Facilitating the art of friendship

Camping Magazine, May-June, 1999 by Gwynn Powell

The program and implementation philosophy provide the backdrop where camp friendships form. What are the overt messages sent to campers at your camp? Is the program organized competitively, non-competitively, or cooperatively? Is the culture and atmosphere of your camp in alignment with your stated goals? What are the subtle messages sent through actions by staff or program organization? Do the songs sung around your campfire support or undermine your mission? What opportunities for success are offered that are not at the expense of others?

Step back from your personal understanding of your program and look with new eyes (perhaps through those of your first-time staff members' and campers') at how your mission is being delivered on a daily basis. What things do you see that make you proud, and what things do you want to alter?

Friendship and peer acceptance are important aspects of life. Encourage your staff and camper groups to seek a new awareness of how their actions can offer support or discouragement to others. Create an environment where campers who are unaccustomed to being part of the group feel accepted for their individual strengths, and they may take that confidence and be more accepted in their future endeavors.

References

Hanna, N. (1998). Predictors of friendship quality and peer group acceptance at summer camp. Journal of Early Adolescence, 18, 291-318.

Newcomb, A. F., & Bagwell, C.L. (1995). Children's friendship relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 306-347.

Gwynn Powell is currently a doctoral student in park, recreation, and tourism management at Clemson University in South Carolina. She has more than fourteen years of experience in the camp profession.