Each year, millions of parents engage their children in summer camp, whether day programs or overnight facilities. Why? Because these parents understand the benefits of the camp experience are well worth their long term value.
There are many excellent reasons to send your child to camp. Here are just a few:
1. Camp builds self-esteem. Attending summer camp can boost your child’s self-confidence. Being away from home (and away from you) will help them become more sociable and less clingy. It can help them figure out who they are as individuals, and will build their confidence.
2. Camp allows for new experiences. Not only will kids gain a healthy respect for the outdoors and nature, but camp can also offer them choices that they would normally not have. Horseback riding, archery, obstacle courses, swimming lessons, and so much more can be experienced safely in a supervised camp environment. The adventures your child can experience at camp can be priceless.
3. Camp is a great opportunity to develop friendships. When you spend weeks on end or sleep in the same cabin with 7 or 8 other campers over a period of time, great friendships can be formed. These valuable friendships can last the summer, or last a lifetime.
4. Camp helps kids attune to nature. Let’s face it – kids spend a lot less time outdoors in today’s world than they once did. They have new ways to keep themselves entertained, with all of the latest electronic devices available. Camp reconnects them with nature, and seeing things like frogs and trails in person and experiencing swimming in a lake or biking along a path can reintroduce them to nature’s wonders.
5. Camp instills leadership skills. Camps allow kids to make choices and help direct projects. They are natural leadership training places. These kids are less likely to be affected by peer pressure and more likely to set the pace and tone for other kids – and feel empowered in tasks they take on throughout their lives.
6. Camp helps kids develop new interests. Camps are a nurturing environment for a child to explore activities and programs that could turn into lifelong passions. With so much to do at summer camp, there are many fun activities for kids to discover. That's why it's the perfect place for your child to tap into an interest that he or she wants to carry on after camp is over.
7. Camp provides healthy physical activity. Children spend so much time these days indoors, and mostly sitting down in front of a computer, cell phone, tablet or video game. Camp provides a wonderful opportunity for them to move. Their time can be much better spent running, swimming, jumping, hiking, and climbing. It also provides a slice of carefree living where kids can relax, laugh, and be silly.
8. Camp helps develop social skills. Camps encourage teamwork. Kids share chores, resolve disagreements, and see firsthand the importance of honest communication. Being at camp (whether day camp or overnight) means being a part of a close-knit community where everyone must agree to cooperate and respect one another.
9. Camp allows kids to disconnect. Camp is an opportunity to get away from technology and social media. When kids take a break from TV, cell phones, video games, and the Internet, they engage with real life and real people. They discover that there’s so fun to be had, even without their electronics.
10. Camp helps create memories. Experiencing summer camp will create a special world of memories for your child. The fun that they have, and the friends that they make, can be carried with them throughout adulthood. There is really no adventure quite like summer camp. It can be the adventure of their lives.
Article contributed by Arnie Gerson, owner/director of Camp Bournedale, New England’s number 1 boy’s summer camp for more than 75 years, including overnight camps and new day camp programs. Camp Bournedale is located on beautiful Great Herring Pond, just north of Cape Cod in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Camp Bournedale’s programs incorporate structured sports, activity programs and free play in a safe, enthusiastic atmosphere. Renowned for superb athletic instruction and facilities, the property boasts seven tennis courts, two ball fields, and two outdoor basketball courts, all lighted for night play. Outstanding training clinics are held in tennis, golf, soccer, and basketball. An exciting water sports program includes swimming, tubing, waterskiing, knee boarding, sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, giant water trampoline and scuba diving instruction. Camp Bournedale is located at 110 Valley Road, Plymouth, MA; contact them at 508-888-2634. For more information, follow Camp Bournedale on Facebook or visit www.campbournedale.com.
