What is the New Jersey Renaissance Faire?

In case you missed it, Liberty Lake has been swept away by the magic of the Renaissance! This year's New Jersey Renaissance Faire is going to be held on June 4, 5 and 11, 12 from 11am - 6pm each day. Last year, nearly 3,000 people attended our first annual event!

The NJ Renaissance Faire is a family friendly festival with a wide variety of entertainment, food, and activities, including jousting, sword fighting, and boat rides with Shakespeare — along with a sprawling Merchant Village of crafts, crystal balls, and even period clothing.

Last year, guests were able to watch the drama unfold between Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. This June it will be King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table who will visit our faire. Come join us to see how the story will end!

Visit njrenfaire.com for more info!

And if you're a neophyte to the world of Ren Faires, Wikipedia has a great entry on the history of Renaissance Faires in the United States- they are more of a phenomenon across the country than you might have thought- Click here to read!

Kids, Technology & Camp

Earlier this week, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report, Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, examining the amount of time that kids today spend engaged with technological media-Facebook, television, iPods, etc.

Here are some of the highlights of their research findings:

• Young people, age 8 to 18, spend on average 7 hours and 38 minutes PER DAY using “entertainment media.” This adds up to an incredible 53 hours PER WEEK.
• Black and Hispanic kids and teens spend, on average, 4.5 hours more per week using media.
• HUGE increase in ownership over the past 5 years: *Cell phones: 39% to 66% *iPods: 18% to 76%
• Only 30% of parents limit the amount of time that children spend playing video games, watching t.v. or using the computer.
• In the homes of nearly 66% American families, the television is ON during dinner.
• 7 out of 10 kids and teens today have a t.v. in their bedroom.
• Increased use of technological media leads to decreased grades in school.

Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, provided the following comment in regards to these research findings, “when children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad.”

Technology has dramatically changed the ways in which children today grow up. It will be a LONG time until we fully understand the extent of these changes. As much as technology has moved us forward, it is the responsibility of schools and camps to make sure that it doesn’t move us backward at the same time. As Omar Bradley explains, “if we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.”

Hulla-Ball Tips From Jeffrey!

Hey there Liberty Lakers!

Check out the top FIVE tips for playing Hulla-Ball, straight from the fingers of Jeff Windle- LLDC Hulla-ball Legend, and author of the bestselling “The Official LLDC Hulla-Ball Rule Book.”

Click here to check it out!

5. Know the rules and use them to your advantage

4. Pick your doubles partner carefully

3. Make sure you stretch before you play (you don't want to pull anything)

2. Have a good positioning strategy (cover your whole square)

1. HAVE FUN!!!!!

Bullying & The Bystander Effect

Did you hear about Eagles player Desean Jackson’s incredible act of
support for a teenage boy that was horrifically bullied. Check out the
story here if you missed it-

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/desean-jackson-bullied-teen/story?id=12839546

In each of the bullying incidents involving the teen, there were
others present, yet no one provided him with any assistance. This
unfortunate phenomenon is known as the “Bystander Effect.” The more
people that witness a bullying incident, the less likely it is that
someone will report it or provide assistance.

The effects of bullying on children are severe-including a
loss of self-esteem, depression, isolation and poor performance in
school.

25% of kids will be a victim of bullying at some point. Roughly 85% of
all bullying incidents are witnessed by someone else. Here’s a great
resource from the Reach Out Foundation to help you and your child
better understand bullying, it’s impact and ways in which observers can
safely help to decrease bullying in their schools, communities and at
camp-

http://us.reachout.com/the_facts/bystanders-role-in-bullying/s/17/f/8052

No More Snow Days!

Best Email of the day from last week, the night before yet another snow storm:

"My kids want to have school tomorrow!  They have already used up all of their snow days, and last year the extra days were added at the end -> they missed out on preweek."

"They don’t want that to happen again."