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Summers come with lots of excitement. What with schools out and children having enough time to rest? However, this excitement is often short-lived as children start getting bored of watching the television or using their mobile gadgets.
This is where summer camps come in. Not only are they fun, but summer camp 2020 programs can be highly beneficial to your kids. Join us in this comprehensive post as we discuss the following.
- How to choose the best summer camp for your kids
- Benefits for Students of a Summer Camp 2020 Program
- The best way to handle different cultures
- How to prepare children for summer camp
- CDC summer camp 2020 guidelines
Choosing the Best Summer Camp
The growing popularity of summer camping has led to an influx of camps. While you can be guaranteed of getting a facility that best meets your child’s needs, choosing the right camp can be difficult. Here are some tips to ease the summer camp selection process.
Benefits for Students of a Summer Camp 2020 Program
Is your child interested in outdoor sports? Perhaps they need motivation to engage in other extra-curricular activities. A summer camp 2020 program could be all they need. Here’s how students will benefit from participating in a summer camp.
· Summer Camps Helps Students Develop Unique Interests
Today, many schools focus on developing kids academically and forget that kids also need to engage in extracurricular activities. Only a few schools today offer archery, design classes, or even entrepreneurship.
The good news is that you can find all these in various summer camps in Europe. This means if your child has shown any interest in non-academic subjects or even sports they can nurture their interests in a summer camp.
Various organizations such as robotics and sports clubs today have collaborated with schools to offer after-school lessons. However, these don’t necessarily create the perfect environment to concentrate.
What’s more, doing so would burden students who already have to deal with homework and preparing for examinations. In this case, a summer camp offers the right surrounding for your child to pursue other interests.
- Helps Students make New Friends
Summer camp offers your child many activities to choose from. They also get a chance to interact with other students from various parts of the world and make lasting friendships. When students interact with like-minded peers they can develop friendships with ease founded on similar interests.
In the end, these relationships can lead to more collaboration in the future. This is especially true today because people can still connect and network regardless of where they come from. Such collaborations could even lead to the formation of new businesses.
A Summer Camp 2020 Program Allows Students to Focus on Developing New Skills
While some schools offer a wide variety of activities, summer camp provides the ultimate environment for kids to delve deeper. Students will have an entire week just to focus on the things they love.
Does your child want to learn a unique sport such as Lacrosse? Perhaps they want to delve into the world of coding. Regardless of their interests, summer camp is the way to go. During summer camp children get a chance to leave their comfort zones and take on risks. Further, they can gain new skills without the fear of failure.
- Camps help Stimulate Mental and Physical Activity
Are you worried that your children aren’t exercising enough? If you are, then sending them to a boys and girls summer camp will help keep your children active. Instead of spending time on their gadgets playing games, camp stimulates their thinking. In the end they’ll start focusing on developing the games rather than just playing.
- Summer Camp Promotes Empowerment and Independence
Every parent wants to think that their children are independent. However, the best test for their independence comes with allowing them time on their own. Without their parents around they’ll have no option but to make their own decisions.
Whether it’s about making their beds, brushing their teeth, or even handling time management, this will be a learning opportunity. Camp gives children a chance to make decisions on their own.
In the process they end up learning and discovering more about themselves. Further, they get to rely on their peers for support whenever the need arises. Being away from home means the children will have to be responsible enough to choose right from wrong.
- Camps Promote Confidence
Every activity and growth comes with challenges and successes. Summer camps expose your child to new activities they probably haven’t heard about before. Sometimes these activities will be a continuation of what they are already familiar with.
For example, assuming that the children have played basketball before, but they’ve never participated in a competition. By representing their group in a competition at the camp, they’ll become more confident. At the end of the camping trip they’ll be confident enough to play on their school’s basketball team. This could pave the way for their successful basketball careers in the future.
- Camps help Students Exercise Creativity
Unlike in a classroom setting where students are afraid of failing, camps provide an ample and unrestricted environment for students to excel. The fact that there is no grading encourages students to be themselves. Creativity in children and adults alike thrives where there’s freedom of expression and little judgment.
- Camps Develop General Resilience
All the aforementioned benefits are critical to your child’s development as they transition from being children to considerate, determined, and capable adults.
- Camps Encourages Students to be Grateful
Being away from home helps children appreciate their parents and siblings. They’ll also learn how to be thankful for things they didn’t have at the camping facility. These include a home-cooked meal, their toys, and pets.
- Helps them Appreciate the Outdoors
One of the main characteristics of all summer camps is the chance to be outdoors nearly all the time. Even when camping in urban summer camps, children will have access to exciting outdoor activities and field trips. This type of exposure enables children to love and uniquely appreciate nature. Nature appreciation is a critical component to instill in children from an early age.
How to Deal with Cultural Differences while on Summer Camp
Summer camps in Verbier are not only diverse, but they also employ staff from various parts of the world. Further, campers visit Les Elfes from across the globe. As a result, effective interaction and communication with each other become necessary.
Learning the basic aspects of other cultures helps you avoid misunderstandings or even hurting others involuntarily. Here are some tips to help campers interact with one another peacefully.
- Effective Communication
Communicating with people who have the least idea about cultural differences can be a difficult task. For instance, a simple smile or even nod of the head can be portrayed differently from what you meant.
In some cultures, a smile depicts a range of emotions and not only pleasure or even happiness as is the case in the USA. Take Japan, for instance, people smile when they are confused, angry, sad, and happy. Asians, just like the Japanese smile to illustrate frustration, confusion, anger, and disagreement.
Some people from Asia and Japan hardly smile for official photos. According to them, these are serious occasions that should be treated with the seriousness they deserve. They believe that smiling would make the occasions appear to be less important.
Eye contact is perceived differently in various parts of the globe as well. For instance, if you notice a staff member avoiding eye contact when you speak you shouldn’t take offense. People from some cultures especially Latin Americans and Asians avoid direct contact to show respect.
- Time and Names
People in some regions such as the USA usually call others by their names. This however, doesn’t happen for all cultures. Here, summer camp 2020 program supervisors will have to offer guidelines on how campers should address the staff or one another.
Further, the children should learn how to address their peers by their names. They can even discuss what each other’s names mean and the culture behind it. Even when campers have difficulties pronouncing each other’s names, it’s important to keep on practicing their pronunciation until they master it.
- Beating Language Barriers
Language differences make communication hard. However, you can still communicate effectively with a little creativity. For example, talk clearly and slowly. Restrain yourself from shouting at people if they don’t seem to understand what you’re saying.
Find a different way of communicating or repeat what you said more slowly. Further, you want to avoid using common idioms and slang as much as possible. These can trigger confusion among non-native English speaking individuals. Otherwise, chances are that a big percentage of the people you speak with won’t have an idea of what you keep on mentioning.
Encourage your children to learn some common phrases in other languages from their fellow campers. They should also try and teach their friends some phrases in their language. This will not only help them connect better, but it plays a huge role in helping them understand other cultures. Always remember, what seems normal to you may be different to people from other cultures.
For instance, some cultures can’t decline a request, and others will give an affirmative answer when what they mean is no. This is where supervisors at the camp come in handy. They’ll brief the children to create an ample and accommodating environment for everyone.
- Dining and Food
When and what people eat varies across the globe. In some cultures, people eat the main meal at midday and enjoy a light meal in the evening. Some conventional summer camp 2020 trips may seem different to international staff and campers. For instance, eating watermelon and spitting the seeds, or serving corn with the cob, may raise eyebrows among international students.
You may want to know that in some countries corn with the cob is usually fed on animals. When faced with such a scenario, it’s always good to explain some foods and the culture behind them. This will help you understand why some people never eat what to you is a favorite meal.
Campers can also discuss common foods in their countries during their free time or in the evening by the campfire. Camp supervisors can even organize a special evening where students feed on food from a certain country. Campers from that specific country can then explain it to their peers.
Some cultures don’t accept food when it’s offered for the first time. Rather than giving up on them, you should try offering the food a second and even a third time until everybody has had their share. If some campers are from Saudi Arabia or Asia you may notice that they’ll be overly noisy when eating.
This habit may be particularly annoying to a big percentage of students from other parts of the world. However, they only do so not because they are bad-mannered but as a sign of appreciation. Rather than getting annoyed, other campers can seek clarification just to understand the origin of the culture.
Learning about, and respecting other people’s cultural differences helps create an ample environment for seamless interactions. By adopting an open and objective mind, both campers and camp staff gain from the international influence a summer camp 2020 program creates.
Preparing your children for summer camp
Whether you plan on sending your kids for an overnight or day camp, preparation is critical to ensure they have a fulfilling experience. Use these tips to ease the process.
- Develop Practical and Positive Expectations for the Summer Camp
Before you can send your child to summer camp it’s important to review available offers. This will help the children understand what to expect from the experience. Involve them in the preparation process and help them set practical goals on what they want to achieve from the experience.
For instance, assuming they plan to invest more time in engaging in their favorite activity such as playing basketball. At the end of the camping experience they’ll have enhanced their skill level.
However, they may not achieve this from a short term summer camping trip. In this case, you’ll need to plan for a long-term camping trip to help them get the most out of the experience. At the end of the trip both you and your child will enjoy the outcome.
- Encourage them to Engage in new Interests
Summer camp gives children an opportunity to discover and engage in new interests such as the arts, sports, and crucial skill-developing activities. Is your child a technology or sporting enthusiast? If they are, a summer camp 2020 vacation is an ideal to: try new skills, take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them without worrying about grades.
Within an open and supportive environment, children will get the encouragement to experiment. This develops confidence and resilience from an early age.
- Organize a Drill before the Actual Summer Camp
Are your children attending a day or week-long summer camp? Conducting a drill is one of the ways to help them get an idea of what to expect. Let them understand and master the camp routine. For example, ensure they understand when they’ll wake up in the morning and what will be required of them then.
Review and have them understand what they’ll need to carry along with them each day. You’ll also want to ensure that they understand how to arrange their summer camp 2020 essentials to facilitate easy access. If your child will be attending an overnight camp for the first time you’ll need to ensure they’re well prepared.
Start by sending them on sleepovers with friends and family and be on the lookout for how they cope. This is a great way of gauging your child’s preparedness for being away from home. Children who cope easily with different summer camp setups are usually better prepared academically.
- Ensure they Understand Safety Skills at Summer Camp
Will your child be attending a day, overnight, or a long term summer camp experience? Make sure you teach them age-appropriate self-care, and safety techniques. For instance, if they will be participating in sports encourage them to stay hydrated.
You can successfully achieve this by providing them with attractive child-friendly water bottles. This way, they won’t forget to drink their water. Include enough sunscreen in their packages to use during outdoor activities.
Is your child a poor feeder at home? If they are you’ll want to discuss it with them in advance. Let them understand the importance of eating well-balanced meals to maintain their energy levels while camping.
Some studies show that poor feeders will eat better when in the company of their peers. If your child is a poor or picky eater, perhaps all you need to change their ways is send them to summer camp.
Even though reputable summer camps will have basic first aid tools, packing a personal first aid kit ensures children are ready for anything.
- Have a Communication Strategy
If your child will be attending day camp, create time for them to share what they learned and their overall experience about the camp.
Communication for kids attending overnight camps can be difficult especially because many facilities don’t allow the use of phones. However, you can still work out a way through which they can share their lessons and experiences as well.
A good way of doing so is getting them a diary and pens. Let them document everything at the end of each day that they’ll be at the camp. You can have one of the supervisors send these to you. Better still, you can evaluate your child’s feedback once they get back from the trip.
CDC Summer Camp 2020 Guidelines
The CDC has released guidelines that camp administrators should adhere to so as to prevent infections. Some of these measures include:
- Staying at home as much as possible
- Thorough and regular hand washing practices
- proper respiratory hygiene
- Regular cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces
- Proper ventilation
- Limit camp attendance to campers and staff who live within the geographical area
- Add physical barriers between beds and bathroom sinks
- Cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces, and
- Maintaining social and physical distance
Finally
As much as you’d want to keep the communication alive, sometimes there could be limitations. Rather than getting worried, it’s good to believe that the kids are in good hands and they’ll be fine at the end. This gives you peace of mind and also allows the children an opportunity to discover themselves and learn to be independent.
Enroll your child for summer camp 2020 program today and allow them to experience the outdoors away from home.
