As many of us as parents have discovered, it helps our children to grow and develop when they make a few mistakes along the way. Guess what our #1, top of the list priority is at camp? You guessed it – your daughter’s physical and emotional safety, followed by learning and growing and having fun and making lifelong friends and building a treasure chest of memories. Safey is #1. With that in mind, we think about how girls play around camp on their own, tether ball, hanging out in the lookout, rock hopping through the ferns and junipers, walking with a friend on the nature path, stopping to build a fairy house, pick up soccer, grabbing a friend to play tennis, ping pong or badminton, reading on the porch of a cabin, playing house in various corners of camp, and much more more. All of this happens in those little nooks and crannies of time built into our schedule. There are adults around – within earshot and within sight, but girls are playing together and working things out. When I read this article about growing leaders and mistakes we make, I thought of our unstructured free time. A great part of camp.

Play              Laugh          Camp