American sleep-away camps began as a way to protect children from the threats of the world. Parents continue to see them that way.

Among the victims of the devastating flooding in Texas​ are campers and counselors from a girls summer camp. A thousand miles from Camp Mystic, the tragedy hits close to home at another summer camp nestled in the Rocky Mountains.

When tragedies are in the news — natural disasters, plane crashes, fires — parents naturally and unavoidably react by thinking about what might happen to their own children. And children worry in turn about what might happen to them.