Benefits of Summer Programs
It is now spring! And do you know what that means? It will soon be SUMMER! Parents and schools alike are beginning to prepare their summer plans and summer programs have begun to open and accept students for the upcoming summer season.
Summer programs are so important in offering structure to children constantly throughout the year. Having consistent structure is good for children of all ages; and for some, it is a necessity. Summer programs are great for children to grow and continue their development once schools go on break.
Children who go from home to school to extracurriculars develop more intellectually and socially in many different ways in each distinct environment. Summer programs are an outstanding and unique venue for growth, allowing kids to become independent and self-confident, while socializing and making new friends, and even learning new skills outside of home and school.
Here are the great benefits of summer programs:
1. Helps children build a unique interest
Sadly, there aren’t many school programs that offer topics that capture children’s interests, such as game design, archery, or entrepreneurship. But they are out there. Parents play a crucial role in searching for these programs and providing their children with the opportunities to transform their interests into reality.
So where do you go if your child has an interest in anything outside of the core school subjects or sports? There are a few after-school options available in schools during the school year, such as robotics or speech and debate; however, parents would be adding one more thing on top of all the homework and other studying commitments students are entitled to.
Considering this, summer program are a great distraction-free option, and allows children to dive into the depths of their new interest. From there, you never know what that interest might turn into.
2. Reinvents and eliminates categories
According to Parent Guide News, "Students often attend school year after year with the same peers, which can lead to labeling and being 'stuck' with a particular perception. A child may become known as studious, quiet, etc., when, really, he can be boisterous in another setting. Children who go to day or sleep-away camps meet a whole other group of people in a different environment. Often times, a child will break out of his supposed categorization if given the chance."
This is so important for parents and teachers to know. A child can act totally different depending on the setting they are in and the people they are around. Summer programs are a great way in helping children discover their different personality traits and give them an outlet to express the many various attributes they hold inside them. Summer programs can really change children’s lives.
All of us have been affected by our environments in one way or another, but when that shaping set permanently into an ill-fitting configuration, it is difficult for people to break out of their fixed categories.
3. Allows for a deep dive into new skills
Even if your schools offer different extracurricular activities, summer programs allow children to dive deeper.
Consider providing your child a week or more to be submerged in coding or sports. You can obtain these opportunities at summer programs, and it is particularly difficult to find such focused activities anywhere else.
On top of that, children and teens are embracingly encouraged to get out of their comfort zones and take some risks with their skills, without fear of failure.
4. Leads to a new types of friendships and social relationships
Summer programs are not just about learning new concepts or subjects, but also being involved with other peers. Summer programs allow students to interact with new people outside of their home and classrooms, which give them opportunities to create new friends and join another community.
Students who interact with peers who have similar interests are able to more easily build friendships, even potential life-long friendships. These relationships can lead to so much more, as students are essentially networking, and have names to call on when it comes to doing a side project, finding an internship, or even starting a new businesses with the friend they met over the summer.
5. Helps with mental stimulation and physical activity
Since the pandemic, children have been stripped of their many opportunities to interact with other peers and attend programs for deeper learning. Especially with virtual learning (although perfectly fine as it is own style of learning), attention given to the student limited and staring at a screen all day certainly decreases the amount of movement a child would have gotten when physically in the classroom.
Summer programs can get children moving, both mentally and physically. Activities over the summer will push children to get off their bottoms and into classes provide more mental stimulation and physical activity.
Interested in a SUMMER PROGRAM this summer?
6. Reinforces independence and empowerment
You may think your child is independent, but you will never know for sure until you place your child in a situation that gives them time away from you and encourage children to be on their own.
At summer programs, children are outside of the safety of their parents and thrust into solving problems on their own. This promotes individuality and helps students grow into independent beings with their own strategies and standards.
Classes over the summer give children a chance to truly understand the practice of making a good decision, and will discover even more about themselves in the process. Children can also learn to depend on peers for support, if they do need additional help, which in the long run help expand their social boundaries and give them more empowerment over their own decisions.
7. Allows for confidence to be reinforced by success
Learning is not always fun and games. The process of learning involves success or failure, which contributes tremendously to a child’s confidence and self-esteem. Many activities come with steps and milestones, which may not be easy to a child, especially if it is something new that they have not come across before.
Let’s talk about tennis, for example. Maybe they have never played tennis before, or perhaps they have played tennis but have never attempted an overhand serve. By getting out on the court and learning to play tennis, or even putting together some form of an overhand serve, an increase in confidence will result. From there, your student leaves with internal support strong enough to compel them to try out for the school tennis team.
Through the extra support that summer programs provide, children will be able to overcome their insecurities on a subject that they were not as excelled in and give students a setting to additionally practice and improve, which results in increase in confidence and self-esteem, which then ultimately results in willing to try and make attempts in something new or difficult.
8. Leads to creativity, free of judgement
Unlike schools, most summer programs do not enforce grades. Because of this reason alone, summer programs are great in expanding a child’s creativity with the leniency of making mistakes. Without the fear of receiving a bad grade, students will be able to practice “trial and error” and not be punished for their failures. And by not being punished for their failures, students will be able to joyously inflate their imaginations and strengthen their creativity and design skills.
Without grades, children will be able to maintain their interests in the subject and dig deeper without fear. It is only when kids are free of such restriction that their creativity can flourish.
9. Builds resilience and perseverence
This benefit is a combination of all of the above benefits. New friendships, confidence, independence, sense of belonging. All of these elements contribute to the development and growth of your child as they make their journey from childhood to adulthood.
10. Instills appreciation and gratitude
Although we talked about summer programs being beneficial to building independence in children, they also help children appreciate home and everything else they do not have access to: mom and dad.
Unfortunately, appreciation in children do not last, and may take some time for them to appreciate all that is given to them on a daily basis. But, appreciation in children surely grows as they spend more time away from their homes during their time at summer programs.
11. Summer programs are fun and entertaining
Last but not least, summer programs are fun. Many factors play in a parent’s decision to enroll their child in a summer program and entertainment should most certainly not be the only reason parents should send their children to programs over the summer.
But it is important. Without fun, children will lose their initial interest in a subject and will definitely not retain as much information.
It is very important to make learning fun for children to help build good studying habits and keep them engaged in their personal interests. No one wants to go to a class every day or week or month that is awfully dull and is not at all compelling.
