Saturday, January 16, 2010

Benefits of an Overnight Camp

By Jeff Lorenz

Parents who went to Overnight Summer Camp as a child can always tell you a cherished story they still remember in exact detail. To them memories of summer camp are lifelong reminders of experiences with a lifetime's worth of value.

Few places on earth can provide a child with opportunities for never ending daily fun the way the best camps can. All of that great fun would be reason enough for anyone to want to be at an overnight camp, but summer camp offers much more to a child's life, whether it's a nature camp or animal camp or a science camp or a nonspecific resident camp.

Children's camps are healthy places to be. Physical exercise is a natural part of a healthy child's life, and camp is a natural provider of constant, safe exercise. The overnight camper's intellect and imagination get plenty of exercise as well.

Kids at coed camps learn how to relate with members of the other gender as friends and equals. Skills of social interaction are creative and independent but stay in keeping with each child's family teachings. Guided by adult friends and capable role models, counselors, campers get a valuable chance to apply what they have been taught at home in a larger social world.

Campers grow to find and be themselves, in a natural setting that gently challenges a child to newer and higher standards for their own behavior. The kids camp daily context is activities that encourage perseverance, listening skills, teamwork, and the ability to recognize similarities and appreciate differences in each individual. If it's a nature camp or an animals camp, kids get even more opportunities to relate with the creatures of the natural worlds around us. Self discovery can become a habit that lasts a lifetime.

Jeff and Lonnie Lorenz, directors of Wisconsin's Swift Nature Camp for over a decade, see summer camp as a fresh opportunity for self perception: "Summer camp is an opportunity for each child to come to a new place and try new things and make new friends. Everyone starts on equal footing with a chance to just be oneself. Summer camp is a new beginning, and that's a good thing." hildren that are Homeschooled really benefit from the experiences of a Homechool Summer Camp

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