Sending your little one to camp is no walk in the park. The first night your child is away from you is a night spent tossing and turning in bed wondering whether they’ll be able to handle it? Are they having fun? Will YOU be able to handle it? There are so many safety and security concerns that you have to worry about because entrusting your kids’ safety and wellbeing to someone other than yourself isn’t easy. Finding the right camp that would both put your child’s safety of paramount importance as well as help them develop their character, gain self-esteem, become more sociable and be more of who they can be, is now amply available. But why would you? Here are 6 Benefits of sending your child off to a camp retreat.
1. Because a bunch of fancy experts said you really should
Peter Scales, Ph.D., noted author/educator, and Senior Fellow, The Search Institute said "The biggest plus of camp is that camps help young people discover and explore their talents, interests, and values. Most schools don't satisfy all these needs. Kids who have had these kinds of (camp) experiences end up being healthier and have less problems which concern us all."
Bruce Muchnick, licensed psychologist who works extensively with day and resident camps, said, “The camp community seeks to satisfy children's basic need for connectedness, affiliation, belonging, acceptance, safety, and feelings of acceptance and appreciation." 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.”
2. Independence and Discipline – Because you don’t want to be a hand holder for the rest of your life
Kids learn to make do without their parents’ constant support. Going off into the world is a scary matter, so introducing your child to the independence one baby step at a time, is the perfect way for them to handle adulthood in a balanced and healthy manner.
3. Resilience – It’s a big bad world out there and they gotta have some fight-back skills
Kids learn to never give up, no matter how many times they may be knocked down. Camps create an environment that is supportive of failure and accepts it as a fact of life, but is also demanding of perseverance and trying again.
4. Teamwork and Listening – We need each other to survive in this world !
When doing a challenge kids learn that in order to succeed, they have to listen to each other, to communicate and respect each other to pass through an obstacle course and do it as a team.
5. Getting off the screen – Is there life outside of my phone?
They learn to look up from that Iphone you really didn’t want to get them and be curious about the world around them once more. They also learn life skills, like how to pitch a tent, how to light a fire, how to ride a bike.
6. Sharing and respect - Their pleases and thank yous !
When they start sharing their personal space with other people, they become more familiar with their own boundaries, what to do and what not to do to be able live comfortably with someone else.
