Camp and Building Confidence
Wanting to prepare your child for sleepaway camp is a step in the right direction. You should know that by sending them away, you’ll help boost their confidence. The camp experience does wonders for children of all ages and all kinds of personalities. Although this is seen mostly as a fun experience, being away from home for a week or even more, is an opportunity to grow. After all of the togetherness you share together, the child will be able to explore the world outside of the family’s nest and learn a lot about life.
Building Resilience
When we’re around our kids all of the time, we sometimes don’t realize how we do many things for them that they can do pretty well on their own. Parents are famous for underestimating the capabilities of their children and not even allowing them to try, sometimes. So spending some time away from their parents can show a child just how much they can do on their own and open their horizons for new opportunities and skills to learn. They’ll also build resilience and realize they can cope without the emotional support of their mom or dad. The whole sleepaway camp experience will be a novelty that will cause stress in some way but showing your kids you trust them to manage will help them trust themselves, too.
Get Ready to Worry
Your trust and mindset will affect your child. This means that you need to show your kids that you trust they’ll be fine at sleepaway camp. But there are still a few strategies to use when preparing your kid for the experience:
- Discuss the worries your child has and go over the information with them so they know what to expect. Talk about their worries without projecting your own onto them.
- Based on what your kid’s worries are, you can make some plans that will help them feel safe and calm. For example, discuss what they can do in case they don’t feel well or get sick while at camp.
- Let your child know that feeling nervous is totally normal. Being nervous doesn’t mean you should skip an experience but show up and see what it’ll bring you.
- If their mind is stuck on the worries, be sure to hype it up and focus on the good things they should expect. By showing a positive attitude, you’ll reassure your child that they’ll be alright and that there are cool new things to look forward to.