Just like fun and sun is meant for everyone, so are summer camps. That said, just like no one size fits all, so does the summer camps! Confused? Don’t be!
Summer camps mean different things to different people. While some parents send their kids to camps to be resilient and build confidence, there are others who deem camps as a place for their kids to learn new crafts and skills.
Dear parents, it’s important to remember that a camp isn’t just an important developmental tool alone. And it isn’t alone meant for kids wanting to build confidence or learn a few crafts. Rather, it is for children from every walk of life. Summer camp is for everyone! Regardless of where a child comes from, the benefits of camp can be great.
It’s easy for the parents to be skeptical about things, given that children from different backgrounds and situations, congregate in a camp. Given the disparity, parents often worry how can their kids benefit from the same experience, but each and every one of them can grow into themselves in a camp environment.
Camp Navigator jots down how every child can benefit from a camp, regardless of their situation or social standing. Read on:
Camp provides the perfect milieu for a child to learn to make decisions, important and unimportant. It teaches them to socialize and interact with others and resolve conflicts peacefully. It helps them develop critical-thinking and important leadership skills — things that every child needs to blossom into independent, confident and mature adults.
Parents often worry that, over the summer, their children will forget the things they learned in school. While kids do forget some part of things taught in a school year during a vacation, most camp provides programming that keeps a child’s brain active, alert, and acquiring knowledge and skills, which reduces learning loss. And it is not only a child’s brain that is kept active at summer camp; they keep their bodies active as well. Exercise is simply part of the fun of the day at camp. Programming such as hiking, soccer, and canoeing allow children to truly enjoy being active on a daily basis. Between exercise and exposure to nature, which is proven to reduce stress, improve mood, and stimulate all of a child’s senses, children return home mentally and physically well, perhaps more so than upon their arrival at camp.
During a summer at camp, a child begins to understand what it means to be part of a community. Living in a group setting and sharing team experiences teaches kids how to work together, care for each other, and find their voice within the group. Camp is a safe place away from home, and having a strong and supportive community around encourages a child to engage in positive risk-taking. Children realize that they are in a judgment-free environment and begin to step out of their own comfort zone, taking both physical and emotional risks they may never otherwise take. They ask questions, try new things, and become active participants in their own lives.
All of these new encounters become the driving force behind burgeoning self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and self-reliance. Suddenly, children are discovering skills and strengths they never knew they possessed and are getting their first taste of success and achievement. Adults know very well the feeling of confidence that arises from accomplishing something. It is important to remember that many children are experiencing this sense of accomplishment on their own for the very first time at camp, something that may not have happened at home or school.
