School has started back up at our home and both kids are off to brand new schools this year. What I keep thinking about is this past summer and how impressed I was with our five-year-old daughter’s summer.

We have had the luxury of never really needing to “plan” summer outside of a couple of family trips due to our kids’ ages. They’ve always been in daycare during that time. Our daughter came out of public Pre-K this year facing the first summer of not having a default option. We were facing what parents with older kids warned me about when I would talk gleefully about not having daycare tuition anymore.

“Oh, just wait until summer camps.”

They were right.

But this post isn’t about tuition about summer camps. It’s about how my daughter went into every week.

Historically, our girl hasn’t dealt with change with much grace…which could be said for most kids her age. Going somewhere new, whether it was her new Pre-K last fall or even a new room for childcare at church, separation anxiety was real for her. It was a battle often not won but settled with bribery and no shortage of tears.

Megan and I held our breath going into this summer. We talked to our daughter about what she liked and what kind of topics sounded fun in looking at options and ended up having a summer filled with multiple one-week adventures. Every week, Campbell would be going to a new camp, doing totally new things and interacting with a completely new set of kids, counselors and expectations.

We didn’t know what to expect from her. Our girl surprised us.

What Impressed Me

Cam went into every week with optimism. I would try to pump her up a bit the Sunday nights before each new camp to level-set how she may not know anyone there, etc. She always responded with “well that means I just get to make new friends!”

She would get into the car at pickup and always talk about the fun things she did. She focused on the positive and was always upbeat about going into the next day.

Campbell, who a year ago was a hard core introvert that refused to stand in front of a group of people without bawling, wrapped up the summer doing drama and ballet performances. She faced her fears and went head first attempting new challenges.

What I Learned

First, I learned to never underestimate the potential of other people. I was bracing myself for brutal drop-offs at various camps or her eventually coming unglued from the wacky routine halfway through summer.

Those things never happened.

I learned from Cam to greet every challenge with optimism. That every new thing that is scary could be an opportunity. My introverted daughter looked at brand new situations as a chance to “learn something new” or “meet new friends.”

I learned that every challenge is temporary. Cam went into every week knowing that it was over by Friday, which likely motivated her. She new that even her less fun camps had a finish line. No challenge was permanent. We even asked at the end of each week “would you do that again” and once in a while she’d say “no, that’s okay.”

Her summer was setup to dabble, test and learn about likes and dislikes quickly. We didn’t overinvest buying expensive equipment or committing to a time intensive endeavor. The summer was setup as a test and learn. To see what worked. What didn’t. And to not repeat mistakes.

Overall, I learned about her fearlessness. She had to make new friends almost every Monday with a bunch of strangers. She had to trust people who she’d never seen instantly based on a nametag or color of their shirt. She had people she just met tie a rope to a harness around her waist, take her to the top of a tall rock wall and say “okay now jump.” (It was a rock climbing camp y’all…).

Did I mention that she WAS THE ONLY GIRL IN HER SOCCER CAMP?

Campbell exhibited a fearlessness in her world that I could exhibit more in my own. We all could.

Who says you can’t learn from a kindergartner?