Nutrition for kids is based on the same principles as nutrition for adults. Everyone needs the same types of nutrients — such as vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Children, however, need different amounts of specific nutrients at different ages. This is the guiding premise for our summer camp menus. We offer a variety of items throughout the week, and encourage campers to try new things. By serving our campers versus them “helping themselves” we are able to make sure their portions are appropriate to their age, size and activity levels.

Proteins, fruits, vegetables and hydration are the foundation of each camp meal. After water campers are allowed “bug juice”. Even the camp “bug juice” is monitored to make sure it is within the US guidelines for our campers, and has minimal added sugars.

So what’s the best formula to fuel your child’s growth and development? Check out these nutrition basics for girls and boys at various ages, based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans¹.

• Choose seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, beans, peas, soy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds.
• Encourage your child to eat a variety of fresh, canned, frozen or dried fruits — rather than fruit juice. If your child drinks juice, make sure it’s 100 percent juice without added sugars and limit his or her servings. Look for canned fruit that says it’s light or packed in its own juice, meaning it’s low in added sugar. Keep in mind that one-half cup of dried fruit counts as one cup-equivalent of fruit. When consumed in excess, dried fruits can contribute extra calories.
• Serve a variety of fresh, canned, frozen or dried vegetables. Aim to provide a variety of vegetables, including dark green, red and orange, beans and peas, starchy and others, each week. When selecting canned or frozen vegetables, look for options lower in sodium.
• Choose whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, popcorn, quinoa, or brown or wild rice. Limit refined grains.
• Encourage your child to eat and drink fat-free or low-fat dairy products, such as milk, yogurt, cheese or fortified soy beverages.

Aim to limit your child’s calories from:

• Added sugar.Limit added sugars. Naturally occurring sugars, such as those in fruit and milk, are not added sugars. Examples of added sugars include brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, honey and others.
• Saturated and trans fats.Limit saturated fats — fats that mainly come from animal sources of food, such as red meat, poultry and full-fat dairy products. Look for ways to replace saturated fats with vegetable and nut oils, which provide essential fatty acids and vitamin E. Healthier fats are also naturally present in olives, nuts, avocados and seafood. Limit trans fats by avoiding foods that contain partially hydrogenated oil.

If you have questions about nutrition for kids or specific concerns about your child’s diet, talk to your child’s doctor or a registered dietitian.

Libby Rothenberg, R.N.

 

• S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture.2015 – 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 8^th Edition. December 2015. Available athttp://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/.

How do you keep seasoned staff engaged and foster new/junior staff getting up to speed in the “off season”? Provide a healthy online competition, of course! In an effort to keep in touch with our staff this winter (and bridge some winter skills gaps) we introduced a skills competition online: Technical Tuesday!

The first Tuesday of every month we launch a mass staff e-mail detailing the parameters of the month’s competition. For the 2015-2016 winter season, we’ve chosen knot skills. Facilitators receive a link to the “knot of the month” (we currently find animatedknots.com to be a most effective resource). Once announced, they have seven days to review/practice the knot, create a video of them tying said knot (neatness counts!), while providing a commentary of the appropriate applications of the knot universally and within our program. Below is the actual explanation they received when we launched:

Today marks the maiden voyage of Technical Tuesday, your “season-bridge” skill builder/refresher challenge!  The goal is to continue building and reinforcing your technical knot proficiency through our slow months so you are better prepared to jump back into training and programs in early 2016 (and we get to keep in touch more regularly…BONUS!)

How it works:

1. Each month we will send a link to a knot-tying video (typically we will use com).
2. You have one week (7 days) to learn/review and practice the knot-of-the-month.
3. By day seven (7), email us a video of your (unassisted/unprompted) knot tying prowess. Video quality can be low, though it must be distinguishable. Please also tell us about the application (what it’s used for) of the knot.
4. You can use whatever rope-like medium you have on hand (ie: clothesline, shoe laces, paracord, actual climbing rope) to accomplish your knot. Of course, you are also welcome to, upon communication, swing by and pick up a piece of practice (dead) rope!

What do we get when we participate?

• Ummmm…..mad, crazy knot skills!
• Something tactile and relaxing to do while you veg and watch TV, or study, or stare at the wall. aaaannnnd….
• The first person to submit a video with correct form and finish (dressing the knot) will win…
  • The (soon to be coveted) “Not (un)Neat Knot” Award for the month.
  • Bragging rights and “swagger”.
  • A (soon to be acquired) randomly awesome prize from the (soon to be created) Randomly Awesome Prize Stash.
  • To be happy! 🙂

Given we already have a staff who loves friendly competition; I can firmly attest hilarity has ensued! Within 10 minutes of the first challenge our Assistant Director rolled into my office, grabbed the closest item (and IPod charging cord), and whipped out a figure-8 follow through like a boss! She wasn’t even bothered that I asked her to defer the prize pack to an offsite winner; she just wanted the swagger of being the first submission! Engagement and having FUN! (A happy byproduct that has been more successful than we hoped!)

Not only are we experiencing a fantastic ratio of engagement (at least half of our staff, including internationals, have participated in spite of their already busy off season lives), we are also providing a unique interactive platform to hone and further their technical skills. When they return for spring staff training, they will be better prepared and more technically productive/efficient, thereby reducing the risk of incidences during program. How’s that for a win-win?!

So, as I challenge our staff, I now challenge you…join in the fun and remember….a not neat knot is a knot not needed!  Facilitators!  Are.You.READY?!

The now affectionately monikered Fabulous Facilitator Fun Pack:

 

 

 

 

 

Camp friends and family,

Happy 2016! We hope you had a great holiday season and a wonderful New Year’s.

Although it may seem that we just started a new year, summer will be here before we know it. Realizing this, we have been working hard at camp to make the summer of 2016 the greatest summer ever!

Our Year Round team just recently attended the American Camp Association Virginias Winter Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia. While at the conference we were able to attend some great sessions on Child Development, Safety, Fun & Games, Programming, and so much more! We attend these conferences to expand our camping knowledge and learn what we can do to better Triple C for people like you and make camp a fun and exciting place for kids to grow and develop.

Today also marks our first School’s Day Out program of 2016! We offer these programs throughout the year so please keep your eyes open for more information about them. These days are full of camp activities and give our campers a day to get outside and have fun during the school year!

Speaking of 2016 programs…Registration for Summer 2016 is also open! We already have over 30 families registered and the number is rising daily so make sure to get those calendars out, and even though it is still cold outside, start looking at those summer plans!

While you’re at it, go ahead and mark February 14^th on that calendar and come visit the Triple C staff at the Albemarle Family Camp Expo at the Double Tree hotel! We will be there to answer any questions you have and you will have the opportunity to spin the wheel for some great camp giveaways!

We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Today is May 21, 2015 and yesterday two returning international staff arrived.  Kasey Massih from Australia and Toni Green from New Zealand.  Both are spectacular riding staff.  It’s always so nice to have staff return.  However, it is one thing when they are a UVa student or from Charlottesville.  However, when you have people coming back year after year after year and then coming from half way around the world, you know you have something special.  This summer in addition to Kasey and Toni, returning staff include: Gemma Herdman from New Zealand, Travis Yuille from South Africa, John Togher from Ireland, and Jamie Turner, Dan Alinson, Jake Woods and Ben Ward all returning from England.  It’s AMAZING!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also have more domestic staff returning then ever before.  We also have more campers signed up as of May 21, 2015 then we ever had in camp history.  It’s a pretty exciting time and each day gets closer and closer to having campers here on a daily basis.  Pretty special what we get to do.  Come play with us?

Yours in camping,

“H” 🙂

By “H” Rothenberg  Owner/Director

Today, we have home school campers starting a new curriculum as we begin a new month.  Water sheds is the focus and that must mean that we are outside all the time.  Makes me think of summer camp.
We just completed our second open house of the summer on Sunday and had 74 families attend!  Most ever for a spring open house in camp history.  We also have more campers registered to date than we have ever had in 16 years.  This is pretty exciting.  We also have more returning staff this summer than we have had in camp history.  Really, Really exciting.  So many new and returning children looking to gain experience and friendships outside!  This will make for memories that will far outlast the summer.
This week we also started planning staff training.  For summer camp, staff training is the most important week of the year.  I’m so excited about Katie and Chris Lukas being part of the camp family.  They will be a great addition.

If you would still like to add for the summer of 2015, we do have some spaces available.  Please come out for a tour.  We would love to meet you and your family. Come play with us! [email protected]  434.293.2529

Yours in camping,

“H” 🙂

 

By: “H” Rothenberg Co Owner/Director TRIPLE C CAMP

Yesterday we had our first open house of the summer.  Staff arrived early, families came in mass and the liquid sunshine joined the party.

It was wonderful to get the opportunity to share with families our core values at Triple C.  We love the activities that we teach: Many different sports, arts & crafts, drama, music, nature, ropes course, swim instruction and free swim, ga ga and so much more.  As much as we enjoy seeing campers grow with our activities, a bigger goal of ours is to use our activities as a vehicle to learn how to work together better.  By explaining this aspect of our vision to our camp families, they really see how our staff are trained, how our staff are valued, appreciated and most important for the staff is to gain skills that they will use for the rest of their lives.  We have more staff members returning this summer than we have ever had before.  It will be a very special summer and we hope you will be part of it.

If you are interested in coming to camp for a private tour, or to chat about child development, camp, or anything… please contact us: [email protected] or 434.293.2529

Yours in camping,

“H” 🙂

Greetings from the “Friendly Confines” of Triple C Camp!

The off season has treated us well and it’s time to get rollin’!  In the next few weeks there will be some amazing groups visiting camp, learning to work together on the ropes course, building camaraderie and having fun!  Just this past week, we had our weekly home school program, Klockner-Pentaplast, Tandem Friends in school program, a job fair at PVCC, loads of tours and training staff for spring break camp.  Up and coming is Spring Break Camp next week which will then be followed by RVA Police Law Enforcement for an overnight, K-9 Nose Work Trials, Sutherland 7th graders for a two day overnight, Blessed Sacrament, and so much more.  A busy spring is ahead at camp!

Spring break camp is always a calendar mark for us.  First of all, we get 60+ campers to spend time with as a warm up for what is to come in the summer time.  As part of SBC, we will have lots of returning camp staff and play many of our favorite camp games like GA GA, forts and fairy houses, climb the tower, have a camp fire with s’mores and SO MUCH MORE!
Transportation for SBC is limited to Barracks Road, however it’s nice to be out with the community.

If you are considering the summer of 2015 at Triple C and want to learn more of what we are about, come out for a tour.  We are happy to have you during Spring Break Camp, on the weekends or even once school is back in session on a sunshine afternoon after the kids come home.

Please make sure to LIKE us on Facebook as there are so many fun things to learn about what is happening at camp.  https://www.facebook.com/Tripleccamp
Also, please come play with us!  Many friends to be made, things to learn, and the right place to grow!

Yours in camping,

“H”

H Rothenberg
Co-Owner/Director of Triple C Camp
[email protected]
www.tripleccamp.com

Over the last 15 summers we have partnered with amazing tutors.  This year, we are partnering with THE TUTOR DOCTOR.  Kids will learn and grow under their guidance while at camp.  Check it out!  http://tutordoctorcharlottesville.com/

Camp friends and family,

As we look toward February, the reality of summer coming soon hits hard.  We are so excited and PUMPED!  Coming up, we have the Charlottesville Family Camp Fair the middle of the month and lots of families starting to contact us about registering for the greatest summer ever…2015 at Triple C Camp.

Ben Ward our Teen Scene Coordinator has been planning some spring events here at camp for our middle schoolers in March and May! We are building a Teen Scene Pavilion to replace the Teen Scene Tent. We have two new year round Assistant Directors moving in the main camp house and Libby and  “H” are moving off site for the first time in 15 years.

This past week we have been asked by Crozet Families if we are going to offer transportation from Crozet.  If this is something you are interested in, please email: [email protected] or call us: 434.293.2529.  If there are every other things that we can do to make camp better, let us know as our families and their campers safety are our #1 priority!

We will continue to work with Albemarle County to service and maintain our buses.  Thank you ACPS.

New staff always excite us, however we have so many returning staff! Sophie Adams, Tayler Bruce, Joy Carveth, Danny Allinson, Hannah Ciucias, Emily Davidson, Toni Green, Jemma Herdman, Michelle Heuchert, Jonathan Heuchert, Lindsey Johnson, Emily Kostenecki, Melissa Leider, Kasey Massih, Wanda McDaniel, Shannon Myers, Andy Riddler, Eryn Rothenberg, Ryan Rothenberg, Christine Savoie, Jamie Turner, Ben Ward, Rosser Wayland, Jason Coleman, Terri LaRue, Sam Smith, and Caitlin Delaney will all be back at the Friendly Confines of Triple C Camp for another amazing summer.  It is very rare to have so many returning staff committed to be with us so early.  We are so fortunate to have this talent.  Ultimately, your children are really the ones who benefit.  Our staff is amazing!

 

 

 

 

By: “H” Rothenberg: Owner/Director

As we are now more than a week into November, 2014, we want to pause and share our thankfulness for our camp family.  Campers, staff, parents, rental groups, etc. all make up part of the Triple C family and we are so appreciative of the relationships we have established over the last 15 years in Charlottesville.  Thank you.

As we look forward to the summer of 2015 we have many key staff members that have already committed to being with us for the “the best summer ever!”  More to be thankful for.  Ben Ward to lead the Teen Scene, Kasey Massih and Toni Green to lead campers and horses at the barn and Gemma Herdman our fantastic Arts & Crafts specialist.  I can not think of another year in the last 15 that so many great leaders have committed to being back with us this early!  We are pumped!