are not necessarily the ones who are the most popular. For example, when I was a counselor, we had a camper who some might consider nerdy, and she was very outspoken, articulate, clever, and witty. She was not the kind of girl that other girls would necessarily promote socially or gravitate toward, but the counselors fell in love with her. And because we loved her, the other girls did too. Staff must take seriously the power and influence they have on kids. If campers see you rallying around the girls who normally get overlooked, it’s a game changer. This is true for all campers — boys and girls. Find a trait or traits in each camper that make him or her special. It will be easy to find these traits in some campers, and you might have to work a bit harder to find these traits in others. Since relationships are so important to girls’ development, do you have any strategies for helping girls who might be struggling to create friendships? There’s no blanket answer for this because usually when kids have trouble making friends, there’s an individual profile of each kid that you have to take into account. But I do think it’s important for staff not to impose their own social needs and social assumptions onto a kid. For example, if you have a camper who is struggling to make friends, my guess is that the camper is struggling wherever she goes. So take the time to ask the child about her social life outside of camp: Find out who her friends are at school, who her closest friend is, and how many close friends she has. If you hear from the camper that there are not a lot of friends in the picture to begin with, you’ll also understand that maybe she will need only one friend at camp. A lot of times, we assume that a child needs a whole bunch of friends. But if that’s not what she has at home, it’s typically not going to be what she has at camp either. Staff are right to understand that relationships are important to girls’ development, but they must also understand that every camper is different and might not have the same social needs. What advice would you give to staff trying to instill leadership skills in girls? Take the time to set small goals for your campers that they can try to accomplish while at camp. These can include things like saying “hi” to a person you don’t know or trying a new activity that makes you a little uncomfortable or that seems scary. Ask your campers, “What’s one thing you want to try to accomplish this week or this summer? Something that maybe would require you to take a risk or that is something you wouldn’t normally do.” And tell her that you’re going to try to accomplish it together. That does two things: First, it identifies a risk and a point of possible development for a girl. Second, it allows her to pursue that goal in a close relationship with a counselor. And for girls, relationships are really important for their growth. Girls are much more likely to take risks and try new things and push themselves when they know they have a close relationship standing behind them. So if counselors could help campers set small goals, I think that’d be amazing. You have the perfect opportunity to really work with a girl over time. Photos on pages 28 and 29 courtesy of Sanborn Western Camps, Florissant, Colorado; Camp Howe, Goshen, Massachusetts; Camp Kamaji, Cass Lake, Minnesota; and Camp Lou Henry Hoover, Middleville, New Jersey. What if she is injured in an accident? Camper Medical Insurance Affordable peace of mind Appreciated by camp families Accepted by local medical providers Request a proposal for your camp by contacting Bill Viar at 800-849-4820 bviar@AmericanIncomeLife.com AMERICAN INCOME LIFE i n s u r a n c e c o m p a n y Serving Camps Nationwide CAMPING magazine • November/December 2013 31
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