From what it sounds like this camp is trying to have students learn these skills from working things out on their own not by giving specific direction. And while this works for many students, others like your daughter need a more direct approach. Doesn't seem like this camp is good fit for your DD, I wouldn't make her continue. It may just be the other kids she has to work with. Did she know anyone else there? Did many of the other kids all know each other already? The group dynamic can be really affected by the cliquishness of this age group.
I also think this is really important. I don't know enough about the actual curriculum of the camp to make any judgments, but if the whole concept is built on a process of letting the kids get their Lord of the Flies on (I'm exaggerating), I think that would be a non-starter for many, many (gifted and non-gifted) kids.
Well the camp was recommended by a friend, and was to be about building character, courage, team work and communication. I did not realize it was going to be "run" by high school/college students working on their own leadership skills vs. adults who mentor. Not sure if I knew that if it would have made me think twice or not about sending her. They wanted to provide modeling for young kids so they would be able to make good choices, unfortunately my dd saw nothing in her "leaders" that she would want to model, in fact, she was rather harsh in her assessment of their skills. I have no way of knowing if this assessment was deserved or not.
Again, what we have to take away from this is how WE act when we are faced with less than ideal situations. These things are going to pop up through life and she needs to find a way to be able to coexist.
