{"id":6228,"date":"2016-05-14T17:30:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T23:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sabc.ca\/?p=6228"},"modified":"2016-12-08T17:00:41","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T00:00:41","slug":"send-kids-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sabc.ca\/blog-posts\/send-kids-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Send Your Kids to Camp?"},"content":{"rendered":"

So it\u2019s my turn to post something. It\u2019s time for a little insight from\u00a0a MOM\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n

When our firstborn turned 5 I walked him down to a cabin for Splash camp. I dropped him off, I drilled the cabin leader with questions and I tried to walk away. The thing was I trusted the staff member completely. I knew my son\u00a0was sooooo excited. I knew it was only 2 nights but it was still hard. He was my precious son and I liked to be there to walk him through things. But I forced myself. I wiped some tears from my face as I walked back up our hill and I prayed he would experience lots of new, exciting and stretching things.<\/p>\n

So why did we do it? Why did we send our kids to summer camp?<\/strong> \u00a0There are some great articles on this topic (CCI-Canada<\/a>; CCA<\/a>). \u00a0These are informative, but\u00a0I\u2019m going to give you my own top 4 reasons<\/strong>. These are based on my experience as a camper, as a staff member and now as a mom.<\/p>\n

#1. Summer Camp is a Fairly Controlled Way to Help your Child Develop Independence.<\/strong>
\nSummer camp has allowed my kids to develop new friendships and make their own decisions. My ultimate goal is to set my kids up so they navigate things on their own in a God honoring way. Their week at camp is supervised\u00a0under the guidance of a positive role model, within the constraints of a \u201cstructured\u201d environment and all without me looking over their shoulder. I love that they get this! And you know what? \u00a0Nate came home and he hadn\u2019t showered but he did share his tuck with children who had none. These made for good conversations when we got home!<\/p>\n

\"SABC-Aug2015-0085\"<\/p>\n

#2. Summer Camp is Fun.<\/strong>
\nTruthfully, this isn\u2019t my greatest motivator because we can find other fun things to do BUT it is a great reason. I have the best memories as a child at camp. There were times of late nights, songs around the camp fire and life changing stories. The new skills (where else could I do ceramics, kayaking and archery all in the same week?), new friends, new games and great food made SABC a highlight of every summer.<\/p>\n

\"SABC-2014-288\"<\/p>\n

#3. Summer Camp is a Real Job.<\/strong>
\nI served on summer staff for 6 summers in a row. My summers as a cabin leader and on leadership staff prepared me for the workforce better than any other job I\u2019ve ever had. I learned how to work with others. I learned how to compromise and discuss honestly. I learned how to work hard (those were long, hard days) and I learned to rely on God. I learned how to pace myself and meet the standard of excellence that was set. These jobs required sacrifice, diligence and an extra dose of energy.
\nParents, don\u2019t ever say it\u2019s not a real job. I\u2019m in the \u201creal job\u201d now but my time at camp was definitely more stretching, rewarding and real than any other job.<\/p>\n

\"SABC2013-037\"<\/p>\n

#4. Finally, Summer Camp is Life Changing<\/strong>
\nWe hear stories over and over again about how summer camp has changed lives. It\u2019s what has kept Jon focused on the ministry for 25 years. Seeing God\u2019s hand in the lives of our campers and staff is inspiring and allows us to see God up close. As I was sitting at a campfire in junior high camp I recognized God\u2019s call on my life. I recognized His love for ME. And you know what the same thing happened with my son. He\u2019s attended camp every summer since that weekend camp. A couple of years ago he came home exhausted but his heart had been touched in an immeasurable way. He talked about his chats with his cabin leader, the challenging new skills he learned and how he had recognized anew his need for Christ. Now THAT is why we send our kids to summer camp.<\/p>\n

(Melissa Gartly, BA\/BEd has been involved in summer camps for over 30 years. \u00a0She has three children ages 14, 12, and 8.)<\/em>\"Melissa\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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