Imagine a "Common Sense Camp" that teaches your kids all the basic life skills and knowledge they need to know. Well, two parents imagined it and brought it to life for their two kids. Oona and Paul Hanson turned their idea into a reality during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was such a great idea that it's still being talked about to this day.
Their chosen camp manual was Catherine Newman's How to Be a Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn Before You've Grown Up. The couple planned eight themed weeks that focused on different life skills for their children to develop.
Among the themes were "Kitchen Confidence," "Safety and Emergency Preparedness," and "Laundry and Cleaning." There were also lessons like "Anti-Racism" and "Social Skills."
The Hansons shared that the time they had during the pandemic was the perfect opportunity to intentionally teach their kids.
"It always seems like we're going to get around to teaching them these things 'someday,'" she said at the time. "There's that fantasy that before they go to college, they're going to learn these thousand skills that actually take time to learn and practice. Right now, we have the time it never seems we have to do it."
