Summer Camps – Trends in India and Their Significance

An idle mind is devil’s workshop… goes the proverb. Applying it to today’s kids and circumstances we can come to a conclusion that a child who is idle for 50 days of the summer vacation doing nothing but flipping channels and staring at screens, is going to have a hard time shaking off that sluggishness and getting into the demanding academic pace. 

Camps, camps everywhere…
Summer camps and summer workshops are the best solutions to keep the child’s mind and body, healthy. With significant reduction in physical work and exercise due to massive increase in technology that notoriously elevate the problem of lessened activity, kids and adults alike are facing major health problems.

The kids become so engrossed with technology, that they cannot develop skills such as appreciation of art and nature, sharing, inquisitiveness towards learning, the feeling of adrenalin gushing in their bodies during an adventure activity, etc. Bottom line, they will miss out on the developing life skills.

This is the reason why summer camps have mushroomed in the past few years. They provide children with the opportunity to explore life in a different perspective. This trend essentially has rooted off from the summer camp culture in the west. Though the programmes have been Indian-ized, the core purpose remains the same – to keep the kids occupied and make good use of their vacation.

Indian Summer Camps Vs. Camps of the West
In the USA, almost every child goes to a camp be it for a week or a month. The themes preferred by the children may differ each year. There are adventure camps, nature camps, wildlife safaris, fitness boot camps, etc. There are camps even for adults who wish to take a break or need a new experience. Most of them are non-profit and offer various fun adventure activities for the attendees. In UK and Australia, summer camps are not as popular as in the USA.

Indian summer camps are based on the American version. The summer camps here can be broadly classified into 3 types. One, which provides ‘in tune with nature’ kind of activities, two, which gives ‘adrenaline pumping adventure’ activities and the third type where the kids go and learn painting, dancing, get abacus training and academic stuffs.

Are these summer camps fads or are they really worth it?
Everything has pros and cons. However, when it comes to summer camps, the pros outweigh the cons by a massive margin. These camps are fairly short (in most cases, not more than a week long) and charge as high as Rs. 10,000 per child. But, looking at the benefits, exposure and self-growth it provides your child with is in itself a suitable justification.

However, instead of shelling money on some organisation to spruce up your child’s life experiences, you yourself can plan a vacation trip that involves adventure activities, nature walks and interaction with people from different lifestyles. You could also chalk out fun learning games if you would like your kid to gain academic knowledge.

Further reading
An interesting blog post on summer camps in India:

http://stedmundsjaipur.blogspot.com/2010/06/summer-camp-importance.html