Summer Camps: An American Tradition

Summer Camps: An American Tradition

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Kids summer camp has been an American tradition for over a century. While much has changed about childrens summer camp since its origins, the core objective remains intact: Providing a safe environment where children can experience adventure, build friendships and enhance personal growth.

With over 12,000 camps in the U.S, personal experiences for campers will vary from location to location. Despite the different activities each camp offers, research shows kids attending summer camp experience significant improvements in self-esteem, confidence and social skills. Additionally, campers tend to leave their summer experience with a greater sense of independence and willingness to try new things.

Independence

Eventually, children will grow into adults; at which time they will be held responsible for making their own decisions and choosing their own direction in life. Several parents and teachers have reported significant growth in a child's maturity and independence following a visit to kids summer camp. At summer camp, children learn to become more self-sufficient by completing assigned chores and accomplishing challenging tasks in a supportive environment of counselors and fellow campers. This enhanced sense of self-responsibility helps lead children toward the path of being able to identify and complete tasks or problems with little or no direction.

Self-Confidence and Social Skills

Some kids struggle with earning acceptance from their classmates at school. Aggression and negative treatment from school peers can have a devastating effect on the development of child's self-esteem and confidence. Some research suggests the standing of peers is equal to that of parents when it comes to their ability to influence a young person's mental well-being.

Kids who struggle to build meaningful relationships with peers at school tend to flourish socially at summer camp. By providing an environment that refuses to tolerate behaviors that could negatively impact a person's self-image, campers are able to acquire the confidence needed to develop relationships with people of their same age group.

Adventure and Environment

A great number of overnight summer camps are situated among beautiful natural landscapes. With the environmental beauty of camps in the Adirondacks and other areas comes the promise of adventures that allow young people to acquire new skills and experience the outdoors like never before.

With many children living in urban settings today, summer camps situated in natural areas provide campers a rare opportunity to discover the wonder and beauty of Mother Nature.

Every year, thousands of kids end their summers with a renewed sense of self-worth due to their experiences at summer camp. With the unfathomable number of adventures and lifelong friendships generated from these experiences, summer camp will mostly likely remain an important part of American youth development for years to come.

About the Author:
Your friendly neighborhood camp director, Dov Shapiro, is the author of this article about camps in the Adirondacks and kids summer camp at Camp Chateaugay , a traditional summer camp for children and teens located on the Adirondack Lakes in New York.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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