The ultimate test is allowing them to spend some time away from you in a safe environment. Summer camp offers an all-around secure yet freeing atmosphere for your kids to be completely and utterly themselves.
They'll learn essential time management skills that boost independence and prepare them for everything life has to offer. Building independence is a crucial life skill that will ensure they feel in control of situations, make friends easily, and expertly deal with anger and other negative emotions. Camp gives children an opportunity to truly understand positive thoughts and everything that goes into making a great choice.
In turn, this will develop their sense of self alongside learning that they can turn to their friends for support when needed. Summer learning loss isn't a term you hear every day but its important to know about. Studies have shown that during the summer break or any extended period where students stop learning, children can forget knowledge they've worked hard to earn. This can cause children to fall behind in class and struggle to keep pace with those around them when school starts back up.
However, sending your kids to camp keeps their brains engaged enough to prevent this phenomenon. To give you a better understanding, here are just a few ways that summer camp stops learning loss:. At overnight camp, children can learn about teamwork through physical activities like team sports as well as mental activities that provide mental stimulation. Kids are encouraged to face challenges and solve them as a group.
Campers are often separated into groups which not only helps with social development but also teaches them how to work and coordinate with others. Personal growth is an important part of summer camp and there is no better way to grow than with others. Granted, some schools and educational institutions offer alternative activities that help your children improve their skills.
However, summer camp is a whole new ball game. There are so many opportunities for your kids to experience something brand new at camp. Whether they want to have a go at coding, try a new sport, or play some board games, new and exciting skills are developed and honed throughout their stay. The beauty of attending summer camp is that everyone is in the same boat!
There is no fear of failure thanks to the encouraging, motivating, and inspiring atmosphere that both campers and supervisors foster. Children at overnight camps also learn how to navigate the woods and wilderness areas of our world more effectively and safely with the help of experienced camp directors. They pick up skills that allow them and encourage them to do more adventuring and exploring on their own. It's also a great skill for them to teach their friends back home and grow closer to the outdoors.
Your kids will quickly find out that getting out of their comfort zone and trying something new is a fantastic and super fun thing! The general population believes that resilient people have special, rare properties that have allowed them to overcome difficulties.
But this just isn't the case. Countless research studies on development, neuropsychology, and more have determined that resilience depends on the child's environment, parental guidance, and other external factors.
Unlike schools, summer camps don't take a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, the supervisors adapt to your children's needs and have a proper understanding of the things necessary to build resilience.
Scales says, "Camp is one of the few institutions where young people can experience and satisfy their need for physical activity, creative expression and true participation in a community environment. Most schools don't satisfy all these needs. In recent years camps have put a greater emphasis on what leaders in the child development field have been saying about the needs of children today.
Camp activities and group living in a natural environment are the tools used to create camp communities that provide for successful, healthy development and a place where having fun is a daily criterion.
In such a structured environment, children interact with positive role models who have time to listen, talk, relax, and reflect. They learn to work together, make choices, take responsibility, develop creative skills, build independence and self-reliance, and gain confidence.
All are necessary steps on a child's path to a healthy, productive life. The camp experience is recognized by child development professionals as valuable in helping children mature socially, emotionally, intellectually, morally, and physically.
Camps offer unique opportunities for children to succeed in these three vital areas and even beyond home and school. Kids who have had these kinds of camp experiences end up being healthier and have less problems which concern us all.
Noted experts in child development have expressed their thoughts on summer camp as a valuable resource for giving children the value of belonging to a community of their own. This position is being forwarded by the American Camp Association, which believes that the critically important sense of community for children is rooted in enabling and empowering children to be belonging, cooperating, contributing, and caring citizens.
Bruce Muchnick , licensed psychologist who works extensively with day and resident camps, said, "Each summer at camp a unique setting is created, a community is constructed that allows participants to get in touch with a sense of life that is larger than one's self.
The camp community seeks to satisfy children's basic need for connectedness, affiliation, belonging, acceptance, safety, and feelings of acceptance and appreciation. Bob Ditter , licensed clinical social worker specializing in child and adolescent treatment, added, "It is in the crucible of this community that children gain self-esteem with humility, overcome their inflated sense of self, and develop a lifelong sense of grace and wonder.
Michael Brandwein , noted speaker and consultant to the camp profession, continued, "What makes camp a special community is its focus on celebrating effort. In this less pressured atmosphere, children learn more readily what positive things to say and do when they make mistakes and face challenges.
Brandwein also said, "The traditions and customs of each different camp are like a secret code that allows those who know it to feel embraced by something unique and special. He continued, "Campers are urged to include, not exclude, others. They are praised for choosing new partners and not always the same ones. They are encouraged to respect the differences between people. Parents worry about their child getting lost. And they fret about their kid not fitting in or making friends.
It can require a leap of faith. Parents sometimes worry about rustic cabins will the kids be warm enough? He adds that wildlife encounters are covered during orientation on day one. And anyway, part of what makes parents have misgivings is what makes overnight camp awesome. Kids give up a nice bed for a foam mattress with a vinyl covering.
They trade air conditioning for a wood cabin, canvas teepee or tent. They forgo showers for a morning dip in a frigid lake. They disconnect from the familiar and embrace new friends, foods and activities. It builds character. And for the most part, they love it. With the help of trained counsellors, new friends and fun activities, those feelings usually resolve, say camp directors. But there are a few things parents can do to keep homesickness at bay. Visit the camp prior to the session starting.
Most camps host open houses or will accommodate a family that wants to get a sneak peek. Send kids with pictures of home and family.
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