During the school year, schoolchildren get tired no less than adults at work - especially since the school curriculum is becoming more complicated every year, and the requirements of teachers are getting higher. A regular summer vacation allows you to recover only partially, so parents should turn their attention to children's health camps.
Features and benefits
The specificity of the health camp is the focus of its program on the maximum restoration of the body's tone. It's no secret that completely passive rest does not help maintain normal muscle tone - in other words, resting like this can cause even more harm to your body.
Restoring a child's health requires a number of factors, which are not so easy to monitor compliance with at home. But the right conditions will be provided in the camp.
- Maximum psychological relief... Recovery of the body is impossible in a state of stress or depression, so the primary task is to completely distract the child from the routine. This can be done thanks to a change of environment, new acquaintances with the same vacationers, a friendly atmosphere in a team and a well-thought-out interesting entertainment program.
- Favorable ecological environment. To restore physical health, it is necessary, first of all, to eliminate the unfavorable factors that affect it in everyday life. In large cities, this is traditionally polluted air and water - industry and a large amount of transport can harm even the healthiest person. For this reason, children's recreation centers, especially those of a clearly expressed restorative direction, are located in ecologically clean areas, far from megacities, closer to pristine nature in its best manifestations.
- Carefully planned physical activity. Rest should not lead to the fact that the vacationer is elementary lazy, physical exercise is still needed - just, probably, in moderation. Another thing is that it is quite difficult to calculate the optimal level of physical activity for a particular child, unless you are an expert in this area. In all normal health camps, it is specialists who are engaged in drawing up a program of exercises and active games.
- Thoughtful nutrition... On the one hand, a growing child's body, and even in conditions of regular, albeit not prohibitive, physical activity requires a constant infusion of calories, on the other hand, their surplus will not benefit, turning into overweight. Again, it is possible to accurately calculate the size of the portions, make them really tasty, and make sure that the diet is not supplemented with all sorts of harmful products, unless in a camp.
As practice shows, even self-confident parents cannot cope with the observance of all of the above on their own. Consequently, a children's health camp is the optimal environment for recreation and recovery.
Varieties
An additional positive feature of any camp, and not only a recreational one, is that each recreation center offers its own, special conditions for recreation, allowing you to choose the best option that will interest your child. If the camp is a health-improving camp, then there is necessarily a special emphasis on health and its strengthening, however, among such organizations, various types can be distinguished, aimed at different audiences. Below are the most common options.
You can see what you need to take with you to the camp in the next video.
Recreation and educational camp
Who said that during the holidays you can't do something useful for the mind? Yes, the task of such an organization is, among other things, to restore a child after a difficult school year, but the approach to learning is here radically different from what is practiced in high school:
- The staff, whenever possible, tries to present knowledge in a playful way, unobtrusively - so that the child himself becomes interested and does not perceive it as a routine.
- The amount of knowledge stuffed into the heads of vacationers, nevertheless, differs in a smaller direction, and they will not be punished for conditional poor academic performance.
Sports and health camp
This option is much more suitable for those children who cannot imagine themselves without active games and constant movement. The difference between rest in such an organization from daily walks at the place of residence is, again, in clean air, balanced nutrition, and also in the fact that the number of loads is strictly calculated here. As much as a child loves to play football, he probably admits that it is more exhausting work than rest, and although such a pastime has health benefits, excessive zeal will not give an opportunity to rest and gain strength before the new school year.
Day camp for children
Such organizations are relatively rare and are good if they are located near the house of a resting child.
The idea as a whole resembles a kindergarten - children of the same age group gather here, who spend the day under the supervision of counselors, with the same proper nutrition and a certain developmental program, not to mention the stable presence of the company. Every evening the children go home, and the next morning they gather again.
This option, most likely, excludes the ecological cleanliness of the area, but it is a good way to inexpensively remove children from the street, keep them occupied with something useful and improve their health. Such an organization is also suitable for those parents who would not like to leave their child at home unattended for the whole summer while they themselves are at work.
Program and activities
In general terms, the schedule of the day in children's health camps differs little from that in camps of a different orientation. The only significant difference is the increased number of active games and activities on the street.
The day begins with getting up, exercising and using the morning toilet, as well as a quick overview of the day ahead. After breakfast, almost until lunchtime, children spend time outdoors - it can be sports games, excursions, swimming in open water (if there are none nearby, it is permissible to replace it with swimming in the pool) or themed circles.
Free time is allocated, but it is comparatively little. After lunch, there is time for rest, and after a quiet hour and afternoon tea, almost until dinner, the children are again busy with something from the list of ideas presented above. After dinner, the program only includes rest - a cultural program in the form of movies or concerts, contests and a disco, and then lights out.
Of course, this only applies to those camps where children stay overnight, and do not go home, however, a similar daily routine is observed in daytime ones - just within the framework of the time the children are in place.
What documents are needed
Do not think that sending a child to the camp is so easy - you will need to collect an impressive package of documents that cannot be drawn up in one day, or even in one week.... For this reason, take care of collecting the necessary papers in advance, and two weeks before sending is the minimum time when it is time to start doing something.
It should be noted that the requirements for a set of documents for recreation in a health camp may differ significantly from different organizations, so be sure to check with the administration which certificates they will want to see... In view of certain differences in the requirements, we will highlight only the main, mandatory points that will be asked for sure:
- Holiday voucher of the established sample - in fact, a document that confirms the legal right of your child to be at a particular recreation center during this period of time.
- Child's identity card. Children under the age of 14 will need a birth certificate, while older adolescents already need a passport. Experts do not recommend trusting the child with the originals of such documents - most administrations will need a photocopy. At the same time, for a trip abroad, you may need a passport, and even if the recreation center is located in one of the states that do not require foreign passports from our compatriots, it is still possible to cross the border only with the original identity card.
- Medical certificates. Many organizations rely on standard forms 079 / y and 076 / y, while some require separate certificates for most infectious diseases, the list of which must be specially specified each time. Almost always, a certificate of the epidemiological environment is also required, both at school and at the place of residence, because a visually healthy child could become a carrier of a dangerous disease literally a day before departure.
If the recreation center has a swimming pool, a special certificate is required to allow you to visit it. They can also ask for a document about the injuries and diseases suffered, less often - also a policy of compulsory medical insurance.
If the camp is located on the territory of Russia, then it is the medical documentation that is the most difficult moment in the process of organizing a trip. Be prepared for the fact that your son or daughter will have to go through a full medical examination and tests.
Where to go
It is generally accepted that in recent decades the number of children's health camps in the country has significantly decreased, but still there are hundreds and thousands of them throughout the state. Here everyone has their own preferences, and it is impossible to compare absolutely everything with each other, therefore many are guided by the geographical principle.
Traditionally, the most popular recreation centers on the Black Sea - in particular, in the Tuapse region of the Krasnodar Territory. Rest here is good with a very warm climate and the proximity of the gentle southern sea. Here, each recreation center is worthy of attention, dozens of those located here are known throughout the country, and as an example, you can name the "Pearl of Russia" in Anapa and "Chaika" near Tuapse... Similar conditions are presented in neighboring Crimea, where near the city of Evpatoria there is a well-known organization called "Timurovets".
The recreation centers located in the immediate vicinity of the largest Russian cities - in the Moscow and Leningrad regions - are constantly full of guests. They are convenient for being close to the consumer, and as ecologically clean places they offer areas in the forests, located tens of kilometers from the metropolis, often next to picturesque lakes. Residents of the capital like to send their children to recreation centers like the Camp "Luck Hunters" in Mytishchi, promising a program that can captivate any adult - here and hiking with tents, and kayaking, and military sports programs.
For those parents who would like to focus on a more complete unity with pristine nature, centers have been created in less densely populated and popular regions. Among the inhabitants of the European part of Russia, very popular quiet forest recreation centers in the Vologda region, in the Asian part of the country, the indescribable beauty of wild mountain and taiga lakes can be found in the Altai Territory, which, again, will resonate in the soul of a person of any age.
Naturally, these are only the main directions, while there are children's health camps in almost every region of our country. Be careful when sending your child somewhere far away - at a distance you can check the reputation of the recreation center only if it has a specific name, and if the name sounds like "Sunny" or "Dzerzhinets", then a particular institution may be very popular both upscale and highly questionable.
The best abroad
It is even more difficult to select the best children's health camps outside of Russia than inside it, since there are definitely more recreation centers around the world than in one, albeit the largest, country. Here, one should start from the climatic conditions of each specific country, the convenience of travel back and forth, as well as the financial capabilities of the parents.
According to the first criterion, the states that are popular among adults - Turkey, Spain, Cyprus, Greece and so on - are in the lead. As for the last two criteria, according to them, the unconditional leadership of our two closest neighbors - Belarus and Ukraine.
In Belarus, there are no recreation centers that are truly internationally popular, the choice in their favor is usually made by residents of the regions of Russia adjacent to this country, where there are no children's health camps. Belarusian recreation centers for children are distinguished by consistently good quality of service, relatively low prices and striking forest air purity.
Of the conditions that are not in Russia, Ukraine can provide ideal mountains for children to relax.
Altai is amazing, but it is located far enough from the place of residence of the absolute majority of Russians, and in the Caucasus there are no proper conditions - the mountains are too harsh here.
Another thing - Carpathians, with their prevailing altitude within 1000-2000 m, a huge number of hiking trails and truly untouched places of amazing nature, and most importantly - a developed infrastructure of recreation centers and transport, allowing you to get here without transfers from many large cities of the European part of Russia.
How to choose
If you have already decided that you need a recreation camp, then this greatly simplifies the task of further selection. To begin with, clearly formulate a list of prerequisites for yourself - where the organization should be located (at sea, in the mountains, next to the house), what direction (for example, with a bias towards education or sports), what are the living conditions (number of people living in the room, and whether there are rooms at all, or tents).
Make a list of several camps that you find interesting and show them to your child, asking him to make his own choice.
Carefully collect information about the place where you intend to send your child. Use the official website of the organization, various forums on the Internet, and if someone from your acquaintances already has experience of cooperation with this recreation center, be sure to ask.
If all these sources do not give a final picture, call the administration's contact phone number and ask your questions. At the same time, think critically - it is clear that the camp is unlikely to criticize itself, therefore, in terms of impressions, focus on independent sources. Also, make allowances for the subjectivity of individual people - do not cross out the recreation center as soon as you find a negative review.
Tips
These recommendations are not binding, and in some cases, neglect of them does not cause any harm, on the contrary. Nevertheless, they should be taken into account, and whether or not to do it depends on the characteristics of your child. So:
- It can be hard for a small child, especially one who has never left their parents for a long time before, to endure a whole shift away from home, in an unfamiliar group. In this case think about the option of a short trip, no more than 10-12 days. If the organization is located relatively close to home, you can easily visit the baby and support him in this way, and in extreme cases - and pick him up ahead of time.
- In an unfamiliar team, at first it's hard even for an adult, so it's good if the child is not traveling alone, but with one of his friends or good acquaintances., especially for the first time. If the baby is no older than 8 years old, then even someone from the staff would not hurt as such a friend.
- The period of adaptation in an unfamiliar team is very difficult, so in the first days most children call home and ask their parents to pick them up as soon as possible. Nevertheless, there is no need to be afraid of such calls, so convince the child to stay there a little longer - for sure, he will eventually get involved and want to stay. Ask him what he doesn't like and try to instill optimism in him. You should seriously think about taking a child out of the camp only if he has been complaining for more than a week.
- In some camps, they ask you to provide a kind of child card, which would describe his certain features. Even if the institution did not mention this, and your child has specific characteristics (has contraindications for physical activity, does not know how to swim, suffers from allergies), try to find an opportunity to inform the people who will be responsible for him during the rest.
