healing and liberation, and build skills needed to act and advocate for social justice.   This is Transformative SEL in action!

Want to read more about SEL and Camp Fire? Check out Building Equity with Social Emotional Learning (SEL).

The post Center Humanity, Honor Identity, Promote Healing & Cultivate Liberation: This Is Transformative SEL appeared first on Camp Fire.

It’s our annual invitation to intentional connection. So we’ve been thinking about how we can align our #KidDay efforts with what children and teens need from us now. Our National Youth Advisory Cabinet has been sharing what kinds of messages mean the most to them.   

We were also inspired by Stephanie Malia Krauss’s recent presentation at our National Leadership Conference. Her book Whole Child, Whole Life had so much applicable connection wisdom, we wanted to ask how to apply it to #KidDay encouragement this year.  

Stephanie’s own growing-up challenges made her curious about what it takes for kids to thrive. It’s a question she has explored throughout her professional life as an educator, coach, social worker, consultant, and author.  

“I dropped out of school soon after the eighth grade, but ended up in college at 16,” Stephanie said. “And I would wonder what I had that made me ready because I didn’t have an excellent childhood, excellent standardized test scores, or any of the typical success measures.”  

What she did have was what researcher Jonathan Zaff called “a web of support,” including a middle school counselor who continued supporting her after she dropped out and consistent, practical care from coaches, friends’ parents, and bosses. Stephanie’s work now bridges that kind of frontline, community-led support with addressing the systemic barriers that keep kids from the futures they want. And connection is at the heart of it all.  

“What we know from the research is that being known and understood is one of the most tender and transformative experiences we can have,” said Stephanie. “And that magic connection of relationship ends up helping both the kid and the grown-up at the same time.” 

Here are five opportunities for deeper connection Stephanie suggested for #KidDay:  

1. Be curious about the differences in your growing-up experiences 

“The lived experience of today’s kids is significantly different from our own,” Stephanie said. “We know from the science that we’re wired and rewired based on our environments and experiences.” 

To create richer connections with young people, adults can check ourselves for assumptions we might be making and get curious about kids’ realities.  

Stephanie shared that her sons (ages 13 and almost 11) have been able to experience a “range of wonders,” including travel, an “eclectic” family, and chances to explore their passions, including athletics, art, and Lego. They also endured a pandemic, complex health issues and witnessed their godbrother survive and recover from a brutal school shooting. Their worries aren’t the same ones Stephanie had as a child.  

“It’s important for us to honor and recognize the reality of what kids have lived through and the strength and struggle that brings,” said Stephanie. “There’s something deeply profound in honoring their emerging, evolving stories.” 

Try it: This #KidDay, ask a young person what they love the most about being young right now. Then ask them what worries them.  

2. Listen first 

“Conversations about kids need to start with kids,” said Stephanie, whose most recent book opens with a preface written by her son.  

Stephanie described a recent listening and learning session she facilitated for a high school in Hawaii. Caregivers, teachers, coaches and counselors were invited to sit on the periphery of the circle while students were in the middle with Stephanie, sharing their thoughts on mental health, relationships and their hopes for the future. 

“The job of the grown-ups was to listen,” said Stephanie. “Those kinds of practices with groups and individuals can be really powerful, so long as trust is present and safety is held at the center.”   

Whether you’re holding a formal or informal listening session of your own, centering the voices of young people is a powerful statement of support. You can encourage them without saying a single word. 

Try it: Leading up to #KidDay, ask a young person how they want to be encouraged. Then follow their direction!  

3. Go beyond transactional to transformational 

Stephanie outlined five pieces to getting to know a whole child. The first three are the baseline need-to-knows for adults who are working with or caring for a young person:  

• Demographics and determinants: What risks and opportunities do young people experience based on what they look like and where they live? 
• Age and stage: What does the child need developmentally right now? 
• Brain and body: How does the child’s health affect their life? 

“I could know all that information, but still not create the conditions where a child feels cared for,” said Stephanie.  

She described the first three categories as transactional — things an adult needs to know to do the basics of their youth-related job, whether that’s teaching, providing services, mentoring or caregiving. But the last two categories are the ones that can transform information into true relationship:  

• People and places: Who are the people in the child’s life? Where do they spend time together? What is the child-like with those people and in those places? 
• Strengths and struggles: What makes the child come alive and what shuts them down?  

“If we can earnestly and honestly pursue those pieces, that’s when connection comes,” said Stephanie.  

Try it: Ask a young person where their favorite place is or who their favorite people are. Can you help arrange a #KidDay gathering or outing to celebrate those people or places? 

4. Recognize you’re part of a relationship web 

Stephanie is a fan of psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner, who helped develop the Head Start program. She paraphrased one of his main tenets: Every kid needs one adult who thinks they are the greatest of all time. But they also need a whole network of people who are showing up and offering everyday support.  

You don’t need to be every kid’s Biggest Fan, but you can be a consistent source of positivity for a wide range of young people in your life. There will always be kids you don’t gel with. Stephanie said that’s ok: You can treat all kids with care and help connect them to adults they may relate to better. 

“We don’t have to be all things to all kids, all the time,” said Stephanie. “But we can strive to create the conditions that are optimal for whatever relationship needs to emerge.”  

Try it: Do you know a young person who needs a mentor…who isn’t you? Use #KidDay as an excuse to make an introduction!  

5. Value the mundane moments 

Stephanie reminds adults that they often don’t know the impact they are having. For Whole Child, Whole Life, she interviewed David Shapiro, former CEO of MENTOR, about what he learned during his time there.  

“One of the things he said was never underestimate the power of a mundane moment,” remembered Stephanie. “What might be boring for you, may not be for the kid in your care. And that’s not for you to decide.” 

Stephanie encourages adults and kids to find ways to just be humans together, whenever you can. 

“The quality of connection is far more important than the quantity of time,” Stephanie said. “Our life is a string of moments and experiences. Do not undervalue the power of those moments, even if they’re periodic.” 

Try it: The next time you’re doing chores, driving between activities, or having another mundane moment with a kid in your life, let them know you like doing the everyday stuff with them and why.  

LEARN MORE about how you can participate in #KidDay2024! 

*#KidDay coincides with Camp Fire’s birthday – this year we turn 114 years old! 

The post #KidDay: An invitation to connection appeared first on Camp Fire.

In this post, Illuminative well-captured the devastating stats about the lack of safety and high suicide rates that impact our 2SLGBTQ+ young people, just like Nex (learn more here at the Trevor Project). Camp Fire has long supported and affirmed all 2SLGBTQ+ young people and works to create spaces where all young people feel safe and can thrive. In fact, we just published a new study about “the impact of both physical spaces and psychological conditions that allow youth “to just be,” with an emphasis on identity and gender-affirming practices for transgender and non-binary young people,” because we KNOW how much it matters for all adults and organizations to CREATE these spaces. They don’t just happen.

We must come together and support one another – especially our 2SLGBTQ+ youth. Our young people should never live in fear. They need us.

Members of Camp Fire Green Country plan to be at Nex’s vigil Sunday evening

Please be aware of and share these important lifesaving resources:

• Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860 (Staffed by transgender folks, for transgender folks; toll-free)
• The Trevor Project Hotline: 866-488-7386 (Available 24/7; with counselors trained in supporting LGBTQ youth)
• Rainbow Youth Project: 988 or call (317) 643-4888 (Crisis line)
• Native Crisis Text line: Text NATIVE to 741741 (Available 24/7; text support provided by crisis counselors)

Follow on IG:

• @FreedomOklahoma 
• @TransAdvocacyOK 
• @glaad @trevorproject 
• @WeRNative 
• @stopbullyinggo

The post Protect Trans* Kids: Remembering Nex Benedict appeared first on Camp Fire.