The sweetest thrill in the world – your child to get excited about something he is doing for the first time, and you to experience the excitement with him.
In addition to emotions, each such experience has an organizational side. The honor to perform them falls mainly on the parent, and he can judge how much the child should be involved in the activity depending on his age and character.
We at LuckyKids International Camp will recommend how the process goes when the child comes to camp with us.
Preliminary contact with the camp team
When the child is going to camp for the first time, it is good for the parent to contact us in advance. This conversation is important, both for the parent and for us. Don’t hesitate to ask us for the smallest detail.
We will be happy to answer you and ask the questions that excite us.
Adaptation
Preschool children (5-7 years) adapt in a completely different way than school children. We can give guidelines that the parent should follow in advance so that the child has a smoother and calmer transition.
Mental preparation
It often happens that children come who have no idea where they end up. To avoid the stress of such a situation, we recommend the parent to acquaint the child in advance with the concept of the camp and the activities there. You can use our site for this purpose.
Everything is described in detail there. And there is a large amount of photo material in the gallery to help the child empathize and want to be with us in real time.
Emotional preparation
The role of the parent on this point is extremely important. We all understand that the mother and father will be more excited than the child and will be very worried. The most important thing is not to transfer these emotions to the new camper.
If the child feels the stress and tension in the parent, he will immediately “absorb” them. Then adaptation becomes much more difficult and slower. The parent, in the role of an adult, chooses with what emotion to send his child to camp.
It can be:
- joy
- trembling anticipation
- happiness
- ready for adventure
- pride that it is already great
- confidence that he will be able to speak English, etc.
All positive emotions, which we recommend parents to convey, regardless of their personal worries. They can share all their worries with us.
Luggage preparation
A very important joint event – for children and parents. This activity is part of the child’s adaptation. Luggage is part of the home and family – especially for younger children.
By emphasizing his preparation and making the child empathetic, the parent gives a wonderful start to an unforgettable vacation. There is a list on the camp site for everyone’s convenience. Take the list and start the preparation at least 2 weeks in advance.
If there are things to buy – take the child and go shopping together. The excitement in a positive direction will be great. Arrange the suitcase together, teach the child how to collect his clothes and you will have another positive from this activity.
Getting acquainted with the rules in the camp
Yes, this is also part of the adaptation process. Because if the child comes to us and only then realizes that he will not use his phone all day, but will only have an hour and a half in the evening with him, he will start your stay in the camp with negative emotion.
Each parent has access to the camp rules and signs that he has read it and has introduced the child to it. The aim is for the child to know the rules and to have accepted that he will live by them before he comes with us.
During the camp
With parents whose children are camping for the first time in their lives, we strive to maintain daily contact. It is important to us how the children perceive the situation.
If we see that adaptation is impossible (there are such cases), then we recommend the parent to take the child home. Such cases are rare and yet there is such an option.
In most cases, the camp team, together with the parent, strives to agree on all current issues. This synchronicity gives the child security, peace of mind, and for the more naughty – a signal that tricks and tricks cannot be applied.
If parents have specific concerns, they can share them with the camp team in advance:
- waking up at night
- falling asleep to the light bulb
- attachments to parent, brother / sister, grandparent
- anxiety about any of the activities.
The camp team is available for everything.
Difficult adaptation
A child who has never been separated from their parents may encounter difficulties and grief at home in the first days of camp (regardless of age). This usually manifests itself in crying, in the evening when the child is tired. Here again the role of the parent is extremely important. If the parent cries (worries) with the child during the telephone conversation, then the adaptation is doomed to failure.
With each child we act individually according to the peculiarities of the character and always after consultation with the parent. The camp team strives to provide the necessary comfort to the child in such moments and to help the process of excretion, which is directly related to growth. The purpose of the camp is to support the growth process, not to discourage the child from future participation in camps (be it in LuckyKids or elsewhere).
If adaptation is very difficult, we may need to call a parent or relative of the child to stay with him or her for the duration of the camp. In most cases, this helps the child.
Manipulation of the parent by the child
There are cases in which the child manipulates his parents in order to get something:
- material gain
- promise of a trip
- sometimes even a favorite food (for the younger ones).
At such times communication between the camp team and the parents is of particular importance.
It happened that a child cried heartbreakingly on the phone while talking to his mother, and 5 minutes later we saw him laughing and having fun. We are ready to share videos at the moment so that the parent can know when the grief is “real” and when it is a goal.
Lack of contact with the child
Children who do not have problems with adaptation often get carried away in games and forget to talk on the phone with their parents. There are situations when the parent is very worried that he has not heard his child, and he is amused quite undisturbed by this fact. The camp team is available in such situations – call us and we will make the connection immediately and we will make sure that the child hears from you regularly (during the allowed hours).
When sending a child to camp, it is important to be aware of how adaptable he is in a new environment and new living conditions.
Parents are often misled that their child is alone because:
- Was on a field trip with the kindergarten class / group.
- Was in camp with the class / group from kindergarten.
- He traveled somewhere with relatives.
- He goes to his grandparents all summer.
Unfortunately, none of the above actions can be compared to the stress that the child experiences coming to a new place, with complete strangers (children and adults), in a completely unfamiliar environment, with new rules of life and … with a new language of communication.
Therefore, the most important thing for the preparation of a child for camp remains the parent’s attitude to support the process. And we in the Lucky Kids team are ready to help the parents.
