Hey, Soon-to-be-Campers!
As we’re all getting prepped for the fast-approaching summer camp season, I’m sure the thrilling anticipation and excitement has charged the air around your home. With the school year coming to a close, impatience intensifies and we’ve all got summer camp on the brain. So, to join in the anticipation for camp, throughout the month of May, I’ll be posting about the Five Goals of Summer Camp.
Noted in their preparatory guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook,’ Drs. Chris Thurber and Jon Malinowski explain what the five goals of summer camp are and why we should know them. So, what’s the first goal?
Have Fun!
This first goal is never a problem as camps are pretty much founded on having fun. It’s every kid’s first priority and any good camp’s first priority, so it works out pretty well. The director and cabin leaders at your camp are likely very skilled people who know how to make some fun out of even the most mundane activity—like tidying the cabin or gathering firewood.
You might be thinking, “My kid? Have fun cleaning? I don’t think so…”, but stranger things have happened. You’d be surprised what kind of influence a fun, positive example can have on your kid. Summer camps have been successfully working their magic for generations!
But good cabin leaders making a boring time fun is just the tip of the fun iceberg at summer camp. Skilled staff members may be able to make fun out of nothing, but camp offer a vast variety of fun activities, equipment and facilities, as well as peers. With an abundance of new people to meet and a hundred fun things to do and places to see, summer camp was made to show kids a FUN time!
Tune in next Tuesday to read about Goal #2 of summer camp: Improve athletic, artistic, and intellectual skills. And, as always, thanks for reading.
- John