Parent Expectations - With Emma Fogel and Corey Dockswell - The Camp Owners Podcast #3
Your campers may want to come back, but the parents ultimately make that decision! Here’s how to manage their expectations to help them choose your camp again and again.
Parents and care-givers are the decision-makers. You can have a great program and great staff, but if you aren’t assessing, managing and responding to parent expectations, you won’t earn their trust, and they won’t send their kids to your camp.
In the day and age of the “bulldozer/lawnmower” parent, it can sometimes feel like the parents and the staff have set up an unrealistic amount of expectations that leave us almost beholden to them.
However, it’s important to remember that we are an industry that has always strongly believed, and continue to believe in helping people. Even if a parent’s expectations can feel like a burden, it’s important that we take a step back, accept their feelings as valid, and support them the best that we can.
So how do we strike that balance? How do we help everyone get on the same level and get excited
In our third episode of the podcast, Howie and Kelly are joined by Corey Dockswell from Camp Wicosuta and Emma Fogel who is a camp alumnus and registered social worker with The Social Work Consulting Group. Our four hosts come together to discuss how they have seen parent’s expectations shift over the last few years, as well as to share best practices when it comes to responding to those expectations.
Tune in to hear about:
When the camp dream became real for Corey and Emma
How to manage parent’s expectations when it comes to their wanting of “control” or ensuring that their kids are always happy
Communicating the benefits of the things at camp that comes with a bit of “positive stress” or “healthy risk”
Ways to help staff understand parent’s expectations to set them up for success
Some practical tips on systems and boundaries to establish within your communication systems
How are you intentionally managing parent’s expectations? Let us know in the comments!
What Inspires You? - Things that inspire our hosts and guests to be the best Camp Owners they can be.
Howie: The Summer Camp community rallying around each other in the uncertain times that we are in. (see some resources below)
Kelly: Happy Campers - by Audrey Monke - https://amzn.to/33nVGkz
Corey: An awesome quote from a camp parent - “We control ship and sail, but never wind and wave…. While we are in unsettling times, we will get through the storm.”
Emma: You are Awesome - by Neil Pasricha - https://amzn.to/2x5TMsu
Host Links:
Hosts:
Howie Grossinger - Co-owner/Director - Camp Robin Hood, Partner - Camp Walden & Madawaska Camps
Kelly Schuna, Owner - Hidden Pines Ranch
Guests:
Corey Dockswell, Director, Camp Wicosuta
Emma Fogel, Registered Social Worker, The Social Work Consulting Group , Mindcalm.ca
Bonus Resources - Relating to Parent Expectations, COVID-19 and more
Go Camp Pro’s COVID-19 & Camp Resource Page
Go Camp Pro’s Camps & COVID-19 (free) Slack team (even if you have an existing Slack account you'll need to create another one for this new Team)
An excellent video that will remind us of the power of communicating with empathy when working with our extended camp communities - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw
For COVID-19 specific related psycho-education for kids and families:
Thanks to our sponsor - CampBrain!
CampBrain provides management and registration software to camps and conference centers. Serving 1200+ camps since 1994, with a dedicated staff of 45+ providing personal, caring support and building beautiful, intuitive software.
For more information visit them at https://www.campbrain.com/
What is the Camp Owners Podcast?
Whether you are a Camp Owner, an aspiring camp owner, or a lover of some of our other Go Camp Pro podcasts, we’re so happy to have you here.
The Camp Owners Podcast is here to explore a side of the summer camp world that is experienced by those that have the privilege of running an independent program.
In this world of camp, the stakes are high. Not only do private camps have the same goals, aspirations and responsibilities that other camps have, but there is also usually a ton of personal livelihood on the line. When you OWN a camp, you really do own the successes and failures that any for-profit enterprise faces.
On this podcast, our hosts, Howie Grossinger and Kelly Schuna will be joined by some seasoned prime camp professionals to dive deep into the issues that most private camp pros will need to face, and the best practices that they use to create, and sustain a summer camp for their campers to enjoy summer after summer.
In season one, tune in to the podcast monthly to hear about topics like Camp As a Business, Camp Insurance, Buying and Selling Camps, Work/Life Balance, Pricing, Staff Training & Engagement
Thanks for tuning in! If you have any feedback, please get in touch with our producer, Matt at matt@gocamp.pro.