How Summer Camp Can Influence On Your Child: Pros And Cons

Summer is coming. Many parents are going to send their child to summer camp. So is your child ready for it? Are you ready for such experiments? Let’s try to figure out.

Is it worth sending your child to summer camp?

Finally summer vacations are no longer a dream. They are so close already!

Children tired with the lessons will have a rest. Someone will go to the country house, someone to the seashore, and someone will go to the summer camp.

So here they are, children with the suitcases and parents waving their hands and wishing their kids to have a good rest.

For those parents who send their children to the summer camp or still think whether it is worth risking we are going to give our pieces of advice and remarks.

Isn’t it too early? At what age a child can be sent to summer camp?

This is one of the most popular questions among the parent: what age is the most optimal for the first trip to summer camp. There is no certain answer, and there can not be certain answer. All the kids are different. Some of them in the very early age easily leave their parent for a month or more, others even when they are 10 are not ready to leave their homes. So each family decides on their own when, where and for how long they can send their kid to summer cam for more or less independent rest.

When you decide if your child should be sent to the camp or not, try to forget about the age and avoid the words “too big” or “too young yet”. It would be better to use the wordings “ready – not ready” and “wants – does not want”. A big child as well as a small kid may not want to leave their family for a long time.

To find out whether a child is ready for an independent rest, you should consider the following signs:

• Want. A child absolutely understands that there will be group of familiar and unfamiliar children, and there will not be relatives close to him. And even in this case a child still wants to go. This is a powerful argument in favor of camp.
• Health. A child feels well, does not have any complains about the health, does not suffer chronic diseases, and does not need constant attention and regular medication intake. This factor makes it easier to decide.
• Discipline. A kid is able to keep track of time, to keep in order his own things, to carry a schedule and to respect the rules of the joint residing with others. Consequently, it will be easier for a child to live in the camp. If you think that your child will learn all these things during the rest, be aware – you risk to get not rested and stronger child, but tired and a depressed loser, who has lost all the things from his suitcase and who has got lots of rebukes from teachers.
• Calmness. If recently a child has experienced serious stress, for example loss of loved ones, or changing of the living place, in this case you should think thoroughly, whether it is worth to send him far away from the home right now. For the first trip to the summer camp it is better to take moment between age crises. Thus it will be easier to accept new surrounding and a child will not seek for prove of his parents’ love and support all the time.

Challenge for the parents

Te first trip to the camp of a son or a daughter is a challenge for the parents first of all. You worry whether your child is ready to spend three weeks away from home. Ask yourself: are you ready to let your child go? Will you have to spend the whole family budget on mobile calls and sedative? Prepare yourself for the event in advance: remind yourself as often as possible that your son (daughter) is quite reasonable, responsible, and clear-headed person. It is high time for him or her to experience a piece of independent life without parent control.

Isn’t it too late?

It seems sometimes that it can be dangerous to send your child to summer camp at the early age, and then it will be easier. And careful people say that you should never calm down, because you do not know what teens will do, when they are not watched and controlled by their parents. Here you start thinking about bad habits and dangerous experiences, and mom and dad will be far away, so no one can stop them at the right moment…

Of course, there is such a risk. But first of all remember that puberty is a really difficult period of life, and your child can do anything whether he or she is at home or in camp. The risks are equal. It does not matter how much sure parents are that they control the situation, there is always a chance to get to the bad company in any place.

Second of all, sending your child to summer camp, you show that you trust him. It is important for any teen to see your trust and to see that you recognize his independence. Your task here is to believe that your child is reasonable and to remind him once again about personal safety rules.

And finally, send your child to the camp that suits him. Today the summer rest programs are various: some of them provide a lot of free time, other – strict daily regime and a minimum of idleness. In some case there is a kind of military life, in others – relatively free life. So you can regulate your child surrounding according to his character and the level of your trust to him.

How to choose summer camp for your child?

There are so many camps that it is almost impossible to choose. There are therapeutic, sports, natural history, ecological, creative, adventure and many other types of camps. The parents need to decide whether their kid will learn foreign languages or physics, climb or paint landscapes and so on. It is a matter of taste, and of your own life goals.

Maybe the worst nightmare for the parents, who choose a camp for their child, is to be fooled by the charlatans who are unable to ensure the safety of children, feed them poor quality food and so on…

Specialists claim that today children's rest is regulated by strict rules. Control organizations will not open the camp that does not have license or it does not meet the demands and norms set by the law. The only thing you should do is not to buy camp tickets on dubious websites. It is better to order them directly at the program organizer. Personal acquaintance always gives invaluable information.

Summer camp pros and cons

Since preschool children psychologically are not ready for sudden changes, it is not recommended to send them to summer camps. That is why most psychologists say that the most favorable age for sending your child to the camp is 8-10 years. At this age it is not easy for children to stay away from home, but visiting summer camp can be useful for them. School life have prepared them psychologically, they have feeling of independence, so they may leave their homes.

Arguments for summer camp

1) If you do not have grandmother or country house, and you worry all the day what your child is occupied with being alone, in this case summer camp can be a good option for you.

2) Fixed daily regime gives opportunity to strengthen the health and spirit of the child.

3) Change of the place will help the child to take a break from established family rules, and you will also have some time to have a rest – it will be useful for the whole family.

4) New environment can give a child opportunity to reveal new talents that were not noticed at home. In the new team, you can start from scratch.

You can choose profile summer camp that will be interesting for a child. You child can be taught foreign language in the form of game, he or she can gain new abilities and skills. Sports or tourist camp will allow the child to expend the overfilling energy.

A good summer camp tries to organize the time in such a way that children do not have time to be bored. There are different theme days, dances, various events, etc.

Arguments against summer camp

1) The comfort level of modern summer camps can be lower that the family comfort level.

2) Meals in the camp are regulated by strict standards. Here children get healthy food, such as steam cutlets, soups, cereals, natural fruit juices and jelly. Most children are not used to eat such food so they complain about the tasteless food.

3) Modern children used to Internet and cell phones do not have communication skills. They feel stress when get to a new group of people. So be ready for difficulties!

4) Boredom. If a camp does not have plan of events, or the events are not interesting for a child, then a child has a lot of free time. And children do not know what to feel it with.

Choosing summer camp, consider your child’s abilities, ask your child’s advice, and make a choice together. It is better if a child goes to camp not alone, but with friends or classmates.

If a kid goes to camp for the first time, he or she can spend their 10-14 days. Tell your child the time when you will call. Your calls should last for about 10 minutes. Praise your child more and do not scold. It is very important during the first three days at the period of adaption. Good luck to you and your child!

As you can see summer camp has advantages as well as disadvantages. So it is up to you to decide whether it is worth sending your child to summer camp. Consider all the facts we have mentioned above and make your choice. If you liked this summer camp essay, visit our website. There you can find many essays on various topics and get qualified help in essay writing.