Monthly Archives:April 2025

From our respective locations in the non-summer months, we are starting to see signs of spring. Trees are budding, flowers are blooming, birds are chirping more frequently, ducks and geese are having their little ones, turtles are laying their eggs, pollen is covering cars and outside spaces, and yes, interesting cloud formations are seen due to the change of seasons. These are quiet but certainly noticeable signals that summer is near.

**Here is where you may expect to hear seasoned summer camp professionals spout anecdotes focused exclusively on excitement for the camp season appearing on the horizon; however, that wouldn’t be honest, or at least the full picture.**

Alongside the excitement—the anticipation of laughter echoing through camp, of campfires crackling, silly songs, and best friends reuniting or meeting for the first time—there’s something else: nerves.

We hear it from parents every spring, their daughters feeling a mix of eagerness and uncertainty as they count down the days to the start of camp. We feel it, too. Even after many years (100+ if you add them all together) for the Woodland leadership team, we still get that flutter in our stomach as the camp season approaches.

Not because something is wrong, but because something meaningful is about to begin.

Just as we operate in our camp community—navigating homesickness, encouraging growth, and meeting campers right where they are—we lean in to these conversations. By doing so, nerves around new experiences, like camp, which can feel complex and even isolating, become something else: shared, understood, and even simple.

Good news!

If you are feeling a bit nervous about the camp season ahead, that is 100% normal.

First, nerves mean you care about the right things—being seen, heard, and valued. Feeling them is proof that the experience ahead matters to you.

Nerves aren’t a signal to back away; they’re a sign you’re stepping into something important. They’re proof that you’re engaged, you’re growing, and you’re about to do something worth doing.

You’re in Good Company

Nerves have a way of making us feel isolated, like we’re the only ones experiencing them. But the truth? They’re far more common than you might think. That flutter of uncertainty? Nearly everyone feels it—even the most seasoned campers, counselors, and, yes, camp directors and the leadership team.

What’s reassuring is that camp is designed for moments like these. It’s a place where challenges aren’t faced alone, where growth happens in a community setting. From the first handshake at check-in to the final wave good-bye at Parents Weekend, every camper is invited to discover that their nerves aren’t a barrier—they’re a bridge to something bigger.

Nerves are a Welcome to the Work We’re Doing.

Unlike school, clubs, sports teams, or even church, camp is different. There’s no grade to earn, no trophy to chase, no rigid agenda to follow. At Woodland, our focus isn’t on performance—it’s on people. The only metric of success is how well we show up for one another.

That’s why nerves belong here. They’re a signal that we’re stepping into something real—something that asks us to look beyond ourselves and lean into bits of life we may not be able to at home. At Woodland, our entire staff practice noticing who needs a hand, who needs encouragement, and who just needs someone to sit beside.

So if you or your daughter are feeling those pre-camp nerves, take heart—you’re in the right place. They’re not a sign to retreat; they’re a sign you’re stepping into something meaningful.

Step into something meaningful with us and reserve a spot at Camp Woodland for 2025!

Thank you to a WNC camp for the inspiration found in this blog!

Research indicates minor struggles now build confidence, resilience, and problem-solving skills later for kids. When we let children fail in developmentally appropriate ways, they don’t just learn how to handle failure — they learn how to recover from it.

Desirable Difficulties

Jessica Lahey, author of “The Gift of Failure,” points out that parents, logically, know failure is a learning opportunity. And, yet we still grapple with having our kids struggle. The intent is good – it comes from a place of love. It’s natural that we want to protect them. When we constantly step in, we also unintentionally teach kids learned helplessness. “We are telling them, ‘I don’t think you’re competent enough to do this yourself,'” Lahey says. Over time, kids internalize this belief, undermining their confidence and ability to handle challenges.

Kids need what Lahey calls “desirable difficulties” — challenges that feel hard but are within their ability to overcome. Guess where kids can experience these “desirable difficulties” in a supportive and caring environment? Camp is the PERFECT ecosystem to practice failure individually and as a group. Let me explain.

Individual Failure

It is rare for a camper to get up on skis, a kneeboard or wakeboard on the first try. First off, this activity requires that campers be at a certain skill level in swimming (to feel comfortable and adept at maneuvering in deep water). For some of the younger girls, this may take a year or longer to build up the skills of being a proficient swimmer in a lake setting.

Once campers have the swim skills necessary to give a more advanced water sport a go, it may take several days of multiple tries to get up only to face plant (and have a gallon of water go up your nose). It may take another round of Rec Swim periods to make a loop around the lake successfully (more face plants). For campers who want to challenge themselves even further, they may practice going in and out of the wake (with wipeouts being an imminent possibility) before they truly get the hang of it.

Group Failure
We gracefully fail together at camp every single day. Not every cabin earns a perfect “30” on inspection, gets chosen for “Best Dressed” on Sunday morning, or finds the “Mother Lode” during Gold Rush. Only one cabin receives the coveted 1st place award for “Lip Sync” or “Song Contest.” Paddling across Sand Lake for a cabin overnight canoe trip can be a feat in itself – not to mention getting a fire started quickly, putting up tents securely, and going to the bathroom in the woods.

Challenge by Choice

At Camp Woodland, failures and mistakes are not shamed or discouraged. Rather, it is quite the opposite. Missing the mark (by a little or a lot) is celebrated as an opportunity for growth. Sure we have levels in certain activities; however, at the end of the day, no “tests” are given or “grades” recorded. Campers have the choice to challenge themselves as little or as much as they want in any given activity. For campers who choose to work on passing levels in an activity, instructors are good at spotting when a skill has been mastered and can be done without hesitation vs when it is only demonstrated one time.

The idea of challenge-by-choice can be extremely rewarding and empowering. Campers typically make comparisons to earlier versions of themselves rather than measuring up to those who might be quite skilled in an area. Take archery, for example. There may be campers in the same class who are wishing they could simply hit the target and those who are shooting at 50 feet and trying for a given score or “qualifying” target.

One of my favorite things about having mixed ages and skill/experience levels in a class like archery is the mentoring that happens between campers. Being able to explain or demonstrate what you know to someone else helps with skill mastery. It is also really cool to see campers cheer each other on and recognize those small, yet important “wins” when they do something better today (have an arrow stick in the target) than they could yesterday (retrieve arrows from the grass).

Failing is the New Succeeding

Hearing the cheers when a camper is finally able to canter after the 12th try, return a ball using backhand on the 31st attempt, do a forward roll after struggling the 19 times prior, learn lines for a play after fumbling during the previous 17 rehearsals, coordinate a string of dance moves after 42 run-throughs, read the wind direction in sailing after 4.5 weeks, do a dive from the dock after the 21st bellyflop, paddle in the stern position in a canoe after spinning in circles for several classes in a row, and more is absolutely the B-E-S-T. You see, failure and mistakes are the stuff growth is made of at Camp Woodland!

We fail by ourselves and as a group. Difficulties become easier over time because we fail together in a supportive and caring community. If you would like your daughter to practice and get good at failing (the new succeeding), reserve a spot at Woodland for 2025!

Reference: https://www.popsugar.com/parenting/letting-kids-fail-49429258