WHY KIDS NEED TO BE GIVEN THE CHANCE FOR INDEPENDENCE;

If there ever was a time to work at finding a place for your kids to gain independence away from technology this is it. Summer camp is just one example. If summer camp is not an option than maybe sports tournaments, or other opportunities where children can learn for an extended period of time without their parents every minute. Aside from all the incredible lifetime friends your child will make, the fun times, the memories, the skills learned at activities, the truth is that immersing your children in a unique independent activity is a training ground for the positive values that you want your kids to adopt as they mature into secure confident and caring adults. These values come out of the power of connections where children of all ages want to be part of something bigger and more important than themselves; it comes out of the power of we instead of I.

 

The power, for example of summer camp is the “social capital” that is lacking in today’s technologically driven society. Dinner parties, clubs, family picnics, are all down 40%. Happiness begins with a feeling of connection and having so many positive role models and new friends waiting to be made creates that all-important sense of connection. If there ever was a time for our next generation to learn about the power of direct (not computer driven) social connections, it is now.

 

Summer camp works because children are able to unlock and enrich their passions for group living; and guess what, kids are actually spending at least half of their day outside! The average child has less than thirty minutes of outdoor play a week. Children today have NDD, nature deficit disorder. At summer camp kids are exposed to the outdoors and are also appreciating the environment around them. At some camps kids will be making solar panels to operate lights, cultivating an organic garden, learning about camp conservation, exploring nature with an actual butterfly farm, and participating in green challenges throughout the summer. Combine that with good old fashioned cooking on an open fire, guitar and smores around the campfire, campouts and canoe trips, and other outdoor activities (even in the rain!) and you have an instant cure for NDD.

 

Finding activities that are outdoors or offer independence serves as the balancing point and source of stability in comparison to the school year. Find a place that reinforces respect for being different, and teach children the value of friendship with people that are not exactly the same as them. Find a pace that teaches taking positive risks and the value of reaching out to the to the local community, to make the world a better place. Connections at camp happen by campers and staff coming together to form a community through collective play, a tapestry of mutual respect, with trust and fulfillment along the way. This can happen through relatives, trips, and hobbies as well. Growing up at camp, for example means teaching children to live in the moment, to communicate honestly and respectfully face to face and to appreciate their environment. The beauty of camp is that your kids don’t know that camp is a training ground for promoting their leadership, improving their confidence and most importantly inculcating their core values of respect , empathy, compassion and integrity.

 

When children go to summer camp, they are on their own, sometimes for the very first time in their lives. They have to decide what to wear, what to eat, which activities to participate in. Of course counsellors are deciding this with them, but in essence the campers soon learn that they can make decisions on their own and as a result they develop self-confidence and become self-reliant. As self-esteem develops from learning to be on their own, children continue to try new activities and also engage in one’s that they are familiar. In school, children do not experience success in the same way and can often think of themselves in a lesser light. Summer camp can be a school without failure because just having fun makes you a success. Summer camp is summed up in two words “no grades”. It’s amazing how children can blossom without a burden of constant evaluation. At summer camp achievement is rewarded based on effort and we celebrate a child’s effort and teach them to learn from their mistakes.

 

Often parents say that they can not believe how their child’s grades improved as a result of camp. Or how they now clear the table or help out more around the house. A well directed summer camp will focus on trying to make every camper experience a success and it is that feeling of success that translated into self-esteem. This is accomplished by hands on discovery or experimental learning whether in the cabin or at an activity. And of course learning skills at each activity is a great benefit for campers. By being exposed to so many arts, sports and outdoor recreation programs campers have fun and develop self-esteem. They also learn skills that they can then pursue and enjoy for the rest of their lives. Each and every camper can feel special enjoying a craft, sport or outdoor activity. Camps develop well rounded children because they offer a diverse community of people and a diverse choice of activities. A camper can participate in a host of activities and need not be an expert in any. Is there any other place that can offer such a wide range of recreational, dramatic, visual, musical, artistic, athletic, sports minded, and outdoor adventure activities? Add to that the magic of spontaneous moments and you have the perfect balance of what a child needs to grow.

 

Of course one of the greatest benefits of being enrolled in a specific type experience for your child is that children develop social skills. One of life’s most important skills is learning to get along with others and appreciating other people. They learn the give and take of group living, they learn how to work and even depend on others and more importantly that others will depend on them. Something as simple as clean-up, fosters a team atmosphere of working together which in turn results in friendships. The obvious benefit of finding something for your child to do that is not related to their home and parents is that it creates friendships that can often be more unique and extra special. Because your child may meet adults from all over the world and children learn to see others from a different perspective. Children tend to be accepted for who they are and do not have to be as concerned with what they wear or what they are good at, or how they look.

 

Now if you don’t believe us how much statistical evidence. Renowned psychologists have done numerous studies on camping and all have shown that the summer camp experience increases a child’s sense of self by 20-30% meaning that they feel more confident, successful and smart than they did before overnight camp. What is also interesting is that children that attend camp are 20% less likely to avoid drugs or other destructive behaviours. But maybe what is most compelling is that the reason camp staff are uniquely empowered to make this happen is because children look to adults as barometers of their progress. Much of what they think of themselves during this critical transition phase into adulthood is a direct reflection of how others perceive them. When that other is a trained young adult staff member who cares so much about them, that is the ultimate booster of a child’s self-esteem.