The 10 most important reasons to send your kids to camp
If you’ve been to camp, you’re not surprised when you hear about the benefits of summer camp. Having experienced life at camp, you know the profound positive effects that still matter to you as an adult, and you know you want the same thing for your kids.
But if you didn’t go to camp as a child, you may not realize just how good the experience is for children. You may not know why so many parents are committed to sending
their kids to camp. So here is a list of the most important reasons to send your kids to camp.
At camp, children:
Spend their day being physically active
As children spend so much time these days inside and mostly sitting down, camp provides a wonderful opportunity to move. Running, swimming, jumping, hiking, climbing! Camp is action!
Experience success and become more confident
Camp helps children build self-confidence and self-esteem by removing the kind of academic, athletic and social competition that shapes their lives at
school. With its non-competitive activities and diverse opportunities to succeed, camp life is a real boost for young people. There’s accomplishment every day. Camp teaches kids that they can.
Gain resiliency
The kind of encouragement and nurturing kids receive at camp makes it a great environment to endure setbacks, try new (and thereby maybe a little frightening) things, and see that improvement comes when you give something another try. Camp helps conquer fears.
Unplug from technology
When kids take a break from TV, mobile phones, and the Internet, they rediscover their creative powers and engage the real world — real people, real activities, and real emotions. They realize there’s always plenty
to do. Camp is real!
Develop lifelong skills
Camps provide the right instruction, equipment and facilities for kids to enhance their sports abilities, their artistic talents, and their adventure skills. The sheer variety of activities offered at camp makes it easy for kids to discover and develop what they like to do. Camp expands every child’s abilities.
Grow more independent
Camp is the perfect place for kids to practice making decisions for themselves without parents and teachers guiding every move. Managing their daily choices in the safe, caring environment of camp, children welcome this as a freedom to blossom in new directions. Camp helps kids develop who they are.
Have free time for unstructured play
Free from the overly-structured, overly-scheduled routines of home and school, life at camp gives children much needed free time to just play. Camp is a slice of carefree living where kids can relax, laugh, and be silly all day long. At camp we play!
Learn social skills
Coming to camp means joining a close-knit community where everyone must agree to cooperate and respect each other. When they live in a cabin with others, kids share chores, resolve disagreements, and see first-hand the importance of sincere communication. Camp builds teamwork.
Reconnect with nature
Camp is a wonderful antidote to “nature deficit disorder,” to the narrow experience of modern indoor life. Outdoor experience enriches kids’ perception of the world and supports healthy child development. Camp gets kids back outside.
Make true friends
Camp is the place where kids make their very best friends. Free from the social expectations pressuring them at school, camp encourages kids to relax and make friends easily. All the fun at camp draws everyone together — singing, laughing, talking, playing, and doing almost everything together. Every day, camp creates friendships.
Jeff Carter is a director at the Rockbrook Camp for girls. www.rockbrookcamp.com
Photo: depositphotos.com © Jaren Wicklund