Summer has been busy, busy, busy. But that is how I like it. Last week I finished two summer camps: the 5C Experience at West Hills College Lemoore and the 1st Annual Drama Camp at Hanford High School. The 5C experience consists of eight camp days and two training days and the Drama Camp consisted of six camp days and a counselor retreat. (These two camps were about the same time which meant I was only able to help out two of the six days at the drama camp.) Some people might think that summer camp isn’t worth it and that people like me, ones who would spend every day with children, are crazy. And yet we keep doing it. And why? Because it means something.
Every day at West Hills we would have a staff meeting and within one of these meetings one of our teachers said, “You never know, your hug maybe the only hug they receive that day.” And I’m not going to pretend that every child lives in a broken home and is neglected. But for those kids your love and attention means something. And for those kids who do have supportive families sometimes it’s nice to be recognized by someone who is not related to you. Remember that saying “It takes a village to raise a child?” Even though villages for us are a thing of the past the concept reigns true. Children need constant attention and it’s hard for parents to constantly attend a child, work, and attend to other callings etc. Children need attention because it is important to many aspects of their learning and growing and summer camps are one way to increase that attention.
In addition to the extra love a summer camp supplies, it also can show that being silly is okay. The kids I worked with were from ages 6-14. And for 6-year-olds it’s expected for them to be silly but as a child approaches high school age they feel like they have to preserve a self-image and often times that self-image doesn’t include being silly. Kids become “too cool” at a very early age. It is important that children see older kids, especially kids that they look up to, be silly. When your parents dance around and be silly doesn’t mean much, but when a college student who is idolized by younger kids does mean something. But some might say that being silly isn’t important and that the sooner children grow up the better. I have a problem with this. I’ve sat through so many classes in high school where kids are too afraid of trying things because they might look dumb or they care too much about what other students think. Kids aren’t realizing their full potential because they are too afraid. Watching a student perform half-heartedly is discouraging when you know they can do better. Being silly allows the student to feel less embarrassed, smile more, and show others that it is okay to be silly.
Another reason that kids should go to summer camp is summer camps can be inspiring. How often are your kids inspired? Inspired to go to college, to try new things, to get on stage and perform, to believe in themselves. Summer camps are special because they are different, they aren’t the normal schedule and guess what? THEY LEARN THINGS. It’s different than school. I wish I could convey my feelings to you but I thought that this video produced by Larrin Baker the Video Maker for 5C does a better job.
If you are reading this and you didn’t watch it, go back and click on the link. In a world where we are so accepting of ideas such as: “I’m just not good at math,” “I’m just not musical,” or the classic “I might not even try because I already know that I can’t do it right,” it is amazing to see what happens to children we someone believes in them enough to push them.
I could spend a life-time talking about this topic. Because I believe in kids so much. And you should too. Because the world will soon be in their hands. If you would like to support a summer camp today the 5C Experience is already panning for next year and has created a go fund me account.
This account is used for scholarships so we can send more students to the camp. If you would like to learn more about this camp this is their website.
No comments:
Post a Comment