Camp Woodland Blog

I’m back! I’ve been in Dallas (with JoAnne), Atlanta, and Atlantic City (with Lee) attending several conferences and facilitating trainings over the past month and will be sharing with you what camp pros around the country are thinking about, reading about, and listening to in as we head into the summer. The person I’m going to mention today is someone I’ve already written about, and her stuff bears repeating again and again (and again). I (we) really like what Lynn Lyons has to say!

If you’re not familiar, Lynn is this brilliant anxiety specialist who talks about how our kids are increasingly struggling with mental health challenges. And not because the world is more dangerous, but because they’re not developing the skills to handle uncertainty.

One of those boss level skills? Flexibility. Not the “down dog” kind from yoga class (whew!).

• The “Oh, it’s raining? Let’s pivot to an amazing indoor activity without missing a beat” kind.
• The “I’m not sure what’s happening next but it’s cool, let’s roll” kind.
• The “This isn’t exactly what I expected but all good, can handle it” kind.

And yeah, if you know me, you know what’s coming next.

Summer camp might be the single best place on earth to develop this skill!!

Flexibility: The Secret Superpower

Here’s how Lynn puts it: “When we get locked into a position, stance or perspective—be it based on fear, inexperience, or rigidity of any kind—we remove the opportunity to learn, expand, discover, and problem solve.”

Sound familiar? It’s basically the opposite of what happens at camp.

At camp, flexibility isn’t just encouraged – it’s required.

The schedule changes. The weather doesn’t play nice. Your favorite counselor has the day off. The kitchen ran out of grilled cheese. Your cabinmate snores like a broken chainsaw. The best part? Parents/caregivers aren’t around to “solve” any of it.

And somehow, kids learn to roll with it all.

It Matters More Than We Think

The thing about flexibility is that it’s not just about adapting. It’s about adapting without falling apart into a million-gajillion pieces.

Kids who develop flexibility at camp don’t just grudgingly accept change – they are rocking new environments with confidence. They develop a simple but super productive mindset that says, “I can handle the unexpected.”

Meanwhile, rigid thinking leads directly to anxiety.

When kids go through childhood believing things must go exactly as planned or disaster is on deck, they’re setting themselves up for a lifetime of stress.

The Flexibility Gym

There are so many ways flexibility gets exercised at camp:

• The weather suddenly changes, time for a quick pivot from afternoon activities to Lip Sync Contest.
• A homesick camper needs the counselor’s extra attention, so it means the morning routine might shift just a bit.
• The food isn’t exactly what they’re used to at home, so new foods are tried.
• Another kid reacts to something in a completely unexpected way which gives valuable information about that person.

Each of these moments is a rep in the flexibility gym. Each one says to a kid, quietly but clearly, “You can adapt. You can handle change. You’ve got this.”

As Lynn Lyons says, “A kid with a flexible brain becomes a person who can go with the flow when life doesn’t unfold as planned. Handling the unexpected is a critical skill in most aspects of life.”

Most parents are desperate for their kids to develop exactly this. The word “flexibility” may not be used, but there is a definite want/need for children to be able to handle uncertainty without shutting down.

Embracing the Unplanned

Here’s where it gets tricky for us as adults: Sometimes we work so hard to make everything perfect, predictable, and seamless that we accidentally remove the very opportunities that develop flexibility.

• What if instead of seeing schedule changes as failures, we look at them as growth opportunities?
• What if instead of apologizing when things don’t go exactly as planned, we celebrate the chance for kids to practice adapting?
• What if we told you, our camp families, in July, “Your child had fifteen opportunities to practice flexibility today, and they crushed it”?!

Yep, that happens at camp! Every. Single. Day.

Making It Stick

The beauty of camp is that flexibility practice happens naturally. And, we can be more intentional about it:

• Normalize change. “Plans change, and that’s actually a good thing!”
• Celebrate adaptability. “I noticed how quickly you adjusted when we had to leave earlier than expected. That’s a real strength.”
• Highlight the skill. “You just showed flexibility, and that’s going to help you in so many situations.”

Because at the end of the day, what we’re really doing is preparing kids for a world that will never, ever go exactly as planned. And, if you want to give your kids a jump start, you can begin practicing NOW. Not sure what to say when your camper shows signs of anxiety about the summer ahead through the questions that are asked? Say This, Not That (a previous blog) will give ideas on how to respond (thank you Lynn Lyons!).

Enroll for 2025

Now is a great time to reserve a spot for your kid/s at camp; we hope your daughter/s will join us at the flexibility gym this coming summer!

A big thank you to my friend, Jack Schott, for being the inspiration of this blog. Here is the Podcast he did with Lynn – Apple, Spotify, Youtube