Last weekend I watched my two-year old chase his older (middle) brother and a friend around the yard. My (almost) 14-year old (gulp!) chatted openly and easily about a recent outing to the lease with his dad. In this moment I thought how lucky I am to have this easy conversation and happy kids, but I also realized I was so close to blowing it.
Let me explain.
In my career, one aspect of my role is to promote and put forward the experts. This has ranged from cardiologists, neurologists, research scientists and epidemiologist to SAP change managers, recruiters, workflow designers, and an occasional medical device manufacturer.
These experts, while fascinating in their own right, didn’t typically have content that directly applied to my life or that of my growing little family.
Cue Camp Fire.
My first day at Camp Fire was my oldest son’s first day of kindergarten, and because of our on-site child care, my 2.5-year-old’s first day in preschool. I was hired to, among other things, raise awareness of Camp Fire’s early childhood experts and the professional development they offer.
When I began working with these experts I discovered this level of understanding, of patience, of creativity when working with small children they displayed is what my family was missing – what I was missing. You see, despite books I had read, my Italian temper and general “loudness” lurked below the surface and when it came out, I saw the hurt in my children’s faces – their instant reaction to my reaction.
It couldn’t continue.
So, I hung on every word – on every lesson. I wanted to soak up all these experts had to share – all the ideas, all the unique ways to talk with, to listen to and grow my children into loving and confident people. Over the course of time these experts covered everything from the necessary, but silly of averting children from swearing by using funny words with emphasis (Smelly Sweat Socks!) to the technical of discussing brain development’s role in learning and that boys really do learn differently than girls and how to harness that uniqueness (as a mom of three boys who grew up in a household of all women, this was a lifesaver) and a number of topics in between.
As my children grew, so did the lessons from these wise people. I continued to fold this richness into my life. Camp Fire continues to influence how I engage with my children even though two of them are no longer “early childhood” age – growth mindset, goal setting, allowing failure as a teaching tool, to explore and test limits, to question – it is a good thing.
For some, these may be inherently known parenting lessons and my hat is off to you – but not for me. I needed to hear it, learn it, then live it. As a new parent you are told, “Children don’t come with instruction manuals.”
Well, I am here to tell you, in my opinion these people are the manual – the famed source of all things that help make parenting less foreign. The child expert mecca. And the beautiful thing is this information is not only for employees – but to everyone.
Camp Fire is in the community. Working with children and adults to learn, to grow to be better. A quick visit to an early childhood educator course (hey – learn with the experts) or a visit to the website to learn about how Thriveology helps set a path for self-discovery and building grit and character are available to you, too. I enroll my children in the programs and see these experts invest in my boys’ lives the way they (knowingly or unknowingly) invested in mine. But this is open to everyone. Not just employees.
Am I perfect now? No. Are my children perfect? No. But I can tell you this. We are all a lot better off than if I hadn’t worked with these experts.
Christy Jones is the vice president of marketing and communications at Camp Fire First Texas. She brings extensive marketing communications experience to Camp Fire, having previously served as the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Martin Fletcher, Communications/PR Manager for Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, as well as Associate Communications Manager for the American Heart Association’s national center headquartered in Dallas. Christy holds a Bachelor of Science in communication from Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo. She lives in Fort Worth with her husband and three sons who have been active participants in Camp Fire programs including the Camp Fire Child Development Center, Camp Fire Day Camps and Camp Fire Camp El Tesoro.
