5 Ways Going To Camp Prepares Your Child For College
It’s every parent’s desire for their children to thrive well in the big world and become successful. This is why their eyes and ears are always open to new ideas for securing the young ones’ future.
Going off to camp is one of the countless provisions known to provide young people with a good foundation for the challenges of the future, such as college life. A sleepaway camp, in particular, is considered greatly beneficial, especially when it comes to instilling independence in a child – a value so important in a highly competitive world.
Camp takes the child away from the constant instruction and supervision of his parents. He is taken into situations wherein he will need to make decisions for himself and come to terms with the outcome of his choices.
When he goes to camp, he learns to acknowledge his own abilities, becomes self-reliant, and gets the chance to “glory” in his personal experiences.
Apart from independence, camp provides children several other benefits, especially when it comes to preparing them for college. Listed below are five of them:
1. Camp develops courage in a young one
The different camp programs are designed to help children overcome many of their limitations. Nature study (a popular program in summer camps), for example, teaches children to safely navigate the woods and deal with emergency situations using elements found in their surroundings.
With the information, instruction and exercises provided by the program, children learn to face fears by using the knowledge they have. When they reach college, they’ll find themselves using this method quite often – particularly in the aspects of living away from home, navigating unique social systems, and dealing with other daunting unfamiliar situations.
2. Camp encourages a child’s sense of adventure
Camp is all about providing children a wealth of new experiences. The young ones are taken out of their comfort zone so they can discover more about the world and themselves.
The sense of adventure that camp cultivates is crucial to surviving college life. It will help your child to approach college’s challenges with excitement and an overall positive attitude, according to an international college admissions consultant.
At the same time, his sense of adventure will make him open to even more learning opportunities. He will develop more skills and ensure his edge in school and work later on.
It’s worth noting as well that a child’s sense of adventure prevents him from getting stumped by obstacles. It allows him to focus more on possibilities than limitations.
3. Camp helps improve social skills
Making and being with friends is always the order of the day when you go to camp. This experience serves a huge advantage in college, especially during freshman year.
A person who learned how to strike up friendships as a young child can easily make new and valuable connections later in college. He will be less fearful of entering situations wherein he doesn’t know anybody. Instead, he will see them as opportunities to reach out to others and thrive.
4. Camp develops resilience in kids
Games and competitions, which are embedded in camp culture, teach young people to dish out their best, accept the results of their efforts, and continue plodding on no matter the results.
Campers know that life in the ‘grounds is a series of “battles” that they can win and lose at any time. In these situations, the “comeback” is always the most important thing.
There’s no doubt that college life will be a huge challenge. But with resilience, young people can deal with the dynamics of college more easily. They will be less inclined to mope over bad grades. Instead, they will launch into a study-fest right away to get back on track.
5. Camp instills the importance of routine and balance
It’s never just about work when you go to camp; there always has to be pockets of fun and recreation. All that is part of a routine.
Knowing how to strike balance in life is important for college students. Why? Because it’s been proven countless times that people function optimally when, in the midst of all the important things they need to do, they remember to squeeze in enjoyable activities.
Balance is easily achieved with a routine. It gets the body in rhythm and it allows people to use time productively. As professionals from an elite college consulting firm say, no matter how demanding certain school tasks are, they always feel less overwhelming when worked into a routine.
Camps offer experiences that children will remember for a lifetime and that build the little ones’ confidence in their abilities to be successful in the different stages of life.
So if you are a parent, sending your child to camp is clearly worth considering if you want to ensure his advantage in adulthood.
- Follow Brian Giroux on:
Featured Image: Camping in a Forest by Snapwire on Pexels.com