Grow
the Grown Ups – Family Summer Camp August 18th – 22nd
2014
We had a fully booked site – with 20 participant families.
Families came from a range of backgrounds from throughout the UK, including Northern Ireland, and our partner participants came from Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Poland. There were 8 single parents, including 1 single father.
The children were aged between 4 months and 14 years.
We had a large staff team, which included qualified play leaders, and volunteers and some team families – families familiar with Embercombe already and whose role it was to support new families with living on the site and using the facilities (including woodburners in their yurts, and compost toilets).
The Summer Camp team meeting with the
Embercombe site team before the participants arrived:
Many of the activities were arranged for families to do together, and during some of the family together times we scheduled specific times to practice the Parenting by Connection tools of Special Time and Listening Partnerships, with the aim that each child had at least 15 minutes of Special Time each day, and each adult had at least one 15 minute Listening Partnership each day.
We scheduled an hour of Family Games each evening, led by an experienced Play Leader, encouraging parents to play group games alongside their child. There was a parallel option of Sound Making, led by an experienced Sound artist – again for families to experience together. And then an hour of Story time, encouraging parents to sit round the fire with their children and listen to spoken stories told by different staff at Embercombe.
Many of the activities were arranged for families to do together, and during some of the family together times we scheduled specific times to practice the Parenting by Connection tools of Special Time and Listening Partnerships, with the aim that each child had at least 15 minutes of Special Time each day, and each adult had at least one 15 minute Listening Partnership each day.
We scheduled an hour of Family Games each evening, led by an experienced Play Leader, encouraging parents to play group games alongside their child. There was a parallel option of Sound Making, led by an experienced Sound artist – again for families to experience together. And then an hour of Story time, encouraging parents to sit round the fire with their children and listen to spoken stories told by different staff at Embercombe.
Parents in the Parent Space
There were 2 evenings of spontaneous
musical offerings from participants and staff, of all ages.
We invited our Czech partner, Hanka, to lead a short optional relaxation with parents after breakfast.
Each morning we gathered in a circle together, and sang a song, and exchanged a brief greeting and practical information for the day.
We invited our Czech partner, Hanka, to lead a short optional relaxation with parents after breakfast.
Each morning we gathered in a circle together, and sang a song, and exchanged a brief greeting and practical information for the day.
Team Children illustrating the Song Sheet
There were “Embercombe Activities” for
families together every morning. Families
could choose between a craft activity (felting or black-smithing), or a
gardening activity, or attending the bees, or helping with food preparation. We asked families to stay together during
this time.
Each afternoon there were 3 different play groups for children of different ages, and a 3 hour facilitated session for the parents.
We had a crèche space adjoining the parent space, so that parents could go to their little child if they needed to. We also had 2 parallel groups for the older children, one offering child-led craft activities in the woods, during which children made mini worlds using natural materials like sticks and plants and clay, and the other offering wild games, such as Hunt the Flag, with den building.
The parents were facilitated to practice deep listening with each other; to take time to notice how to bring their attention back to themselves,; to reflect on their own experiences of being parented, and how they felt their essential being had been seen (or not seen) by their parents and the effect of that; they were encouraged to find their way to re-connect with their essential sense of being, and recognise what a resource that is; and to consider what might be an apparent obstacle for that.
Each family had one 20 minute individual session during the week in which to raise any specific issues/concerns.
Each afternoon there were 3 different play groups for children of different ages, and a 3 hour facilitated session for the parents.
We had a crèche space adjoining the parent space, so that parents could go to their little child if they needed to. We also had 2 parallel groups for the older children, one offering child-led craft activities in the woods, during which children made mini worlds using natural materials like sticks and plants and clay, and the other offering wild games, such as Hunt the Flag, with den building.
The parents were facilitated to practice deep listening with each other; to take time to notice how to bring their attention back to themselves,; to reflect on their own experiences of being parented, and how they felt their essential being had been seen (or not seen) by their parents and the effect of that; they were encouraged to find their way to re-connect with their essential sense of being, and recognise what a resource that is; and to consider what might be an apparent obstacle for that.
Each family had one 20 minute individual session during the week in which to raise any specific issues/concerns.
Parents in small groups discussion
The feedback from the participants was outstanding. They enjoyed all
aspects of the camp, eg “I
loved EVERYTHING”, “We loved everything about the camp”, “We loved all
of it!”
– “the most special bit was the general ease I felt about myself and my
parenting”, “the relaxed atmosphere”, “I loved the yurts, the setting,
the food
and the music”, “the best bit was the sense of connection” and
specifically “”I
liked the morning structure, and the special times” “I enjoyed the
parenting
sessions and appreciated being able to relax and ‘sink’ back into
myself”, “the
food was gorgeous and nourishing”, “we both enjoyed the felting, and the
games,
and just walking round the valley” “we loved the songs and music
evenings” “we
loved the options of the rhythms of Embercombe, the games, the stories,
the
songs etc”. “We both came away from the
camp feeling utterly wonderful – and I feel changed for life, actually.
It was a beautiful, beautiful thing!”. “Quite apart from parenting
learning, I
started a lot of thinking about my lost spirituality, balance in my life
and
connection to food and nature, and the purpose and spirit of my
business.”
The most consistent piece of constructive criticism from participants was a request for a little more free time, a bit less of a full schedule, with several people suggesting a longer camp “an extra day or two – sometimes I felt rushed, also confidence/connections take a while to build”.
The camp also hit our financial target and contributed to Embercombe’s income as intended, which makes it a financially sustainable proposition as well as an emotionally sustainable one.
We had our closing circle in the Stone Circle:
The most consistent piece of constructive criticism from participants was a request for a little more free time, a bit less of a full schedule, with several people suggesting a longer camp “an extra day or two – sometimes I felt rushed, also confidence/connections take a while to build”.
The camp also hit our financial target and contributed to Embercombe’s income as intended, which makes it a financially sustainable proposition as well as an emotionally sustainable one.
We had our closing circle in the Stone Circle:
The feedback from participants from Grow
the Grown Ups Camp 2014:
“I loved EVERYTHING”
“We loved everything about the camp”
“We loved all of it!”
“the most special bit was the general ease I felt about myself and my parenting”
“the relaxed atmosphere”
“I loved the yurts, the setting, the food and the music”,
“the best bit was the sense of connection”
“I liked the morning structure, and the special times”
“I enjoyed the parenting sessions and appreciated being able to relax and ‘sink’ back into myself”
“the food was gorgeous and nourishing”
“we both enjoyed the felting, and the games, and just walking round the valley” “we loved the songs and music evenings”
“we loved the options of the rhythms of Embercombe, the games, the stories, the songs etc”
“We both came away from the camp feeling utterly wonderful – and I feel changed for life, actually. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing!”
“Quite apart from parenting learning, I started a lot of thinking about my lost spirituality, balance in my life and connection to food and nature, and the purpose and spirit of my business”
“I loved EVERYTHING”
“We loved everything about the camp”
“We loved all of it!”
“the most special bit was the general ease I felt about myself and my parenting”
“the relaxed atmosphere”
“I loved the yurts, the setting, the food and the music”,
“the best bit was the sense of connection”
“I liked the morning structure, and the special times”
“I enjoyed the parenting sessions and appreciated being able to relax and ‘sink’ back into myself”
“the food was gorgeous and nourishing”
“we both enjoyed the felting, and the games, and just walking round the valley” “we loved the songs and music evenings”
“we loved the options of the rhythms of Embercombe, the games, the stories, the songs etc”
“We both came away from the camp feeling utterly wonderful – and I feel changed for life, actually. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing!”
“Quite apart from parenting learning, I started a lot of thinking about my lost spirituality, balance in my life and connection to food and nature, and the purpose and spirit of my business”
