At BVF, we stay active throughout the day, moving around our 34-acre farm quite a bit. We have high expectations of our campers' behavior so that ALL campers and counselors feel safe and can enjoy a joyful day. Children who are not capable or willing to rise to the occasion will be better off choosing a different camp.

We expect children to be able to:

• Listen respectfully to feedback from counselors and follow instructions.

• Speak respectfully to counselors and other campers.

• Respect other people's boundaries.

• Be the boss of their own body. Nobody gets to make a child's body feel unsafe.

• Understand that sometimes "no" is the answer. 

• Be responsible for their belongings.

• Manage meals (eat lunch with the group without repeated promptings by counselors).

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We expect our campers to REFRAIN from the following behaviors:

• Fighting, rough housing, or engaging in unsafe behavior.

• Threatening or bullying anyone or joining in if others are bullying.

• Sharing or trading food. We sometimes have campers with severe food allergies.

• Taking things that don’t belong to them or touching another camper's art without permission.

• Being disrespectful to counselors or other campers. This includes teasing or being intentionally mean.

• Bringing electronics or toys from home.

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If you feel your child cannot generally meet these expectations (everybody has off days!), we are not the camp for you. We take camper safety seriously - both physical and emotional safety. We want all campers to have a wonderful, creative, and playful time at BVF. That is not possible if even one other camper is repeatedly engaging in harmful or disrespectful behavior. 

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We will work with your child, but we will not make excuses for your child. Doing so teaches a child that they are not capable of doing better. Kids need to believe in themselves, and they need us to believe in them first. Giving children feedback is not an attack - it is actually a loving action to take. Children experiencing sadness or embarrassment about their mistakes is not damaging to them. Those feelings are part of life, and it is our job to help them remember they are fabulous humans who make mistakes like all of us. Children want to practice doing their best, so we must allow them to rise to the occasion. We don't short-change children by treating them like they can't help disrespectful or harmful behaviors.

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We believe the following about most kids:

• They can handle hearing "no" or "not right now."

• They can stop themselves from touching others and learn to ask first.

• They can tolerate the discomfort associated with waiting for a turn.

• They can learn to regulate their emotions with support from adults.

• They can navigate relationship challenges and make repairs when they hurt someone.

• They don't "work on" not hitting other kids. They 100% STOP hitting other kids. Working on not hitting other kids means there is wiggle room for continuing to hit other kids. Adults don't "work on" not speeding. They stop speeding after they get a $300 ticket!