Bring your children to KAAN? Yes or No???

A question came up on my Facebook wall recently about whether or not we were bringing our children to KAAN this year.    While the first year we attended (2007 in Boston) didn't have childcare and we had 2 small children, we wanted to get the most out of KAAN so we didn't bring them and had my parents look after them.    

Our second KAAN conference that we attended was in 2010 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and we dropped off our children at my brother and his girlfriend's home on the way there for the weekend.   We arrived a day early and volunteered with others packing materials into the bags, setting up the signs, and at registration on Friday afternoon.   

Our third KAAN conference was in Atlanta in 2011 and due to me having surgery immediately after this conference in Atlanta, we didn't bring our children to it.   They were taken care of by my in-laws.   I volunteered to  help out with registration again and had fun doing it.   

Our fourth KAAN conference was in Albany, NY just last year and due to it being local and both sets of grandparents attending, we brought our children.   It helped that KAAN last year had a childcare program for those children under 7 who couldn't attend the youth programming events.  Our girls were well taken care of and we checked on them in-between our sessions.   We supplied the snacks while the mentors volunteered to play with the children during the sessions playing games, coloring, and  more.

The children really enjoyed themselves last year and our children have Camp Mujigae friends and KAAN friends.   It is something that they are looking forward to going to this year and are not only counting the months down to Camp Mujigae but to KAAN as well. 

 

A quote from my 8 year old son: “(Camp) Mujigae is fun and KAAN is fun but in a different way….there is fun stuff to do at both but there is different fun stuff at KAAN and I like that.”  

From my now 6 year old daughter:  “I like going to KAAN and playing fun games with the counselors (mentors)”.   She was in the childcare program along with her 7 year old sister who also had fun playing in the room with the mentors as well.   Our 7 year old says she “loved the pool and hanging around Eli"  (one child who also attends KAAN with his sister).  

 

Camp Mujigae is special and KAAN is special to my children and for myself as well just in a different way.   Having your child go to Korean cultural camp is a wonderful experience to learn more about their culture and hanging with other Korean children around their age.   KAAN helps them learn about themselves as well but in a different way.    I look at KAAN this way:  it’s an extension of the cultural camp not a continuation of it.  

KAAN’s youth program has cultural things but also sometimes it’s just fun hanging with other Korean children and doing things as a big group too which includes playing in the pool, going on the field trips that they have for the children on Saturday, and more. 

Looking down the road aways, I hope that my children continue to attend the KAAN conference just like they attend Camp Mujigae and develop their KAAN friendships even more.    It’s one of the many reasons why I love going and volunteering at it as well.

To anybody reading this and debating if they should bring their children to the KAAN conference:   Bring your children to KAAN.  They will have fun, learn and develop friendships.   We are so glad that we did. 

~From Our Mommy

Drawn back to 2007 tonight....

Watching  Secret Sunshine 밀양   tonight.   I remember watching this movie on the airplane in 2007 when we were getting our little  태희.    So many memories of our trip with smiles and tears.  I think I'll go back to November 2007 and read what I wrote back then this weekend when I get the chance to...especially since her birthday was this week.