When making the bed, use a fitted sheet with a pool noodle along the edge of the bed.  See the picture below for an example.  When the sheet is in place, the pool noodle is held snugly, creating a bumper for your kiddo in the night.  There are no guarantees, but hopefully it can help give the parent and the child a bit of comfort about being on the top bunk.

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Here are some things you can do to prepare your kids for camp as the summer approaches:

1. Pray for them. One of the most important things you can do for your kids is to pray for them. As you pray for them, pray with them too!

2. Familiarize your kids with the theme and verses for camp. Each year at CentriKid, we have a theme and a key verse of scripture. This year’s theme is Out of this World: Where God is Always with Us; the key verse is found in Revelation 21:3. Most camps have a theme that goes along with the bible study material for the week. Getting your kids familiar with this before hand will help them to begin learning before they even get to camp!

3. Calm their fears. Your kids may be a little nervous about being away from home for an entire week. Do your best to ease their nerves before they leave. This will help set them up to have a great week of camp. As parents, it is perfectly normal for you to also be nervous about your kids being away for home. Try not to show them that you are nervous too!

5. Get them excited! After calming their fears, get them excited! When I was a kid, the night before camp always felt kind of like the night before Christmas. Share in their excitement about coming to camp. Go out to eat as a family the night before camp or do something special to get them even more excited! This will be something they remember for years to come.

6. Use a packing list to make sure your kids have everything they need! At CentriKid we provide a generic packing list to use when preparing for camp. A packing list is a great tool to help you prepare your kids for camp!

Are you a parent of a first time camper? Check the link below!

http://centrikid.com/2012/05/03/3-things-to-tell-parents-of-first-time-campers/#.UW6n6KsjpUt

What are some tips or ideas you have to prepare your kids for camp? Comment and let us know!

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Homesickness is normal, especially for young kids, and can stop a child from enjoying their experience to the fullest. A homesick child tends to miss out on the joys of getting away. As a parent or children’s leader, there are some basic things you can do to help combat homesickness:

As a children’s leader:

• Be a great listener. Children battling homesickness often feel lost in the shuffle and only need an ear, a hug, and a reminder that it will be okay.
• Remind homesick kids that their parents love them and want them to have a great time at camp. A simple reminder can make a huge difference.
• Remind them that their parents will be waiting when they get home in just a few more days and they should enjoy the time they have left. Time goes by fast!
• Try asking what their favorite thing was about the day and remind them of all the fun they’re having.

As a parent:

• Call and check in occasionally, but try to encourage your childrens independence. Don’t suggest homesickness to them or tell them about all the great things they’re missing out on by being gone.
• Remind them that you love them and miss them also, but will be there waiting when they get home in just a few days.
• Send them with familiar objects that remind them of home like a blanket or teddy bear. As a child, my parents always stuck letters and photos of my family in my suitcase when I traveled. Their encouraging words reminded me that they loved me and were proud of me for trying fun, new things.
• If your child calls upset, don’t immediately jump to offering to come get your child. This is a valuable time to teach your children to enjoy being away and yet love coming home. Don’t cave immediately, but give them a chance to push through. Homesickness usually clears up very quickly.

No matter your role, the most important thing to remember when dealing with a homesick child is to not make it worse. Homesickness normally doesn’t last long and can be an opportunity for positive growth. Don’t make the situation sound more grave, but rather always try to remind them of all the fun they are missing out on by not enjoying their time away.

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Please remember that preordering care packages is a commitment to pay for all of them upon arriving to camp. You will pay for your care package and pick them up at Check-In, either via cash, check, or credit. Unfortunately, care packages can not be directly billed to your LifeWay account.

Once you have preordered via the form, marking care packages on your participant list will be only for your own reference. If you miss the June 5 deadline, you can contact your camp director and order them by marking them on your participant list, understanding that they are on a first come, first serve basis, pending availability.

Check out the contents of this year’s camper care package, a $35 value for only $30! You won’t want to miss this!

Care packages include a backpack, OMC shirt in your team color, water bottle, missions bracelet, and staff poster (not pictured).

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Before coming to camp, encourage your kids to write their names on everything – especially their Bibles. While you are at camp, be sure to check the lost and found regularly. If you or your kids misplace a high-ticket item such as cash, wallets, phones, check with the Camp Director or Assistant Director.

On the last day of camp, the Camp Director will highlight all of the items that have not been claimed in a “Lost and Found Show.” Make sure that you have at least one adult present at the final Adult Gathering in order to claim these items. We want you to come home with the things that you brought.

The good news: If you get home and realize that you left something at camp, hope is not lost! We keep all the items that have not been claimed through the end of the summer. Feel free to get in touch with the Camp Director or Assistant Director, tell them which week you attended, and we’ll be happy to mail your items to you. Even at the end of the summer, we store lost and found items in our warehouse at LifeWay for about two months, so feel free to get in touch with us.

The bad news: If you get home and are looking for your other mismatched dirty sock or your mildewed wet towel, we probably threw them away.

We hope to see you at camp this summer. It’s not too late to sign up for CentriKid 2013!

The post CentriKid Lost and Found appeared first on CentriKid.

At CentriKid Camps, we offer 19 very unique track times. We have a customized software program that assigns kids into track times based on their choices, and the Camp Director and Assistant Director are always happy to make changes to accommodate special circumstances. We want kids to be as happy as possible.

One question that we are often asked is regarding the skill level of our sports track times. We have to tailor our track time plans to a very broad spectrum of kids, so in general, our sports tracks are on a beginner to intermediate level. If you have a kid in your group that was recently named MVP of his baseball team, he might be a little bored with the baseball track. This might be a great opportunity to encourage these kids to try something new. Then again, these types of kids are often “enthusiasts” or “fanatics,” so they may say “baseball or nothing,” and that’s the beauty of it – it all comes down to choice!

Time and time again when I ask kids what their favorite part of the camp day is, they consistently tell me “track times.” This is because they are doing things that they love and in which they are interested…and the best part? CentriKid track time leaders will ALWAYS take time to make a meaningful connection to God’s word that relates to the spiritual theme for the day. Click here for more details about how we connect activities to Scripture.

We’re excited about camp this summer and all the tracks in which kids will participate, and we hope you are too!

Don’t forget to have kids fill out their track time choices prior to arrival.

Have you heard the news? In 2013, we’ve changed the schedule and now kids can participate in three track times instead of just two!

Want to be a part of all the fun? It’s not too late to sign up for CentriKid in 2013!

The post Kids Win with CentriKid Track Times appeared first on CentriKid.

At CentriKid Camps, we make it a point to seek out those kids who we know are hurting. We ask Group Leaders to fill out special attention cards to notify us of any mobility, dietary, or emotional needs. We don’t just use these special attention cards to notify our staffers of who in their groups will require a little extra attention. Instead, we take these cards on the first night of the week and assign a staffer, who can relate to the camper’s needs, to pour into them throughout the whole week. We then take time to pray over each need.

It’s been so awesome to see how God has taken circumstances that have happened in our staffers’ lives, such as divorce, moving to a new town, and parents passing away to impact campers who are dealing with the exact same circumstance. As you do ministry each day, always remember that your story matters. Don’t be ashamed to tell about the circumstances in your life that God has brought you through because you never know who is dealing with the exact same thing. Seek out the children you work with and make sure that you strive to know them beyond the fun and games. Ask God today to lay a few specific children on your heart that you can invest in, love on, and let them know that they are not alone.

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Here are some ways we develop leadership that can transfer directly to your ministry: 

1 – Develop a Reading List.  It is valuable to get your organization marching in the same direction.  We provide several readings prior to the summer to get staff prepared for their roles, and also provide the Essential Camp Leadership Reading List to point growing leaders toward books and articles that are foundational to our ministry strategy.

2 – Attend a Conference Together.  There is something unique about getting away with your ministry leaders.  A few of our favorites include the Catalyst Conference, and for leaders specifically in kid’s ministry, the LifeWay Kids Ministry Conference (KMC) held every October. We are also big fans of the yearly Chick-Fil-A Leadercast each May.

3 – Plan Specific Training Sessions.  We have two main training sessions for CentriKid staff.  In addition to training week for all camp staff at the start of the summer, we also have a training in March for our leadership team.  We invite camp Directors and Assistant Directors to Nashville for a weekend for focused leadership training and to prepare for their specific roles.

4 – Train Younger Leaders Along the Way.  Each October, we bring in several camp staff to KMC to help run the event. At the end of each day, we step aside and debrief the day as we talk about specific leadership principles. We use this opportunity to invest in potential leaders throughout the year, rather than just in the summertime.

5 – Have Intentional Conversations.  Take the time to connect with your teammates, volunteers, or staff.  We all know that our teammates are real people, but we often get too busy with logistics to invest in their lives. Carve out time to spend with those you serve with and be intentional about that time together.  A phrase we use often to remind our camp Directors of this principle is “Never walk alone.”

6 – Reproduce Yourself in Others.  It is uncomfortable to think about being replaced, but the reality is that one day there will be someone else in your ministry role.  Scripture shows how Christ demonstrated this principle by preparing the disciples to carry on and lead the church.  You don’t have to start packing up your office, but begin to share the things you know so the next generation of leaders can build on the work you’ve done.

What other tools do you use to invest in leaders?  How do you develop future leaders within your ministry?

The post 6 Practical Tools to Develop Leadership appeared first on CentriKid.

If you are a new staffer getting ready for your first summer of camp, there are probably tons of questions racing through your mind about what to expect when you arrive at camp. Here are five things that I wish I had known before my first summer.

The post 5 Things I Wish I Had Known Before My 1st Summer appeared first on CentriKid.

Today is the day to start doing something.
I’ve heard a lot throughout the years about “Family Night” or “Family Meetings,” and you probably have, too. Growing up, it always sounded like forced fun where parents wouldn’t let one of my friends play because they had to sit in their living room and stare at each other for a few hours. I’m not advocating you do that, but I am advocating that you do SOMETHING.

I know that you probably feel like you can’t add another thing to your plate without it crumbling. It is ok to feel that way! God desires to give you the strength to begin discipling your children today.

Discipleship is building relationships so as to point others to Christ… and there is no relationship that can have a greater impact on a child than a parent’s.

Discipleship in the home doesn’t have to be a family devotional time of singing and Scripture reading. Discipleship doesn’t have to have a title like “Family Game Night” “Focused Friday.” Discipleship is meant to organically grow out of the daily teaching and caring of a parent.

It is ok that you don’t sit down every night together at the table and have deep conversation over dinner. It is ok that you sometimes feel more like a taxi driver than a spiritual guide. It is ok that you don’t feel prepared to disciple your kids, but that in no way provides permission to not do so. In the car on your drive home or to school, while you grab a snack in the kitchen on Saturday afternoon, when you are playing catch in the backyard, allow God to permeate your conversation. Seek to start one conversation a day with your child about God. Ask questions about their day. Ask them what they are learning about God. Share with them what you are learning.

Start today. Start teaching; start talking; start sharing. It doesn’t matter if you have an infant or a teenager; begin pointing conversations to Christ today and watch what He can do through you. Just commit to start and pray that the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

It is the most important thing you can do for your child. Begin now.
We are praying for you parents today.

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