Camp is an ideal place to foster the healthy risk taking that helps build belonging, trust, responsibility and feeling capable – all of which are extremely important to a child’s biopsychosocial development.  I believe that camp is such a great place because I know that the safety of the campers is of utmost importance to everyone working at camp, yet there is still space for risk-taking.  Just going to overnight camp and spending time away from parents and friends is a healthy risk.  It may be daunting for your child to go somewhere by themselves, but luckily at camp they will be surrounded by staff who are trained to help children successfully build friendships and learn to live with other people.  Camp, particularly overnight camp, certainly develops a sense of belonging and the friendships that are established help children gain confidence in their ability to enter a situation without knowing anyone and come away with friends.