09/29/2026
The best thing you can give your child next summer may not be a program, a lesson or an opportunity. It may be the chance to discover who they are without you.
I know September is already full.
School has barely found its rhythm, after-school activities are underway, calendars are overflowing, and if I’m being honest, I’m still trying to find my own footing too.
So yes, it may feel early to be thinking about next summer.
But as a parent, I keep coming back to this: summer camp is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.
Not simply because of the canoe trips, campfires, friendships or days spent outside, although all of those matter deeply.
The real gift is what children build while they are there.
Independence. Confidence. Resilience. The ability to navigate friendships, solve problems, try something difficult, recover when things do not go perfectly and discover that they are capable of more than they thought.
Those are not just “camp skills.”
They are the building blocks our children will carry into everything that comes next: team sports, academics, creative pursuits, leadership, post-secondary education, relationships and, eventually, the careers and lives they choose for themselves.
We spend so much time thinking about what opportunities we can give our children. Camp gives them something even more valuable: the opportunity to discover what they can do for themselves.
That is why choosing camp is more than choosing how they will spend their summer.
It is an investment in who they are becoming.
And there are few gifts more meaningful than that.
-Lyndsay Lyndsay Borschke (Mother of 3 Wapomeo Campers)
📷 Adam Stein