Camp can offer a break from being the shy kid your child’s classmates all know. It’s almost as if your child’s classmates expect them to be shy, so that’s who they are in school. At camp, however, a camper gets to be with people they’ve never met. That gives the child a blank slate to be someone else, anyone they want to be. Camp is important because it offers children a kind of freedom: the freedom for even the shyest child to be who they really are and want to be.
Let’s say a child arrives for the first day of first grade a little scared of this new experience, the suddenness of having other children all around them, all day. Your child may want to withdraw, and may not feel like socializing with their classmates. After a week or so, your child is seen as shy, and children stop making an effort to draw them into games. Your child may suffer from a sense of loneliness and isolation. It may even affect their grades.
Camp Helps Shy Kids Come Out of their Shells
Parents worry as they watch their child fail to flourish, both academically and socially. More proactive parents may land on summer camp as a way to draw an introverted child, out of their shell. They may think, “It’s worth a try,” as they complete the enrollment process.
There is no question that children have an opportunity to grow and develop their social skills at camp. A parent is often surprised to see a different child come off the bus, bubbly and talkative and happy. That same child goes back to school with their heads held that much higher, primed to make new friends, and better able to focus on their schoolwork.
Camp Discounts and Scholarships
Some people think of summer camp as a luxury, and to an extent, it is. Camp can be expensive. Many nonprofits, however, strive to offset costs for parents with camp scholarships and discounts. That’s why it pays for parents to do their homework, and locate a camp they can afford, or one willing to discount or waive tuition.
At Kars4Kids we believe that summer camp can be a powerful positive experience for a child that encourages social-emotional growth. In fact, we founded our charity to support and to fund scholarships for our summer camp, TheZone. It is wonderful for us to see the fruits of our labor each summer. We love more than anything to watch a shy child metamorphose into a social butterfly within a few short weeks. It’s why we do what we do, all year round.
