Flexibility

It's Thursday at Tristate. I have to be honest I am exhausted and scheduled this email last night in between sessions and heading to Carmines for dinner before partying too late at CampChella. Really quick here are the slides from my 2 sessions Fun & Not Boring. Camp people are the best. I can't tell you how much I love being a part of the community you make happen.

I’m completely obsessed with Lynn Lyons right now.

Saw her speak at ACA Dallas and I think I sent like 50 texts to people with quotes from her that just hit so hard.

If you’re not familiar, she’s 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 “touch your toes” kind (thank god, because I can’t do that).

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.

Sarcastic drumroll please

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

Podcast I did with Lynn - Apple, Spotify, Youtube

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 freaking required.

The schedule changes. The weather doesn’t play nice. Your favorite counselor has the day off. The kitchen ran out of chocolate milk. Your cabinmate snores like a broken chainsaw. Your parents aren’t around to “solve” any of it for you.

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.

(Oh, and stay tuned for next week, we get all the way into anxiety specifically. Also courtesy of Lynn Lyons. Again, she’s just speaking a language I also want to speak.)

The Flexibility Gym

Think about all the ways flexibility gets exercised at camp:

The weather suddenly changes, time for a quick pivot from lake time to indoor Olympics.

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. (Man I could do a whole series about camp food)

Another kid reacts to something in a completely unexpected way.

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.”

The Marketing Angle We’re Missing

Most of us sell camp as fun, friendship, and outdoor adventure. All totally true.

But what if we also positioned it as the training ground for an uncertain world?

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.”

Parents are desperate for their kids to develop exactly this. They may not use the word “flexibility,” but they definitely want children who can handle uncertainty without shutting down.

Embracing the Unplanned

Here’s where it gets tricky for us as camp professionals: 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 saw them as growth opportunities?

What if instead of apologizing when things don’t go exactly as planned, we celebrated the chance for kids to practice adapting?

What if we told parents, “Your child just had fifteen opportunities to practice flexibility today, and they crushed it”?

Making It Stick

The beauty of camp is that flexibility practice happens naturally. But 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 move inside. 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.

You got this,

Jack