Why We Need Camp Right Now
With all that’s happening this year, summer camp is more important than ever.
There is no question that camp is an invaluable experience for kids in and of itself, every year. However, the impact of summer camp is even more needed during 2020, a banner year for unrest, uncertainty, and disruption of our daily lives and all that we’ve come to know as “normal”. Read below for 5 important reasons that the summer camp experience is needed now more than ever.
Kids need a break from screen time
It’s no secret that screen time is detrimental to the development of children’s brains– everything from attention span to language expression is impacted by screen time, other troubling trends include impaired memory, stress, anxiety, and depression. With the transition from in-person to virtual school, kids have been in front of computers and tablets up to 8 hours or more per day than they normally would be. Summer camp is a constructive, healthy way to “disconnect” and pursue other forms of learning outside of the digital world. At camp, kids will have an opportunity to get back to the “real world”, and acclimate to the natural world around them through various outdoor activities and adventures in a way they have sorely been missing during the pandemic.
Mental Health & Lack of Socialization
Over time, school provides crucial socialization experiences for youth of all ages. The sequestering of students as a result of shelter-in-place has the vast majority of students at home with their parents and siblings that belong to age brackets other than their own. This is depriving kids of the vital experiences they normally receive by attending school with other children their own age. By opting into summer camp, parents are giving their kids the opportunity to get back in touch with people their own age and make up for time lost during the months they were “attending” school from home.
Parents Need a Break
In light of recent events, parents and caregivers have been made to wear more hats than ever before. They are now not only playing the role of a parent, but also teacher, soccer coach, violin instructor, full-time chef, and many, many more. It is not selfish to admit that sending kids off to camp for a week or two will give the adults of the household a much-needed and well-deserved break from being “on” at all hours of the day. Not to mention, giving them a chance to reconnect with other adults that they are desperately craving interaction with. Parents need a break, too!
New Skills & Physical Health
Summer camp is known to give children the time to acquire new skills that they do not develop in other environments. Camp gets kids out of their everyday routine and into activities that foster real-world skills and experiences not offered by school or other extracurriculars, such as rock climbing, fire building, wilderness meal prep, community development, and much more. The sedentary nature of quarantine has had significant influence on the physical wellbeing of everyone, but kids are the most susceptible to the effects of decreased movement. Summer camp offers a plethora of active, fun, and adventurous ways to shake off the cobwebs of quarantine and get back to the active lifestyle that your family is used to in a safe, regulated way!
Break from School Dynamics and Relationships with Like-Minded Peers
By and large, one of the most commonly-named appeals of summer camp to kids is that it takes them out of the dynamics of their school, and into a neutral environment with like-minded friends. Camp gives kids the ability to “be whoever they want to be” amongst friends who do not know them outside of the unbiased world of camp. In a world that is increasingly saturated by social media and advertising, the opportunity to be free of labels and expectations is invaluable for a child and their healthy development. Camp is the safe haven that provides that. Kids have been stuck at home for months, with limited entertainment outside of TV, YouTube, and social media apps. Summer camp is a necessary break in that cycle.
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Give your kids the benefits of summer camp! Visit us at https://positiveadventures.com/summer-camps/ to enroll your child(ren) in a Positive Adventures summer camp session.
Need more info? Contact us today at 858.239.4400 or by email at info@positiveadventures.com.