Greetings campers! Here they are, our Pre-Camp Shared Agreements! We, your camp organizers & hosts, have created these as a way for us to feel comfortable and confident in starting camp with integrity, trust, care, and safety, and for supporting a quality of connection we’re hoping to nurture in our time together. Our request is that you take some time to look these over as a family before coming to camp, and if you have a strong objection to any of these, or if you feel you could not honor any one of these while at camp, please contact usand we’d like to hear what needs are preventing you from a big YES. If you just have some minor discomfort, but can still agree to them, there will be time dedicated near the beginning of camp to share or discuss those discomforts and discover or find a way to honor the needs behind them. Thank you for your part in helping us hold a safe, nourishing, fun camp! Respectfully, Your camp hosts
1) Technology/Electronic Media: Please only bring electronic technology that supports interpersonal connection. Examples: A phone that has a dance tune you’d like to share with the group. A Camera, or a phone that’s a camera and you’re taking photos If you need to bring technology for other reasons, eg: business, facebook, please talk to us about it. We ask that you leave it in your car or your tent. Why? We’d like to support an environment that is connecting, both interpersonally and with Nature.
2) Water Safety For safety reasons, we consider the pool and hot tub as off-limits for swimming during Morning Program Time. For swimming during other open times, we want children 12 and under to be supervised by an adult, and teens to swim in the company of at least one other teen. We also ask that everyone respect the pool/hot tub hours which will be posted right before camp begins.
3) Family Connectivity and Accountability In an effort to support safety, care, and self responsibility in an open environment, we ask campers to come up with a system of tracking inside their family unit, with periodic check-ins during the day at meal times or otherwise. For instance, you can decide who in the family is a Lion, Tiger or Bear! Lions - roam freely. Tigers - let someone know when you are moving from one place to another at camp. Bears - always let someone know when you want to move from one place to another, and when you travel you do it with an adult or teen or someone your family has an agreement with. (and due to the fact that we have actual Bears nearby, it is pretty important that you have someone nearby or in proximity at most times). We hope to create an interconnected web where we can co-hold each others families with care, and until that is clearly happening or until we have explicit agreement with each other, it is up to you to track, tend and hold your family with the accountability and support necessary in any public or communal setting. Please let us know if you have any questions around this.
4) Quiet Time For consideration of rest /sleep for our neighbors, creatures, families with young children, and others who go to bed early, we ask that “quiet time” begin at 9:00 PM. Wind-down time... Look for the bats… getting dark... When you see them flying, the night time is emerging and the daylight creatures seek their nests.
5) Fire Safety To protect life, and care for our physical environs, please do not start any fires in any form without prior agreement from the camp organizers or hosts.
6) Presence & Sobriety To cultivate a safe and supportive environment for all camp members, we agree to support a drug-free and alcohol-free environment. If you are a smoker, please reach out to us to determine a smoking area.
7)Restorative System & Using the Tools If you have a conflict or are uncomfortable with any dynamics or individuals at camp, we ask that you make a commitment to practicing the NVC tools, peacemaking and supporting growth by making use of the Restorative System menu options available at the Communication Station
8) Building Community Connections, Continuity and Trust Upon registration, the request to all campers is to come for the entire time of camp. This helps us hold the container of care and community. If you are not able to stay the entire time, please let us know before camp. nvcfamilycamp@gmail.com or call 530-575-1993
8) Bears and the Wild The land we are inhabiting is rich in natural resources, therefore it is the home to many wild creatures including Bear and Mountain Lion. We ask that you do not wader off without a buddy or without letting others know where you're going, and we ask that you take extra care to not leave food or "good smelling possible bear snacks" around. (Random items which recently inspired a bear to break into a car or yurt: play dough, a purse that recently had a bar of some sort in it, eye pillow, soap (?!?)). We also ask that you leave the land as or better than you found it. Using the designated bathroom spots, picking up all your trash and not venturing off the main paths (in order to maintain the complex structure of the local eco system health and order) is deeply appreciated... (did you know that some of the local moss takes over 100 years to form and grow in this dry climate?)
