Growing Together
This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and the theme this year is ‘Growing Together’. With this theme in mind, we wanted to share some ways that we think attending holiday camps can help your child’s emotional, social, and physical growth.
Emotional Growth
Life is full of challenges and setbacks. It is during these moments that we need to show resilience so we can move forward and try again. Camp provides a safe and nurturing environment where children can learn to overcome obstacles. Maybe they are trying out a new skill and cannot master it the first time, or perhaps, their team doesn’t win the Camp challenge. All of these moments are opportunities for children to learn perseverance and resilience. At Camp, children have the freedom to make their own mistakes and learn from them. With exciting opportunities for children to excel in new areas, Camp also helps children find the confidence to be their true selves.
Social Growth
If being in a pandemic has taught us anything, it is the value of in-person relationships. Research tells us that positive youth development depends primarily on healthy relationships with peers and mentors. When children attend a Holiday Camp, whether it’s for a day or the whole summer, they become part of a community. Camp provides a crash course on meeting new people, helping children build their social skills and confidence. Whilst communicating with people from all types of backgrounds, children are able to develop their social intelligence, honing important life skills such as empathy and patience.
Physical Growth
All children need regular physical activity in order to maintain a healthy body and mind. The high-energy nature of Holiday Camps is the perfect environment for promoting healthy physical well-being. Holiday Camps are a screen-free zone where children can enjoy getting active with their friends. By motivating children to move more during the holidays, a healthy routine can be created that children often continue long after Camp has ended.
No one should have to face mental health difficulties on their own, and support is widely available in the UK. Below we have included some useful links to apps and websites that have been developed to help young people struggling with their mental health. If you are interested in seeing how a Holiday Camp could help your child’s growth, why not have a look at our website and see what is available near you.
APPS
ChillPanda – Helps children better understand their stress and shows them ways to feel better using breathing techniques, yoga, exercise and calming games.
CatchIt – Uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help users learn how to manage feelings like anxiety and depression.
Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame Street – Helps young children learn how to deal with frustrating situations using the “breathe, think, do” method.
Feeling Good Teens – Uses short audio tracks to help children let go of worry, improve sleep, develop self-esteem, resilience, and goal-focused motivation.
Cove – On this app, children can create music to reflect emotions like joy, sadness and anger to help express how they feel.
What’s Up? – This app is designed to help children understand the triggers that lead to anxiety, anger, stress and depression.
Websites
Young Minds – This is the UK’s leading charity committed to improving the emotional well-being and mental health of children and young people.
Childline – Childline is available to help anyone under 19 in the UK with any issue they’re going through. Their trained counsellors will help support you through any issue, big or small.
MindEd – An online learning and advice resource for anyone interested in, or concerned about, the mental health of children and teenagers.
Samaritans – A registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress or struggling to cope.