Healthy Kids • YMCA Camps and Outdoor Education • YMCA Youth Programs
How Camp Programs Help Kids Learn to Manage Risk
13 April 2018 - by Sarah Joseph
Summer camp is tons of fun for kids, with days and nights chock full with great activities, new friends, and outdoor exploration. But it can also be an incredible opportunity to gain life skills. At YMCA Camp Pine Crest, we help campers grow and develop by teaching them to safely embrace the risks that are inherent to outdoor activities.
Pine Crest has programs involving a healthy, well-supported mix of adventure and risk. Children will find the right amount of challenge in any of our traditional camp programs, and leadership programs offer teens a multitude of opportunities to experience and evaluate risk for themselves.
The philosophy at Pine Crest is that risks are a positive presence in a child’s life. By interacting openly with risks rather than avoiding them entirely, children learn decision-making skills, independence, problem solving, and more. These are incredibly important skills for children and teens to have in order to understand how to overcome challenges and learn from mistakes.
Summer camp provides kids with a safe space to start interacting with risk, because of the highly trained staff, supportive environment, and the difference between perceived risk and actual risk. For example, according to a 2013 study, the incidence of injuries on a high-ropes course is just over four for every million hours of participation, compared to 4,500 injuries per million hours of participation in soccer (What’s more, two thirds of the injuries sustained on ropes courses, are minor injuries like bruises, splinters, and rope burns). This kind of controlled environment allows for maximized personal growth, and a lot of room to set goals and weigh consequences.
The objective here is not to send every child home a daredevil. We simply want them to practice thinking through the consequences of their actions, and get in touch with their own abilities and limits. This type of thinking can have far-reaching implications, including making responsible social decisions, investing money, or choosing a career path. Furthermore, fundamental life skills like resilience, confidence, and social competencies are developed when children and teens work through risky situations individually and as a group.
To learn more about Pine Crest’s camp programs and how they can help your children grow into responsible, resilient young adults, visit our website.
Pine Crest has programs involving a healthy, well-supported mix of adventure and risk. Children will find the right amount of challenge in any of our traditional camp programs, and leadership programs offer teens a multitude of opportunities to experience and evaluate risk for themselves.
The philosophy at Pine Crest is that risks are a positive presence in a child’s life. By interacting openly with risks rather than avoiding them entirely, children learn decision-making skills, independence, problem solving, and more. These are incredibly important skills for children and teens to have in order to understand how to overcome challenges and learn from mistakes.
Summer camp provides kids with a safe space to start interacting with risk, because of the highly trained staff, supportive environment, and the difference between perceived risk and actual risk. For example, according to a 2013 study, the incidence of injuries on a high-ropes course is just over four for every million hours of participation, compared to 4,500 injuries per million hours of participation in soccer (What’s more, two thirds of the injuries sustained on ropes courses, are minor injuries like bruises, splinters, and rope burns). This kind of controlled environment allows for maximized personal growth, and a lot of room to set goals and weigh consequences.
The objective here is not to send every child home a daredevil. We simply want them to practice thinking through the consequences of their actions, and get in touch with their own abilities and limits. This type of thinking can have far-reaching implications, including making responsible social decisions, investing money, or choosing a career path. Furthermore, fundamental life skills like resilience, confidence, and social competencies are developed when children and teens work through risky situations individually and as a group.
To learn more about Pine Crest’s camp programs and how they can help your children grow into responsible, resilient young adults, visit our website.
