RBL SUMMER INFO PAGE

(Updated 1.2.24 will be revised before RBL Summer begins)

If you are on this page it’s either because you are hopelessly lost on the internet or because your camper is enrolled in RBL Summer. If you are lost, breathe easy - this is one of the tamer pages that you might find on the old electronic garbage mill. If your camper is enrolled with us, welcome to the longest, most detailed, and hopefully most enjoyable info page you will read today. 

If you are reading this in anticipation of enrolling, this page covers it all. Scroll through till you find the answers to your questions.

Full disclosure: If you a TLDR type of person, please know that I am a DAMSQTIAA (Don’t Ask Me Stupid Questions That I Already Answered) type of person. 

Below are some important details for RBL Summer. Please grab a bucket of chicken, a plate of nachos, a handful of saltwater taffy, and a refreshing adult beverage to enjoy as you read. I have measured it and that is the exact amount of fuel required to complete this email. If you should finish your healthy meal before getting to the bottom of this email, please go for a run, then grab a bread bowl of chowder and continue reading whilst sweaty, disgusting, and armed with carb-loaded dairy. With no further ado, let’s get to it.

Wait!! What Camp Session and Cohort is My Kid In!!!

If life has had you in its toilet swirl and you are only realizing now that you completely forgot that you enrolled your camper in RBL Summer, first, congratulations, it could be a lot worse. Second, you probably also then have no idea which cohort your camper is in. While still enjoying the rush of the scheduling panic, but before judging yourself too harshly, and definitely before emailing me, you can find your camper’s cohort info and whether you enrolled for one week or two by viewing your receipt. To obtain receipts, please follow these steps:

1. Go to this My Registrations page of your ActivityHero account

2. Click the See Details/Get Receipts button on the registration

3. Click Print Full Receipt

4. You can then either print or download a pdf

Cohorts, Groupings, Friends and Siblings

Campers will be placed in the cohorts in which they were enrolled. Cohorts should remain intact for the entire session. There will be some crossover between cohorts at the parks and during free time periods.

There may be some occasions in which we will need to consolidate cohorts or switch campers from the cohort that they were originally enrolled in. Should this happen, we always try to keep friend groups / siblings intact, unless the switch is due to disruptive or combative behaviors among those friend groups / siblings.

Camp Location

Rock Band Land is located at Castle Bing Bong (400- E Treat Ave between 17th and 18th). Look for the sign that makes perfect nonsense and you'll know you have found us.

Camp Hours

RBL Summer  runs from 9:00 - 4:00. We appreciate that you have to get to work, or to pretend you have to go to work, and we will open our doors each day at 8:50 sharp. If you are early and our door is closed, please hang tight. You can ring the doorbell if you like, but we won’t answer.

Pre-care / Early Drop Off

We do not offer pre-care. We start each day with a forty five minute long, all-staff meeting to ensure that we are adequately prepared to blow minds all day long. 

Aftercare

Aftercare is offered from 4:00 - 5:00 Monday - Friday at $20 per day, or $100 per week. Aftercare enrollment will open one week prior to each session’s start. We understand that some days explode on you like water balloons. Fear not, last minute aftercare signups are welcome, but please text me to let me know your change of plans so I can inform your camper.

AC wraps at 5:00. 5:00 means 5:00. There's no such thing as after-aftercare. That'd be silly. 

Please note: Due to the end of session performances, there will be no aftercare on the Week 2 Fridays of each session.

Camp Contact Info and Communication

415-568-7643 = Brian’s phone & RBL Contact #

Stop right now and put that number in your phone and list it as Rock Band Land. You will need this number to contact us if you are late or if there is an emergency.

Seriously, put my number in your phone. Trust me, I hate using the phone as much as any other busy, self involved person in the 21st century - I don’t even talk to my wife on the phone - but this is important. If there is an emergency or a serious issue (911 call, sickness, emotional distress, physical expressions of violence, etc...) that involves your camper or artist, I will be calling you - not texting or emailing. If you mistake me for a robo-spam call and let my call roll to voicemail, that's time wasted. Rest assured I will not be calling to talk about the new Netflix series nor to enquire if you have a trusted ayahuasca shaman. If I call, it's important. If I don't - which will be your experience 99.99999% of the time, then you can trust everything is cool with your camper at Rock Band Land. 

General Rules For Contacting Me:

If your camper is physically with us at RBL, and you have an important question or info to share, text me, do not call. I will reply as soon as I am free to do so. If it’s not urgent, email me and I’ll reply as soon as I can. 

If your camper is not physically with us at RBL, and you have a question, email me, do not text or call. I will reply as soon as I am free to do so.

I will only reply to camp texts between the hours of 8:00am and 5:00pm. Outside of those hours, email is king, or queen, or a democratically elected, socialist leaning prime minister.

In previous years some parents thought it'd be super fun to text or call me often between the hours of 11:00pm and 6:00am when I'm pretending to sleep. Oh boy, that was fun to wake up to each night - some nights, multiple times. So fun. If you have weak boundaries, it's time to get some fence materials and start building. If, for some reason, you feel absolutely compelled to call or text me after work hours, first, don’t ever do that, second, you’d better be hilarious. 

RBL is a Parent-Free / Caregiver-Free Zone

Parents, I've some good news and some bad news:

Good News: Your camper is about to embark on a completely bonkers, creative adventure at Rock Band Land.

Bad News: You won't be on that adventure with them, in fact, you won't even be allowed in the building.

RBL has been a parent-free / caregiver-free zone since its inception 673 years ago, long before Covid. Though we have enormous respect for good parenting and believe that it is the cornerstone of a decent society, Rock Band Land is here for the campers and their needs, not for you. When you are in our space, with the exception of shows, you are at best a distraction for our staff and the other campers, and at worst you are completely in the way, and potentially a safety hazard. 

From the second our campers arrive, our staff will be engaging with them and observing the social dynamics among them. We'll be looking for potential groupings of the campers, behavioral issues, friendships and rivalries. We'll be listening to the campers and getting to know them as best we can in the short time before camp officially begins while helping them become familiar with the people who will be caring for them, teaching them, joking with them, and creating with them all week. When you are in the space, you interrupt that process and take our staff's attention away from our campers.

Drop Off & Pick Up Times

Drop off:  8:50 - 9:30

Pick up: 3:30 - 4:05

RBL Drop Off & Pick Up Protocols

RBL employs rolling drop off and pick up protocols. Simply pull up in front of RBL beside the orange traffic cones, put the car in park, leave the car running, stay in your car, drop off / pick up your camper from the passenger side of the car, on the first day be sure to introduce your camper to us, and then go bye-bye.

This is one of those simple things that otherwise intelligent people are regularly baffled by. In the hopes of minimizing issues I’m going to lay out our protocols in a simple DOs and DON’Ts format.

DOs:

- Have your camper ready to go. That includes having them dressed (with shoes on) and backpack packed with their lunchbox and water bottle. If your camper is eating a bowl of cereal when you pull up, go around the block. We’re not waiters at an IHOP and we don’t want to watch your kid eat.

- Stay in your car. We will assist your camper out of the car and into RBL.

-Know how to use your car before driving it. This note is almost exclusively for Tesla drivers, 97% of whom do not know how to unlock their car doors from the inside. We are not far from the robots taking over, please don’t help make the case for them by not knowing how to use the space machine that you our your spouse purchased.

- Introduce us to your camper on day one, even if we know them. Most of you drive nice cars with heavily tinted windows and 9 times out of 10 we can not see your camper until they are out of the car.

- Acknowledge our staff. We only hire cool and capable folks at RBL. We are friendly and fun. Say hi. That’s all. It’s easy and makes everyone’s day better.

- Get off your phone. If you happen to be on a business call when you pull up, first, try and schedule better - we might have some important info to share with you about your camper. Second, at the very least give us the respect of some sign language to apologize and indicate that you are on a call. I can't tell you how many times parents have pulled up and treated our staff like they were their servants and ignored them completely while our staff dutifully helped load the campers into the car. All the while mom or dad rambled on about synergistic opportunities, or ramping up the integration to make scaling feasible, or their cohesive cranial rectal navigation, or some other bullshit that had nothing to do with their kids. I promise you if I see that in the pick up line I will interrupt your call with my world renowned crow caw show.

- Relay any important info. This could be that your camper was attacked by your pet mountain lion in the morning, that they got in a fight with their sibling and are in a crap mood, that their knees are bothering them because kids have no respect for the miracle that is the young human body, that someone else will be picking them up, or that you need to pick them up early to take them to the vet to put them down.

(In a comfy chair. Put them down in a comfy chair. Geez, come on people. 1) I’m not a monster 2) It’s seriously bad business were I to run a camp for kids and be an advocate for youth euthanasia)

- GO. No, seriously, go. We have to keep the line moving. If you need to text someone or floss or add wiper fluid to your car, please drive away and find a nice spot to pull over, away from RBL. 

DON’Ts:

- Double park in front of RBL. If you need to to park, please find an actual parking spot.

- Don’t block our neighbors’ driveways. Some of our neighbors are cool and others, not so much. Those “not so much” neighbors do not care that you are dropping your precious babies off at camp and they are quite skilled at dropping targeted F bombs with military precision.

- Don’t get out of your car.

- Don’t let your campers exit or enter your car from the driver’s side. Treat is a one way street which some folks blast down at ridiculous speeds.

Walking / Bicycle Drop Off

We do not have bicycle (or scooter or skateboard) storage for campers at RBL. There is no bicycle parking in front of RBL (we tried to have racks installed but the sidewalks are too narrow). Down the block, closer to 18th St, there is a series of bike racks. Please lock up your camper’s bike there. If you bike regularly in the city I’m sure you know the deal, but for those new to the thrill of urban bike parking, our neighborhood is a great spot to get your bike parted out. Be sure your camper’s bike is as theft proof as possible. Otherwise lean into that nice walk or car ride.

If you are dropping off on bike or foot, one of our staff will greet you outside, in front of RBL. Please understand that, for safety reasons, we need to keep the car line moving. Even if you arrived first, we might need to greet a few campers from cars before we can get to you. Thanks for your patience. 

Non-Parent Pick Ups

The majority of campers will be picked up by one of their parents, however, if someone else will be picking up your camper on a given day please be sure to:

1. Let us know that person’s name and relationship to your camper at drop off or text / email me that info during the camp day. 

2. Don’t worry about updating the authorized pick up list in ActivityHero. Almost always folks update this list when I’m already outside, actively dismissing the campers - which makes the list kind of useless in real-time. 

3. If you are running late, in a jam, or have a last minute change of plans and don’t have time to update your camper’s authorized pick up list, text me the name and relation of the person who will be picking up. 

We don’t worry about who drops off because wherever they might be coming from, your camper ended up in the right place and kidnappers aren’t usually known for respecting the camp schedules of their captives.

Early Pick Up Protocol

Early pick ups are not a problem. We will deal with early pick ups on a day-to-day basis. If you tell me on Tuesday that you will need to pick up your camper early on Friday, I will say, “Great. Tell me on Friday morning.”

If you need to pick up early, please let me or my staff know at drop off who will be picking up that day and when. We’ll let you know where and how. If someone else will be dropping off your camper and you need to schedule an early pick up for that day, you can text me the morning of and I will send you and/or the person picking up the required info. 

FWIW 3:15-3:20 is the most difficult time to pick up, as campers will be en route from the park and we will not dismiss your camper to you under any circumstances while the group is returning to RBL. If you need to pick up at that time, it's best to pick up either at 3:00 at the park (I'll give you instructions at drop off), or wait till dismissal at 3:30.

Early Pick Up Party Crashers

Often many new parents will try to arrive for pick up early (between 3:00 and 3:30) to either get our attention and talk for a minute or to get a sneak peek at the inner workings of RBL. Obviously if you need to pick up early for an appointment or something that is of course ok, but if you are trying to get our attention, this is the absolute worst time to do so. The campers (and staff) are tired by this point and we always have lots of little details to tend to to get our campers out safely each day. Please do not come early if you can help it.

If you'd like to speak with me, or ask any questions, I'll be more than happy to talk with you after we dismiss the campers or later in the day via email or phone.

Sunscreen

We will have plenty of sunscreen on hand, but please coat your camper in UV protection before drop off. We will be spending 2+ hours each day at the local parks. 

Our Campers Might Be Donkeys, But They Are Not Mules

We know you love your kid and want them to have the world, but there is no need to send your camper to RBL like they are going on a 19th century arctic expedition. The only things that your camper will need at RBL are a water bottle, a lunch box, a light jacket, a small backpack to hold just those few things, and their imagination. Aside from that we have everything covered.

Seriously, please do not send them with a giant backpack filled with "treasures". We don't have a lot of storage space and since I am an absolute neat freak, if you send your camper with extra crap, they will spend their time organizing their unnecessary stuff to my liking while their unburdened bandmates head off to the activities of the day. 

Lunch / Snack 

Please pack a lunch and a small, dry morning snack for your camper each day. Please do not pack any nuts or nut products in your camper's lunch, there will be several campers with severe nut allergies. Also, be mindful that snack time and lunch will always be outside where the eating surfaces might be a bit unsteady. Send your camper with a bowl of soup, or a roll-your-own-sushi platter, and it’s pretty much guaranteed that your camper’s lunch will end up on the ground. Pack a sandwich or a wrap, you know, regular kid food, don’t get fancy or cute with it, just make sure your camper has enough healthy fuel. Cool?

Dear Dads (it's almost always the dads), I know you are trying your best. You're up late at night making the kids' lunches, doing your part, and I know how much you enjoyed PB&J as a kid -- I did too -- but no kid business, nor school is cool with nuts anymore. I know it might seem silly to you, but it's for good reason. Unless you want to be my official EpiPen Dude, standing at-the-ready to stab kids in the thigh with their medicine while tears of fear and discomfort are falling silently from their faces because they can't make any sounds from their swollen throat, because some ding-dong dad insisted on serving PB&J to their kids even after I specifically wrote him a note to say," Hey ding-dong dad, don't do that!", make something else.

You can do it, dads. I believe in you. I truly do.

Yogurts and yogurt drinks are not allowed at RBL. We did the math and 78.7% of all yogurt products end up on the floor. The same is true for milk (the world’s most vile beverage), juice, and sugary drinks and candy - these all mess up the place in a hurry and the sugar drinks and candy unnecessarily jack up our campers. Folks have long joked that I am something of the Willy Wonka of SF (the Gene Wilder Wonka, not the Johnny Depp Wonka, and definitely not the Timothée Chalamet Wonka). I get the comparison, but one major difference is that Mr. Wonka gives out candy, whereas I throw it out. Another difference is that I don’t breed cloned slaves, and, if I was Timothée Chalamet, I’d put my head in a blender.

Dry, healthy snacks and lunches are the way to go while at RBL.

We provide an afternoon snack of salted popcorn to all campers. Pickles will be shared with the band members on “Pickle Tuesday On Wednesday”. This might not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is. On the last Friday of camp, assuming the groups beat Harry Dave Pointaker (their nemesis and motivating tool towards great behavior) they will have a popsicle party at the park to celebrate a great week.

Water Bottles

All campers will need a water bottle filled with good old water. All non-water drinks will be replaced with delicious Hetch Hetchy tap water. We have no less than five sinks at the castle, so refilling is not an issue. Also, if your camper returns home with a full water bottle, don't freak out. Campers have access to their water bottles throughout the day, and can refill them when empty. Our camp is quite physical and we will be making sure the cohorts are well-hydrated. 

No glass water bottles please. We have concrete floors beneath the campers’ cubbies that glass water bottles smash on in such a cool way, but they also mean we have to close that room and put one staff on Glass Patrol until the hazard is clear.

Cell Phones / Smart Phones / Dumb Phones / Wrist Phones

All communication at RBL will go through me. Your camper will need exactly zero phones / devices while at RBL. Not zero plus one or one minus zero. Just zero.

We can’t possibly monitor everyone’s phone activity nor do we want to. Phones in camp are a complete and total unnecessary distraction. To keep it simple all phones / devices that are brought to camp will go in a pickle jar in my office. This includes Apple Watches, Gizmos, and other wrist style phones. I’m not sure if AppleCare covers damage caused by pickle brine, so please check your plan before sending your camper to RBL with a phone.

Managing our campers’ unnecessary devices will be at the lowest end of my priority list, so just leave them home. While at camp if you need to connect with your camper, please do so through me. If your camper needs to bring a phone to camp (ie., if they self-dismiss or take the bus to and from RBL), they can connect with me at the end of the day to collect their device. 

If you are the type of parent who needs to constantly check in with your kid, here’s your chance for some personal development. 

Musical Instruments

We have so many instruments that we could easily be mistaken for Guitar Center, except we don’t allow middle aged dudes and teenagers to shred at will while we are trying to talk, we don’t hire morons, and we don’t lose your items between the sale and the awesome escort to the door. All that is to say, we have your camper’s instrument needs covered. However, if they want to bring their own guitar, bass, or drumsticks they are welcome to do so. There’s no need to bring keyboards.

Please note: If your camper does bring their own gear, we’ll of course look after it as best we can, but we are not responsible for breakage and we won’t be replacing their gear should it be shred to death. Gear breaks all the time, if you don’t want to worry about that, leave it home.

Sicky Sick & The Icky Bugs

If your camper is ill, please keep them home.  Campers who become sick at RBL will be sent home immediately. If they have a fever or diarrhea they need to stay clear of RBL for at least 24 hours. If they have Covid they have to stay clear of RBL until the test negative.

In our line of work there is no luxurious option of being able to work from home. If you send your kid to RBL sick, you are basically playing Russian Germ Roulette with our other campers and our staff. We send our staff home when they are sick, when they are sent home, my job compounds immediately and it impacts all staff on that day. It’s insane to me after all that we have all endured over the pandemic years that some people still don’t comprehend the interconnectivity of humanity, the ease of transmission of viruses, and how one’s selfish actions can impact the greater community at-large. I know you have a busy life and an important job - we all do - and gone are the days of dumping sick kids on RBL.

Remember lice? One nice thing about the pandemic is that lice scares were pretty much erased. I know some folks think that lice is not a big deal, and it’s certainly not as scary as leprosy, but when you run a family-centric business, lice is a huge deal. If you knowingly send your camper with lice (we always find out if a camper has lice — kids talk) they will be sent home immediately, your camper will not be allowed back until cleared by a doctor or a professional lice wrangler / groomer, and refunds will not be discussed.

Also, if your camper is undergoing an exorcism, your priest is not allowed to accompany them to camp. Our staff is trained in demon wrangling. 

Masks
If your camper shows up sick, or becomes sick during the camp day, they will be issued a mask to wear while inside as they wait for you to come pick them up.

All Shoes Are Not Created Equal

All campers must have reliable shoes in Rock Band Land. This means sneakers that lace, velcro, slip on, with closed toes, and that do not fall off easily. Crocs, flip flops, sandals, platform and high heeled shoes, wheeled shoes, and those weird, web toe shoes are not allowed in Rock Band Land. We are really strict on this rule as we have seen too many kids trip and fall in the past simply because of inadequate footwear.  

Park Time / Breaks on The Block / Emergency Meeting Point

We have our version of recess either at In Chan Kaajal Park (Folsom at 17th) or at Franklin Square Park (17th and Bryant). Each cohort will spend a minimum of 2 hours at the parks engaged in both structured physical activities and games, as well as ample free time to run around like maniacs.

Throughout the session we occasionally take outside breaks to reset the energy of the campers. Sometimes we'll do running games in front of our space, sometimes we take a walk around the block. Whenever any campers leave our space they are always accompanied by at least two teachers.

If for some reason there was an emergency that forced us to evacuate RBL, our meeting point will be In Chan Kaajal Park on Folsom at 17th. We would be calling parents from there, and whether cell phones worked or not, we would stay in place unless police or emergency services instructed us to move elsewhere. 

Expectations

RBL Summer is a wildly fun, creative experience. This year we are offering more creative opportunities than ever before. Each session we will both be writing an original song and learning a classic RBL song on the instruments, diving deep into its companion story, we’ll be contributing bits for an upcoming episode of UGLY BABY, which includes writing and improvising comedy bits, doing voiceover work, doing daily art projects, and acting. 

Each day campers can expect a music period, a visual art period, a physical activity period, a free time period, as well as story writing sessions, game periods, UGLY BABY periods, and park visits. There will be countless music, art, comedy, and expressive lessons scattered throughout the week, but the primary focus is always on creative collaboration. We meet each camper where they are at in regards to their experience and ability. 

No experience playing an instrument is required to enjoy RBL.

What We Expect From You

We expect that:

- You will communicate with us about any medical, behavioral, life issues (i.e. the passing of a family member or pet, a recently announced divorce, the loss of a favorite stuffie, etc...) that might affect your camper's ability to participate in camp.

- You will be reading the email updates that we will send throughout the session and make your camper’s song and song materials available to them at home so that they can practice and get the most out of their camp weeks at Rock Band Land.

- You will be on time for camp drop off & pick up.

- You will watch an episode of UGLY BABY with your camper so they know exactly the fun that lays ahead.

- You will be on time for the Week 2 Friday show, or connect with me in advance if not so I can manage your camper’s expectations. We’ll be starting the shows on time.

End of Session Concerts

The end of each session will culminate with a live performance by the campers at Castle Bing Bong. They will occur on the last Friday of each session (Friday of Week 2 only, there will be no show for Week 1 campers) as the campers assemble in their bands to blow your minds with their version of the song that will be written during that session.  

The shows will happen at the following times on the Friday of Week 2:
3:15 - Cohort 1 (Ages 6-8)
3:45 - Cohort 2 (Ages 7-9)
4:15 - Cohort 3 (Ages 9-13)

If you have siblings enrolled who will be in different cohorts we will do our best to have them both perform in the same band on show day. The time and groupings will depend on the instrument spaces available per group. However, if you prefer that your rockers each perform with their age group that’s fine too. You can let me know during the week of the performance. Please don’t write in advance to request specific show times or special accommodations. All show details will be handled the week of the show.

UGLY BABY Episodes

This summer we will also be several episodes of UGLY BABY. Every single camper will get to participate in the creation and production of UGLY BABY, but not every camper will be featured physically in the show. That’s just the reality of making a TV show with 100s of young artists at once.

Differences Between Week 1 & Week 2
As mentioned, RBL Summer is specifically designed to be a two week experience, a Full Session is two weeks long, and each day of each camp week will have a variety of music, visual art, comedy, and physical activities.

Week 1 will include more musical exploration, songwriting opportunities, and more UGLY BABY activities.
Week 2 will be more focused music lessons, Derp-Dad & Donkeys adventures (RBL’s D&D), and a final performance.

We reserve the right to change the schedule and activities at any time.

No, we won’t be changing the schedule to accommodate your camper because you enrolled them in Week 1 and they want to do Week 2’s activities. It’s a two week camp. 

Staff to Camper Ratio // Team Teaching

At RBL all classes and activities are team taught with a minimum of 2 teachers and staff present per group. The campers will break out into a variety of different project groups (within their cohorts) throughout the week, with a minimum teacher to student ratio of 1:8, though often that ratio will be 1:4 or 1:5.

Not Afraid of The Dark

We want to be sure that everyone is absolutely, completely, totally, without a doubt, one hundred thousand million percent checked out on the amazing experience your camper is about to participate in.

At RBL we produce only original material (songs, stories, art, videos, etc…) with our campers. We do so with great care and passion, and though we help steer, we mostly follow their lead when it comes to the directions that the stories and resulting projects might go.

Sometimes our subject matter is dark. We have written well over 600 songs and stories and the subject matter at times includes some really spooky elements - in fact, more than any other type of story our campers almost always ask to write a scary or spooky story / song, and, since Covid I have seen a dramatic increase on our campers’ desire to write about dark subject matter, especially murder.

We write this to you not to frighten you (we've also written our share of sweeter tales) but because we believe entirely in our process and our products, and want to be sure you are completely aware of what we do. We know everyone is crazy busy and a lot of folks sign up for programs simply because their friends' kids are in it. There is nothing at all wrong with that, but Rock Band Land is definitely not T-ball nor cat petting camp.

If you have yet to listen to some of the songs and stories we encourage you to do so now. You should absolutely watch an episode of UGLY BABY. We do what we do and we do it well, and though we are a creative expression program, we are also media producers. As with all media it's your responsibility as parents to determine what is right for your camper to participate in and to consume.

The longer your camper stays with Rock Band Land the more their collection of awesome songs, stories, and video projects will grow. As will their attachment and investment in these creations.

Medical / Behavioral Issues

If something is happening in your camper’s mind or body that might affect their experience or their behavior in our camp, please be sure to share this information with us. In addition to years of teaching experience, our staff has years of experience working with kids and adults with special needs. We will do everything in our power to help accommodate your camper and give them the best experience possible.

I include this section because in the past there have been numerous examples of parents who, for whatever reason, have chosen to withhold this kind of information from us and if they had shared it we could have significantly bettered their child’s experience. Sometimes they simply forgot to tell us, sometimes they weren’t sure, and sometimes they were either in denial, embarrassed, or afraid of stigmatizing their camper with a label that might accompany a doctor’s diagnosis.

This is your reminder to not forget. If you are dancing with denial or embarrassment, get over it. This is about your kid and not your feelings. And, if you are concerned about stigmatizing your camper with a label, please do not worry – we have your kid’s back.

Here’s the thing: every single one of us has issues. We all come rocketing out of our mothers, a perfect blend of completely awesome and totally messed up. Some issues are major, some are minor, and together – just like chords of a song- they make us who we are. 

Cheesy analogy much?

Why, yes I do. Thanks for noticing.

Here’s the other thing: whether you tell us or not, we almost always know when something is going on developmentally with one of our campers. We are not therapists or medical professionals – and we don’t claim to be, but we know kids. Though we are fully capable of accessing and reshaping a situation to accommodate specific concerns that we see in a child, it’s eight million billion times better for your child if you share information with us from the get-go so that we can work together to make sure they have everything they need to succeed.

If you need to, please be sure to update your activity's info in your ActivityHero account. If you do, be sure to also write to me directly as well. Please don't wait till the morning of the first day of camp to share this type of important information with me.

RBL Medication Administering Information, Permission, and Waiver

(Guess which part of this info page was written by our lawyer.)

As RBL has expanded, more and more campers are attending that have allergies severe enough to require either EpiPens or with asthma severe enough to require an inhaler to be on their person. To ensure consistency in the administration of such meds for the safety of the campers, we need a medication release form to be filled out by any parent who is leaving their camper with an EpiPen or inhaler, or by those parents who allow their camper to self administer any other medications, in order to:

1) Get parent permission for RBL to administer.

2) To make clear that we will only follow the instructions for administering contained on the prescription box provided by parent (ie. there will be no judgment calls by staff and there will be no accepting a long list of instructions from a parent that deviates from the prescription on the container - RBL cannot make those medically related judgments).

(Now, back to my voice.)

If you'd like to save time at drop off on the first day of camp, you can download the form here, complete it, and email it to rockbandland@gmail.com, or, if you love paper, print it, and bring it in already filled out. Otherwise I'll have a stack at the ready when you arrive. We can make paper airplanes or origami frogs.

Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety is a real thing. If your camper experiences separation anxiety, please connect with me in advance and follow our lead during drop off. If you are the nervous sort, please rest easy, we have helped countless young campers overcome their separation anxiety. Within minutes we'll have your camper laughing and joining in the fun of Rock Band Land.

The key to successfully integrating a camper who is experiencing separation anxiety is to first have the parents inform them in advance that parents are not allowed in RBL. This should be done not while driving to camp on the first day, but a few days / weeks or so in advance and then with regular follow ups so they can be prepared. It should also be framed as a positive for the camper; be excited about it when you share the info with them. Again, if you are the nervous sort, watch your tone. It's crucial that you be on time for drop off. Tardiness simply worsens their experience, amplifies their anxiety, and makes it harder for us to smoothly integrate them into the fun that's unfolding inside the castle.

On the first day of camp, at drop off, you should make a swift, clean, and unemotional goodbye. Give them a quick hug and then off you go. Don't linger, and definitely don't come back to "check in". You'd be surprised at the number of folks who sabotage their child's own success by trying to "check in" on their kid. Almost always that's all about the parent's issues and not the kid's anxiety and I run hard defense on those folks so that their camper can have the best experience possible. Believe me, we get it - it's hard to leave when your child is upset or nervous, or in tears, but sometimes it's exactly the right thing to do to help them grow and develop.

If you know now that our rolling drop off protocol is not going to work for your camper and you are expecting tears or a meltdown on day one. Here's what you do:

- On day one arrive early enough to park and be outside when we open doors at 8:50. We'll greet you and your camper and if they need an extra minute or two with you, that's fine.

- You can hang out front for a few minutes and help your camper see that other kids are arriving and are eager to join.

- Either myself or one of our staff will keep checking in with you and your camper. When we see an opportunity to integrate them into the rest of the camp, we'll encourage your camper to give you a hug and then tell you it's time to go. Please respect that, go when asked, and don’t come back.

- I can’t always do so, especially if the mornings are hectic, but I try to text folks to let them know via text that their camper has successfully integrated with the camp. However, as mentioned above, if you don’t hear from me, everything is cool with your camper.

- Again, there may be tears (for both parents and campers) and that is sometimes part of the process

RBL Tax ID # For Your Records

Many of you will be claiming our camps and activities on your taxes and / or getting credit from your employers. To do so you will need our Tax ID number, which is 47-2940974. Every spring my inbox gets crushed with panicked emails from parents who are finishing their taxes, usually at the last minute, and scrambling to collect all the necessary info. If you know now that you will be claiming RBL Summer on your taxes, please save yourself the stress and make note of that number.

Remember, I’m also a busy person. When you write to me in the spring I'll be directing you to search your inbox for the email that included this fancy link, so by recording our tax ID # now you'll have just altered your future in a more positive direction. 

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Thank you for reading all of this info. I know it's a lot, but hopefully most all questions have been answered and our collective preparedness makes for a better experience for our campers. If I have forgotten anything or if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to write to me at rockbandland@gmail.com.

We are really looking forward to making great art and music with your campers.

Brian