I am not a parent. I have never been married nor had kids, but I have worked with kids my entire career and, for some of that time, as a summer Camp Director. Each summer, I would help hire and train our camp staff counselors. And each week, I did the job of randomly assigning campers to a counselor for that week.
One day, early on in my camping career, I realized that by Wednesday, I could ALWAYS tell exactly which camper was in which counselor's cabin SIMPLY by talking to or even observing the child's behavior. In just 3 days the youngsters had adopted the mannerisms, dress, speech patterns, and unique personality traits of their counselors. Three days! Three days of eating together, playing together, sleeping in the cabins together, hiking together, swimming together, doing crafts and Bible studies together, leading campfires together, all resulted in children who just wanted to be like their revered counselors.
Keep telling parents to spend time with their children. Not "quality" time. Quantity time IS quality time. They desperately want to be like you, too. They will learn from someone, but they really want to learn from YOU. Time living life together will impact your child more than you can ever imagine. If, in just 5-6 days at a summer camp, your child sings the praises of his/her camp counselor by imitating them on many levels, imagine what your whole life with them will do!
