All parents have hopes and desires for their children. I'll
bet high on your list of wishes is that your children grow up
to be well-adjusted adults who have healthy, nurturing relationships
of their own. The example you set for them at home is vital,
but so is the experience and advice they can get from other caring
adults. Hopefully, your children get positive reinforcement from
teachers, extended family members, and other community leaders
in your area, but camp is another excellent source for finding
mentors who can help kids navigate the sometimes treacherous
waters of adolescence, figure out who they are and who they want
to be on the road to adulthood.
Audrey Monke, owner and director of Gold Arrow Camp in Lakeshore,
Cal., said, "Children intuitively know that their parents
think highly of them. When an adult outside their family finds
something unique and special about them, it can have a powerful
and positive influence on them."
She believes that children grow from the independence of a camp
experience and from developing close relationships at camp with
fellow campers and counselors. "Being away from their
parents allows children to be more open to developing relationships
with other adults," Monke said. "These adults serve
as positive role models and mentors for children and can sometimes
offer insight and advice that children may not listen to from
parents."
Child psychologist in the Cleveland, Ohio, area and former camp
counselor Dr. Ethan Schafer agrees that the camp experience offers
children a valuable personal growth opportunity that acts as
a strong complement to the values and sense of self awareness
they learn at home.
"If you think about it," Schafer said, "camp
is probably the only living together situation outside of the
home that children will experience. They get a chance to have
healthy attachments with other adult role models."
So, while it may not be easy to pack your child's suitcase,
hug them tightly, and load them on a bus to send them off to
camp for a week or more without you, Monke feels the camp environment
is important because, "Children need to learn to trust
adults outside of their family and to feel safe outside home.
"We are living in a culture that has instilled fear in
parents," she said. "Parents are hesitant to entrust
their children to the care of others, but opportunities for children
to develop healthy relationships with adult mentors offer the
chance for children to grow in independence, social skills, and
confidence."
Schafer confirmed that time with nurturing camp counselors shows
kids that "adults are helpful, good — they're
nice," he said. "They learn to be adults themselves."
Antoine de Saint Exupéry, French writer and author of
The Little Prince, once said, "There is no joy except in
human relationships." If that's true, then a camp
experience surrounded by caring, encouraging counselors who teach
by example is one great way to reinforce what you're striving
to teach your children at home: that the benefits of healthy
adult relationships — punctuated by mutual respect, understanding,
generosity, and contentment — can lead to productive and,
yes, joyful lives.
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