Baha’i camp tries to teach to vocabulary of virtues

BEAVERTON, Ore. — In most places, camp songs concern five little frogs and a bear that went over the mountain. But at a camp here recently, 50 children belted out a lively ode to courage and integrity: This (followed by an enthusiastic stomping of feet) is where I live. This (stomping) is my community. This […]

BEAVERTON, Ore. — In most places, camp songs concern five little frogs and a bear that went over the mountain. But at a camp here recently, 50 children belted out a lively ode to courage and integrity:


This (followed by an enthusiastic stomping of feet) is where I live.

This (stomping) is my community.

This is where I do my best,

With courage and integrity.

Sure, the song loses something without guitar and hand motions but, clearly, this is a different kind of camp.

Sponsored by this city’s Baha’i community and the New Thought Center for Spiritual Living, the four-day camp named and nurtured more than a dozen virtues, including compassion, patience, truthfulness and responsibility. The goal was for each child to learn the language of virtues, practice a few of them, and take home tools to become a better person.

“Each child is like a seed — having the potential to be a `good’ tree,” said Delaram Hakiman-Adyani, the co-director of the Virtues Summer Camp. She and her co-director are well-versed in The Virtues Project, a grassroots initiative that’s active in 85 countries.

The directors — and the campers’ parents — believe that devoting time and attention to virtues encourages children to develop character traits that willimprove their lives and sustain what is good in the world around them.

During a visit to the camp, the virtues of the day were respect and courtesy. A wiggly group of 7- and 8-year-olds brainstormed on how to show those virtues.

“Respect everybody’s space,” says a girl who may have heard the admonition many times.

“If there’s a sign on the door that says, `Don’t come into my room,’ respect it,” says a boy who sounds like he might have an older sibling.

Courtesy is harder to pin down. Hands fly up, each quickly followed by an “umm” as campers rack their brains for actual examples.

“How about raising your hands when you want to speak?” a leader asks. “Ah,” the children say and look at each other knowingly.


“Saying `please’ and `thank you’?” another leader suggests.

Again, the knowing “Ah” from the campers.

At snack time, over a mini-bagel and cream cheese, Rain Johnson, 8, talks about the previous day’s virtue, responsibility.

“So, like if you were playing with somebody, and there were your toys and their toys and you’re playing with them, then when you’re done, you both pick them up,” she says.

As campers move from activity to activity, many of their parents are taking a course offered by the camp on nurturing virtues at home. During a break, Ariel Peterson says her 5-year-old son, Nick, is “attached to superheroes.”

“I know that presents a problem for a lot of parents,” she says. But she tries to expand conversations with Nick beyond who’s good and bad in any given superhero situation.

“What makes a superhero good?” she asks her son. And they talk about what it means to be courageous, courteous and helpful. She hopes the virtues summer camp will underline her efforts at home.

Michelle Butler hopes enriching her sons with virtues — as well as with swimming lessons and days at zoo camp — will help Sam, 8, and Will, 5, realize that the character traits Mom stresses are important to other people, too.


By noon, the children follow the sounds of guitar chords and gather in the main room. Jennifer Russell, who’s written and recorded a CD of virtues songs, is in the house. She and her husband introduce a song on courtesy.

A driving beat and snappy dance moves turn the day camp crowd into an amateur production number. Fifty kids clap their hands, turning their heads from side to side, as they jump and sing along:

Courtesy treats others with value.

It asks instead of demands.

Courtesy says “please” and “thank you.”

It welcomes others and shakes hands.

“Reach out your right hand to your partner,” Russell calls. And then the chorus really rocks the room:

Hello, how are you, courtesy?

Courtesy, you make me feel good.

Everyone’s important when you’re around.

You bring respect to my neighborhood.

(Nancy Haught writes for The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.)

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