Remember when we were children and we had absolutely nothing to do during the summer? Our major summer highlights consisted of playing with our dolls, cooking imaginary food using dust and going to the beach. Hmmm, now that I have written that, it doesn’t seem like that it was too bad for a childhood. Anyway, I digress; today’s children haven an abundance of opportunities and activities to occupy their time during the long summer break. So much so that choosing the right activity for your child can seem like a daunting task. Choosing too many activities can burn them out and choosing the wrong activities can lead to frustrations for parent and child.
Let me see if I can offer some assistance in making your choices a bit simpler. Take a look at the tips below:
- Know your child: I think this is one of the most important, if not the most important, factor in choosing the right summer activity for your child (ren). Knowing your child likes and dislikes, hobbies and interests help to narrow your choices. For example, if your child absolutely loves the water and being outside, then you look for camps that focus on that
- Help your child to think outside the box: Most children know what they like and dislike; however, many children may not discover a new interest unless a parent, teacher or other influential adult encourages them to try something new. If your child has participated in a camp of choice in previous years, why not suggest a camp that the child may not normally be interested in? Two things can happen: they hate it; in which case, they can try something else next year or they absolutely love it and find a new interest!
- Will this help them in the future: Choose activities intentionally not just because you want the children out of the house. If this is an activity that they can use well into adulthood, like swimming, then by all means choose that activity. Another useful activity that can be used in adulthood is practicing a healthy lifestyle while young. So, camps that focus on teaching children healthy habits such as Nutrition in Demand’s fitness and nutrition summer camp would be ideal.
- Cost: In these tough economic times, cost is a very important factor in choosing a summer activity. This one will take a bit of work on the parents’ part in order to find those activities that are affordable to their family’s budget. However, it can be done as long as the interest is there. There may even be some free or very minimally priced camps around. Just start looking in advance.
This list is by no means exhausted, but I hope it helps to provide some guidance on choosing activities during the summer.
