Parent Orientation Video

Hello everyone. Welcome to the Walton’s Grizzly Lodge new family online orientation.

Hopefully you were able to access the webinar easily. I see that we have many families on the call tonight, so welcome to all of you new families. We are so excited to welcome you to Walton’s Grizzly Lodge and to go over a few things that will hopefully make getting ready for camp very smooth for you and your camper.

Just a couple of housekeeping items before we get started. You are all muted, so I can’t hear you if you have questions, but you can type in questions as we go, and I’ll talk to you a little bit more about that. You have the option to either hear the sound through your computer or, if you’ve called in to the number, you can hear it through your phone. I hope that’s all working out for you and you’re not having any technical difficulties. I had visions of speaking to my computer and no one being able to hear me, or you not being able to see my screen, so I’m hoping that works out.

Our family does summer camp really well, and we’re excellent with children. Webinars are brand new to us, so I just want to let you know: please be patient. To set the scene, we came back from our family meeting where all of us were together and talking about the webinar, and Grandpa Bob was like, “And what is a webinar?” So we were explaining it to them, telling them how we’re going to be talking to our new families. They got a kick out of that, as the third generation, and wished us all luck.

Adam and I are in our home office. Erica is at her home office in Truckee, and our teenage daughter is in charge of keeping the door and the dog quiet. Those are the things that we can control. We do live on a busy main street here in Grass Valley, so pardon us if sirens or something go off, but bear with us.

Adam is taking care of questions, so if you have questions as we go, you can type them in. Hopefully you see the spot there on your screen on the right-hand side, the blue bar that says “Questions.” If it’s not showing a place for you to type a question, hit that little triangle so that it’s pointing down, and you should be able to type your question in there. When you type your question, only Adam and I will be able to see it, and he will answer your question just to you, or if it’s a question we’re getting quite a bit, he might respond so that everybody can see that answer.

Okay, so let’s get started.

First off, I just want to say welcome again to all of you. This is really an exciting time for us. Camp is getting closer, and our two families spend all nine months preparing for camp. So the best part of the year is just around the corner, as far as we are concerned.

My name is Julie, and as I mentioned, my husband is Adam. We have two daughters, Ella and Georgia. We’re in partnership with Adam’s brother, Jared, and his wife, Erica, and they have three children: Abby, Charlie, and Greta. I think most of you know the story, but Adam and Jared’s great-grandparents started camp, and that makes us the fourth-generation owners and directors. So quite a bit of history. We are getting prepared for the 88th summer of Walton’s Grizzly Lodge. I’m going to be honest: some of the younger campers have asked me what it was like 88 years ago when I was running camp, so I tell them I was not here.

All right, let’s talk about what we’re going to cover tonight.

The most important thing we’re going to cover is getting ready for camp. It is just around the corner. Your children are probably very excited for their first Walton’s Grizzly Lodge camp experience. You are probably excited as well. We really want to make your first experience as positive and rewarding as possible. The first step to this is being prepared.

The topics we’re going to cover tonight are primarily geared toward parents. Some of you may have your kids on the call as well, and that’s totally fine, but it is more focused toward parents, so keep that in mind. The things that we’re going to cover are getting ready for camp, what parents can do to get ready and get their mindset around camp, and what campers can do. We’re going to cover packing in detail. We’re going to talk about the opening day of your session—knowing what to expect is really important—and then a few tips about while your camper is at Walton’s Grizzly Lodge. And again, we’ll take questions.

Depending on how many questions we get, I might pause periodically and have Adam answer the questions live, or he might just tell me if he wants to chime in on something. He’s a pretty fast typist, but be patient with him. There are a lot of people on the call.

Okay, so let’s start with preparation for parents.

The first topic in preparing parents is realizing that you may fall victim to kid sickness. Now, kid sickness is not how you feel when they don’t clean their room or when they forget their lunch for the second time that week and it’s sitting on the kitchen counter. You know what I’m talking about. Kid sickness is really missing those kids.

I want to let you know that sometimes this can sneak up on you. I have talked to many, many parents who have said, “Oh, I’m going to be fine. I’m not worried about it. I’m looking forward to getting stuff done around the house,” or “I have plans.” And then it takes them by surprise, and they actually find that they are really missing their kids more than they thought.

It’s fine to miss them, but if it really starts to turn into quite a bit of worry on your part, then we want you to take action and not let that get the better of you.

A couple of things that you can do, of course, are stay busy. I’m serious about that. We laugh, but really, plan now. What are you going to do when your child is at camp? Focus on something that you’re going to do and have a plan.

Do send letters and email. The important part of that is really to focus on camp in those letters and emails to your child. So if you are missing them, or if you’re having a fabulous time and haven’t thought about them at all, be sure not to focus your letter and your email either on “I miss you so much. It’s just not the same. Even the cat is depressed,” or also, “We are having the best time. We have gone to Disneyland every other day. We’ve rearranged your room,” and on and on and on. You really want to focus on camp. So: How’s camp going? Who’s your counselor? What are your favorite activities? Those kinds of questions and comments. Again, the focus of your letters and your email should be about the camp experience.

And you can check in on your kids—and I don’t mean driving up that camp road and hiding behind a pine tree. There are other ways to check in. You can check in on our website, through Facebook, and I do send out tweets. You can follow me. I don’t tweet all day, but I do, especially in the morning, try to give parents a little glimpse of what our day looks like, and sometimes at the end of the day, some highlights.

Let me show you, for those of you that haven’t seen the website and Facebook. Let me see if I can do this without messing something up. I think I can. Okay, here we go. Ah, ta-da. I did it. The new Walton’s Grizzly Lodge website. Raise your hand if you’ve seen it. Are you raising your hand? I can’t tell. You actually can raise your hand on the webinar with a little hand that you can put up.

If you haven’t seen the website, be sure to check it out because it’s a really important place that you need to go as a parent of a camper at Walton’s Grizzly Lodge. Of course, there are all these different places and all these amazing pictures and videos and things to explore, but one really important area that you’re going to want to check out is the area called “My Account.” “My Account” is where you can log in. You’ll be able to see pictures that are posted just for parents, for people who are logged in, and for particular sessions. You’ll also be able to email your campers from there and see the news that we’re posting there.

Another thing you’re really going to want to check out is the Walton’s Grizzly Lodge Facebook page. If you’ve liked our page, then you’ll get information about camp in your Facebook news feed. We let people know when our new website is up, and we post information about staff and, during the summer, pictures of campers and events that are happening.

The next thing I want to talk to you about is preparation for kids.

As camp is approaching and kids are getting more and more excited, one thing we really recommend is for you to talk with your child about the things they are most looking forward to about their experience at camp. We think it’s terrific to really focus them in on: What are your top three activities? Or maybe four or five. Whatever. But what are the top activities you are really looking forward to? It may help them to look at the video again or cruise around the website and see what activities are really interesting to them. When they get to camp and they’re sharing that information with people, I think it will be very helpful for them to have that to talk about on that first opening day to other campers. The counselors do a lot of that: “What are you looking forward to?” So helping them focus on that is a great way to help them prepare for camp.

The next thing is for them to practice camp life. By practicing camp life, I don’t mean you all need to go and get on a horseback riding trip or be sure you’re taking them to the lake to practice their water skiing or fishing or any of those other things. What we mean by practicing camp life are all those daily living habits that will be helpful for them to practice.

Not all kids need to practice these, of course, depending on their age and experience, but some of those things are sleepovers. If your child still gets a little nervous sleeping over, that’s okay, but maybe plan a practice sleepover with a relative or a good friend. Showering—now that might seem a little silly, but honestly, we do have campers who still can’t get the shampoo out of their hair. So it’s really, really helpful if they have that skill down. We also get, “Where’s the bathtub?” and we say, “There’s no bathtub. There’s a lake, and we have showers.” So it’s really important that they are able to do that on their own.

Lip balm and lotion. Don’t these seem like the tiniest little things? But let me tell you, they will make a world of difference for your child if they get in the habit of having lip balm in their pocket and putting that on several times a day, and putting lotion on before they go to sleep at night and in the morning. That’s really, really a helpful habit.

And then encouraging your kids to ask questions. If they are wondering about things, encourage them to ask you and have conversations. We really find that the more kids know what to expect, the better prepared they are.

Your child might be one of those that gets into the what-ifs. There might be a lot of what-ifs. They want an answer to every single thing. Some of those questions, of course, you’re going to be able to answer, and some you may not. You might want to send us a quick email or pick up the phone. One of us would love to answer your questions for you.

In some campers, those questions might really turn into a little bit of worrying about things that are very common to worry about. You know: What if I feel homesick? What if I’m a picky eater and I don’t like the food? What if I’m really nervous or shy? What if I don’t know anybody?

What we want you to know, and what we want you to be able to have a conversation with your camper about, is that obviously all of these things are very, very normal what-ifs to have. We really do talk to kids about framing that as what-ifs rather than automatically labeling them as fears. It is okay to have all these what-if questions. Reassure them that we have been doing this for so long and have had so many kids—nearly a thousand campers every summer—that we have come across almost every what-if.

Remind them that Walton’s Grizzly Lodge is set up for kids. Of course it’s normal to miss your parents when you’re away from home, but you can certainly write to them, and you’ll be getting correspondence from them. Your counselor is right there with you, and there are people that you can go to and let know how you’re feeling who have had lots of experience with this. Let them know that most kids get over that very quickly. But if they are still really having a hard time, I’m there, and I work with the kids that are feeling homesick, and I’m available, and you and I—the parents and I—can be in contact. Sometimes that’s just enough to make them feel better, knowing that I’m in contact with you.

Another question is, “What if I’m a picky eater?” Well, I’ll tell you: our food is very, very kid-friendly. Many, many choices, things served separately. Most kids do not have an issue at all with finding things to eat at camp. If you’re still concerned, I definitely encourage you to give me a call so that we can talk about your specific concerns with your child.

And of course: “What if I feel nervous and shy?” I always let kids know that lots of people are actually feeling that way, just like they are, and that usually goes away before the sun has set on that very first day. If these what-ifs go beyond your being able to reassure your child, please do give us a call ahead of time.

A few reminders for parents: hopefully you’ve gotten your handbook in the mail. That handbook was sent out in April. If you didn’t get it, misplaced it, or would simply like another copy, you can log into your account and under the forms you can download a copy of it.

There’s lots and lots of information in that handbook, and it’s really important that you read it so that you’re clear on all of the different components to camp and procedures.

One of the things we want you to know so that you’re not disappointed is that your child can receive mail, but the only kind of mail they can receive are letters with one first-class stamp. We don’t accept packages, and we don’t accept oversized envelopes or anything with more than one first-class stamp. They’re refused at the post office. They don’t actually even come into camp; we return them.

The reason for this is that we used to accept packages or even oversized letters, and it was crazy disruptive. We once received, in a care package for a boy at camp, a blow-up basketball hoop so that he could inflate this giant hoop in his dorm and, at rest time, play hoops with his cabin mates. We just can’t handle hoops in the dorm being sent to kids. That’s one of many stories. So: no packages.

Another quick reminder for parents: the forms. Many of you have already logged in and started on those forms. Some you fill out right there, like the health history. Good news: when your campers return the following summer, all that information is just something you update, so the hard work you’re doing will be saved.

Some of the other forms require a signature, like the physician’s examination and the parent authorization. Those are printed, completed either by the doctor or you, and then faxed back. Here’s one little tricky thing: the fax number for those forms is different from our general camp fax number, so be sure to fax them to the number on that form.

We want you to know that we have two RNs on duty, and Erica is also an RN. She supervises our health center along with her other duties. You’ll get to check in with them on opening day, and they’ll do a brief check-in with your child and with you.

Something we want you to keep in mind is that any medication that you bring has to be in the original container, whether it’s a prescription or an over-the-counter medicine. Please do not show up with little Ziploc baggies with pills in them that you would like us to give to your child there. Even though we are sure you know what those pills are, we simply can’t do that. So everything in its original container.

Packing: three things we want you to keep in mind are camper involvement, following the list, and labeling everything.

Camper involvement is really important. Kids need to know what they brought. A child may insist, “My mom didn’t pack a sweatshirt,” when in fact the sweatshirt is right there in the bag. It’s important that, depending on their age, they either do the packing themselves with your oversight, or you go through the bag with them so they know what’s there.

The packing list is in the camper handbook. It’s also available as a separate list to download if you log into your account. We do laundry for our two-week sessions in the middle, so we do recommend you follow that list. You may have to adjust it for your particular child, but we have found it to be a very good list to follow.

Then: label everything. I say that all the time. We write it everywhere that we can, but stuff still comes without labels. We have so many lost socks, shampoo bottles, and duffel bags. If they had names on them, we could get them back to those kids before they packed or certainly send them afterward. So please, please, please label everything. Some parents order iron-on labels. Others use a laundry marker. I just use a Sharpie and it works just fine. Initials are not okay. At a minimum, use the first initial and full last name—but really, label absolutely everything. Towels, shoes, toothbrushes, everything.

Try to see if your child can get a reasonable night’s sleep the night before camp. Some of you are going to drive up in the morning and have a really long drive. Try to feed them a really good dinner, have them take that shower, and get as much rest as possible, because there is going to be a lot of action.

Now, getting to camp. The two ways kids get to camp are either flying into the Reno airport, where we meet them at their gate and take them by charter bus back to camp, supervised the whole time by our staff, or arriving by car.

We want to know how your child is getting to camp, so please be sure that you complete that form so we know to expect you, especially if you’re getting to the airport.

Arrival time is 11:30 to 1:30. We really want you to try to arrive in that window. When people arrive early, it’s awkward for us because we don’t have the staff to greet you in the Walton’s Grizzly Lodge way. We want to be able to do that for you. So please arrive in that window. We do get rushes at certain times, and while we do the very best we can, there might be a little bit of a wait sometimes.

Know that there’s going to be some nervousness. There might be kids with nervousness. There might be parents with nervousness. We’ve been doing this a very long time, so try to keep it all in perspective. Smile and wave and know that we’re going to really take great care of you and get your kids where they need to be.

Another important tip is to have a very good breakfast and a mid-morning snack. We have a later lunch that day—sometimes not until 2:00 or 2:30, depending on how arrivals go and when people are settled in—so it’s important that your child has that good breakfast and mid-morning snack because they can be hungry.

On that first day, you’ll drive into camp and be met at the welcome wagon. We’ll greet your car and let you know where to park, and one of our staff members will show you where your cabin is and help you get your things there.

At that time, you and your child can go into the cabin, pick out a bunk, and put your things there. You don’t need to spend a lot of time unpacking because we do that as a cabin group later, but you certainly can help arrange a few things if you like.

It’s really important not to bring a trunk—just a duffel bag—because later, when the groups are unpacking and getting organized in the cabin, we store all those duffel bags. We don’t keep them in the cabins.

Then you’ll go with your child to the health center and check in with the nurse. The nurse will briefly go over any questions, any medication that’s going to be given, and that sort of thing so everybody is clear on exactly how that process will go.

Next, your camper will head down to our lake for a swim evaluation. This is only for our brand-new campers. We need to be sure all the kids are water-safe. It’s done in the swim area, which is a small inlet part of our lake. They swim there and back and tread water for a while. It’s not judged on how their stroke looks; it’s just about whether they are water-safe.

After that, they head back up to the cabins, get changed if they want, join their cabin groups and counselors, and once they’re back and settled with their group, you can go ahead and say goodbye at any time.

One word about the goodbye: it might be hard on you, hard on them, or not hard on anyone. But I really recommend doing that process once. We have seen some parents go back and say goodbye multiple times and double-check where things were packed in the bag. I can completely understand that as a parent, but it can be hard on the camper. So once you say that goodbye, assuming you’re feeling okay about it, then it’s time to go. If you aren’t feeling good about something as you’re leaving, please swing by the welcome wagon and let me know so I can be aware of that.

The cabins are dormitory-style. We sleep in bunk beds in the cabins, and we are definitely sharing space. The cabins are where we sleep, get ready, and do cabin cleanup, but we don’t spend a lot of activity time in them. It’s really important that kids learn how to share that space.

Typically there are eight campers per group. We refer to groups and cabins separately. Your group is your group of eight, and you have one or two counselors. That group sleeps together, eats meals together family-style, and the counselor helps them sign up for activities. That is their home base. But groups are housed in cabins that may hold more than one group. Some cabins have one group, while some of our bigger buildings have as many as three groups.

A word about groups and group requests: if your child is coming with a special friend, we do allow bunk requests. There’s an online request form. It’s optional. You would list the name of one friend, and that friend also needs to list your child. We accept mutual requests. We work very hard to make those happen while also making cabin groups age-appropriate and balanced. And if they don’t have every friend they want in their cabin group, they can still spend a lot of the day with friends from other cabins through activities.

After that first day of moving in, we have a really special evening where we spend a lot of time getting to know each other. We gather on the front lawn, and the four of us directors tell a story about the history of camp and about Mom and Pop Walton and how it all started. Then campers go down to the beach area and, in their group of eight, spend time around an individual campfire. They talk about what they’re looking forward to, what they’re excited about, and whether anyone has anything they’re nervous about. The counselor talks about how to make it run smoothly for everybody. They’re really working on building inclusiveness and promoting kindness to each other.

After these individual campfires, we come together for a whole-camp campfire. Adam tells the story about the Bearclaw ceremony. It’s a beautiful story about people coming together in the summer months, spending time together, and learning from each other.

Our daily schedule follows a regular routine. We have a wake-up bell at 7:30 in the morning. Then we head down to the flag salute area, and different people lead us in the flag salute. After that, we walk together into the dining hall to have breakfast. We eat together in our historic lodge for all three meals. Your child will eat with their group and their counselor, so they don’t have to wander around looking for a place to sit or a friend to sit by. Meals are served family-style, and there are always lots and lots of kid-friendly choices.

After breakfast, we head to the announcement area. Something really special about Walton’s is the way we sign up for our activities. I’d need an entire webinar just to explain that to you, but don’t worry—the kids get it very quickly. It’s fun, it’s individualized, and counselors come down with exciting announcements about the activity they’re leading. Kids raise their hands and get selected. They don’t always get their first choice, but most often they’ll get their first or second, and sometimes they have to go to their third. They sign up for a first- and second-period activity.

This is a really neat opportunity for camper growth. The very nature of the way we sign up sometimes has kids doing things they wouldn’t have thought they were going to do, and they meet kids from other cabin groups. They can certainly sign up with a friend as well.

Later in the day, there is mail call. We call out the regular stamped mail that comes to the U.S. post office. The emails I referred to are handed out to the counselor; we don’t call those out individually.

After mail call, everybody changes for the evening. You may hear your camper leader say, “Then we put our warmies on.” It’s one of those camp words that has just stuck. It can get cooler in the mountains in the evening, so they change, use bug spray, and so on.

Then campers get to choose one final activity for the evening. A popular one is capture the flag. Kids also love to fish at this time, and there are some big fish pulled out of the lake, especially during that evening activity time. Rowing, canoeing, those kinds of things.

When the evening activity ends, we head down most nights to our big campfire. Campfire really is one of my favorite times of the day. It’s just what you think of when you think of summer camp. We sit around the campfire on logs, with a big fire in the middle, and different cabin groups are assigned to entertain us that evening. Campfires, songs, and skits—every child’s group will get a chance to perform. It is really just a terrific way to end the day. Of course, we end by singing taps and walking up under the stars to go to bed. Bedtime is around 9:00. It varies a little bit here and there. Campers are really tired.

One thing to know about photos is that upload time takes a very long time because of our limited internet in the mountains. We don’t post a ton of photos, but we do post some top photos that first week, and definitely by Thursday we hope you can see some big group photos. The second week of the two-week session, we post some more. We also send a camp yearbook out in January to every camper with a group photo from every group, every session, plus lots of candids and photos of special events.

We are not anti-technology here at Walton’s Grizzly Lodge, but we do think it is really important that camp be a low-tech life. That unplugged experience is part of what makes camp special.

We really want this to be a smooth event for you and one that is exciting and rewarding. One of the very best things about our job is opening day and seeing those new campers who have been thinking about this, talking to their friends, choosing a camp, and are finally here. Most of the time we hear, “Oh, it looks better than it did on the video,” or “It’s better than my friend told me,” and it only gets better from there.

We are here to help you in any way that we can. We want you to be as comfortable with the process as possible.

So that concludes our webinar. I am going to post this recording—I hope I’ve recorded it correctly—and I will send out that link to all of our new families. So you might get that link even though you’ve been on the live call. If you have any other last-minute questions, Adam is going to stay on and answer them.

I hope this has been helpful for you. Give us your feedback. You’re going to get a little email follow-up asking you to let us know how helpful this webinar was for you. You’ve just participated in history: that was Walton’s Grizzly Lodge’s very first webinar ever. That’s kind of a big deal for a very traditional camp. Eighty-eight years—we don’t make a lot of changes too quickly. We like to keep things traditional.

Thank you again so much for participating, and I’m going to say good night.