I had an epic parenting fail last weekend – well it seemed so at first but surprisingly it turned into a great learning experience.  My eight year old was performing in the last dance competition of the season; I am a pro dance Mom so was kind of casual about the event.  I showed up with a half hour to spare only to find out that they were running early and going on in five minutes.  My daughter was pretty ready so we slapped on a bit of makeup fixed her hair and that’s when I realized no tap shoes! Ahhhh!! Luckily I am a resourceful camp director type so quickly found a helpful Mom at another studio whose daughters black jazz shoes were almost the right size.  Slipped them on and off she went straight on stage.  I didn’t freak out or cause a scene (the Mom who showed up late and missed the piece completely did both!) and the show went on.  My daughter wasn’t fazed by it at all – her feet did hurt a bit from trying to make the jazz shoes tap but she had fun with her friend’s and we chalked it up to a life experience – you know we will double check the bag every time from now on!

Life lessons show up when you least expect them and provide opportunities to model for our children how to resolve challenges, be gracious and not waste time worrying about things you cannot change.  One of the truly great things about camp is that girls get to have real life experiences every minute of the day.  Life is generally not always perfect and sometimes you have to just make do with what you have and still make it a great outcome.  At camp surrounded by supportive adults and their peer’s girl’s problem solve, create their own solutions and make fun out of pretty much everything!  Camp is such a great place to take risks without worrying about failing, to make best friends with people you only met an hour ago and to realize that the show goes on ready or not!  It isn’t always perfect but it sure is an awesome lesson in life!