Social and Emotional Growth through Camp Friendships

Parents, I want to conduct an experiment. Take out your phone, or if you’re reading this on your phone, flip over to your photos app. Now, find a less-than-perfect picture of yourself, your child, or your spouse in a happy moment. Maybe your kiddo wasn’t ready for the photo on their birthday. Maybe you were caught mid-laugh, or someone blinked, or the dog barked in the background. These photos—thousands of them stored on our phones—are just milliseconds in time, frozen forever and often analyzed more than they should be.

Now, think about your child at Winnataska this summer. Maybe they’re playing games at rec, enjoying canteen, or diving into the pool. Maybe they’re having the best time with new friends—or maybe they’re momentarily grumpy because canteen ran out of Fast Breaks. A weekly director walks up to snap a picture, and suddenly, the real world sneaks back in. I see it happen all the time. Girls fresh from the pool, wrapped in messy towels with sour straws for mustaches, suddenly get self-conscious and fix their hair. Boys, deep in a game they just invented, drop their focus and bunch up for a “serious” smile. In that instant, the joy of the moment shifts from being lived to being performed.

This summer, we’re changing how we do daily photos. Instead of capturing posed snapshots, we want to show you what camp feels like. You’ll see more candid shots of camp in action and maybe even some video clips. At the end of the week, we’ll post a larger album—a “photo dump” with more pictures from the session. I encourage you to sit down with your camper and go through them together. Maybe start a load of their smelliest laundry and listen to their stories as you scroll.

We also ask that you not judge your child’s experience based on a single expression in a photo. Just like in a school day or workday, there are ups and downs. Every moment of camp will not be “fun” in the traditional sense—some parts are hard, disappointing, and uncomfortable. But that’s where growth happens. Our goal is to help campers navigate those moments, learning resilience and independence along the way.

We know this is a big ask—trusting us with your precious babies. It’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly. We are deeply committed to their physical, emotional, social, and spiritual safety. And this change in our photo structure is one small way we can honor that commitment. Giving children a break from the curated life of social media allows them to focus on who they are rather than how they appear. And maybe, just maybe, that lesson will last far beyond their summer at camp.

Thank you for trusting us with your children. We can’t wait for them to experience the friendships, growth, and joy that only camp can offer.

Faithfully,

Elin Glenn
Executive Director