I am saddened this morning… I had a mom request information about Nancy Thomas camps. I think Nancy does amazing work, so I was happy to provide more information.


Her children’s therapist had recommended that this family attend a Nancy Thomas camp. This mom was doing her homework and asked if anyone had been to one of the camps. I arranged for two families who had attended to email her. I don’t know if they had a chance to communicate with her or not, but on the message board where the mom initially posted the question there were 8-10 negative responses about how “punitive” those camps are and how they should not be used with “our” children. To the best of my knowledge, none of those folks had attended camp.


This mom has more than one difficult child. Theoretically she trusts her therapist or presumably they wouldn’t be using this therapist. The therapist sees the family and made a recommendation that would presumably have more weight than folks in cyberspace who have never met the mom, much less the kids.


On the same message board, there was another post about two children struggling in school. The mom had noted that her girls ended up with one of two types of teachers… the kind who “tear up” when told the girls’ story and who determines to “make a project” out of the girls, and the battle-axe, old school type in whose room the girls do just fine. In fact, according to this mom, they thrive.


(Side bar here… even the battle-axe kind can get waylaid. We specifically requested such a teacher for Amy in second grade. Our daughter had this teacher wrapped around her finger… and this was the same teacher that other parents hated because she did “awful” things like dumping a messy child’s desk. This is also the teacher who told me Amy was “not bought into learning yet” but I should give her time. Amy just quit high school 3 weeks short of graduation. Did I give her enough time?)


Anyway, the message seems to be that structure and predictability are OK in a school setting but not OK in a family setting. I am saddened for this family and these girls that they let folks who don’t know what they are recommending against turn them away from a fabulous experience that might just have been the ticket to healing that their daughters need.


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