Making Friends at GAC

Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them.                                                                                      ~Francesco Guicciardini

Our theme this session is friendship.  While friendship is always an integral part of camp and one of our big goals, we are encouraging our Session #2 campers to be intentional about being good friends to each other and observant about what they appreciate about their friends.

Friends: Finding Gold in a Plastic Era

“Friendship is the gold of childhood.” 

Michael Thompson’s statement stuck with me long after I attended his session on the social lives of millennial children at a recent American Camp Association conference.  I would go even farther and say that friendship is not just the gold of childhood, but also of life.    And, unfortunately, our culture is not currently supporting the development of healthy, solid friendships between kids.   Friendship is more important than any academic subject or athletic skill, and yet the way our kids spend their time does not reflect this importance.  For many kids, there simply isn’t time in their lives for developing strong, close friendships.