Summer is the time that schoolchildren and students are looking forward to with special impatience, because now there will be a lot of free time available for various entertainment. However, modern youth is rather bad at organizing their own leisure time independently - this is evidenced by at least numerous sarcastic entries on social networks about another lost summer, which from year to year collect a suspiciously large number of likes. This is why summer camps are so good, they are a way to spend your holidays in an organized and versatile way.
Features:
Modern society deserves fair criticism for being overly enthusiastic about the virtual world at the expense of the real world. In practice, this leads to a narrowing of the circle of real friends and contributes to an additional closure to virtual reality. Hence - the main, but not the only plus of the summer camp. In general, the advantages of such a summer pastime can be described as follows:
- In the adolescent camp, there are mainly people of the same age and children with a small age difference, which greatly increases the likelihood of finding new acquaintances with common interests. In terms of communication, staying here is much better than anywhere else, since the grandmother in the village hardly has a lot of young people, and at home, the child is not always forced to go out, and even there he most likely already knows everyone. In the camp, he will choose at least one or two strangers with whom he will be mutually interested, and will be able to expand his horizons.
- The tasks of the counselors include organizing the leisure of their wards. There is simply no such problem as “nothing to do”. In addition, the camps recently also have a certain specialization (this will be discussed in more detail below). This, firstly, helps every teenager to find as many like-minded people as possible, and secondly, it allows them to acquire new skills or improve existing ones - and therefore spend time with benefit.
- The original function of the camps - rest and restoration of health - has not gone anywhere either. Usually such institutions are located in the corners of untouched nature, somewhere on the sea or in the mountains, where clean air itself contributes to the normalization of life processes. Here it will no longer be possible to start your physical condition - charging will most likely be carried out daily.
In other words, with the right attitude to the choice of a particular camp, you can achieve an amazing effect when with such a trip you can make a child's dream come true and give him unforgettable memories for many years to come.
Kinds
The classic pioneer camps, with which this industry began in our country, all or almost all had a standardized structure and differed from each other only by geographic location and counselors, which in any case cannot be exactly the same.
In our time, camps usually pursue not a general educational, but a highly specialized goal - at least the most prestigious ones are usually focused on a specific audience (relatively narrow).
It is not so easy to understand all the variety of today's varieties, but we will try.
Sports and tourism destination
This is perhaps the most popular and numerous cohort of recreation centers for teenagers and young people, since they traditionally love movement and a competitive spirit, which are present here like nowhere else. Sports camps are often divided into even smaller categories - there are specially dedicated to football, basketball, volleyball, golf, equestrian sports and other sports.
It is somewhat similar to a sports and tourist camp - with the difference that there are no winners or losers, and its special type is an extreme camp, where campers are taught not to get lost even in a one-on-one confrontation with the wild nature. All of these activities require good company. If it is problematic to assemble two basketball teams in your yard, then in a basketball camp you can interest 100% of those present in the game.
Military-patriotic
Such institutions are focused on rallying the young generation on the basis of love for the Motherland, teaching them practical defense skills - or even teaching them how to do without the benefits of civilization. A typical military camp certainly offers both a sports program and the study of the basics of military affairs - at least its graduates should know the structure of a machine gun.
A kind of military is the survival camp - here they will tell you and show what to do if the bulk of the technological achievements of mankind are suddenly left somewhere very far away.
Patriotic institutions can pay extra attention to the study of glorious history in order to teach teenagers to love their country using the example of ancestors. The recently popular trend is the Cossack camp - here a careful attitude to culture is very clearly traced.
Educational and creative
Initially, the popularity was gained by institutions specializing in the study of a foreign language, which to this day remain an eternal summer trend. Any international camp provides the broadest opportunities for learning the same English, since all peers are from different countries, which means that they can tell a lot of interesting things, and in the process of inevitable communication, the level of the language will definitely increase.
Professional focus
Another area of educational recreation is a business camp, where the lecture part interestingly reveals the peculiarities of running your own business, and games in your free time are likely to strongly resemble Monopoly. The vocational guidance camp has a specific function - it allows a teenager to plunge into the atmosphere of a certain profession for a short time and check whether it suits him, until he has devoted his whole life to it.
Creative recreation can also be successfully organized on typical camp principles: a literary camp provides an opportunity to discuss your favorite authors with like-minded people and discover new interesting books, a music camp is an excellent platform not only for listening to music, but also for creating it. Close in essence to sports dance camps, where the corresponding competitions are often held.
This is only the most general division of camps, while many institutions of this type do not belong to anything named (or have certain features that radically distinguish them from others, generally similar). For example, a winter camp can be military or sports, but you must admit that it is very out of the crowd. Volunteer camps bring together people under their wing who rest while working - bringing certain gratuitous benefits to society. The psychological camp is distinguished by the special sincerity of the staff and allows you to "let go" of all problems. For those who are close to the Orthodox spirit, special recreation centers are suitable - in compliance with all traditions and rituals.
Even the thematic camps do not end there - perhaps there are even more specific varieties. The concept of "free camp" is also popular, but remember that when organizing a quality vacation, the financial side of the issue should be the last argument.
Best in Russia
Our country has all the necessary conditions to create teenage camps - there is a huge territory with a variety of natural conditions, and a rather large number of the population, which needs rest every year.
It should be noted that among the most popular establishments in Russia there are no representatives of the most demanded direction - seaside recreation. At the same time, there is no shortage of camps on the shores of the Russian seas, on the contrary - they just usually do not differ from the bulk and are noticeably inferior to foreign counterparts located in warmer regions. Therefore, modern Russians are usually more interested in recreation for teenagers in forests and mountains.
An example of a super popular camp is the Moscow Region “KOMOK”. Located just 80 kilometers from the capital, it is easily accessible for a huge number of our fellow citizens living nearby, but it is located in a place where both the air is clean and the nature is beautiful.
A separate "feature" of the establishment is the orientation towards a certain topic, which can change from shift to shift. In particular, in August 2017, all activities and entertainment here are organized with the constant presence of characteristic elements of British culture.
If we talk about the main internal Russian camps, where parents send teenagers to rest for the summer, then Perm and the Perm Territory stand out, as well as camps in the Altai Territory. These regions are distinguished by high forest cover, and in Altai you can see both mountains and real taiga with the purest mountain lakes.
When entering such places, even an adult will not be able to resist an admiring exclamation, and the child will come to indescribable delight - it is in these places that the recreation infrastructure is well developed.
Foreign
Recently, recreation abroad has become very popular, including foreign children's camps. For those who have problems with learning English in their homeland, camps in America and England are perfect, although they are interesting both for those who want to improve their already good level of language, and for those who are simply interested in the culture of Britain and the United States. A similar logic, but with the German language, is relevant for camps in Germany.
If the child does not want to go to the sea and does not like the heat, and you also live somewhere in the north-west of the country, camps in Norway and Finland will be a good choice - Scandinavia is famous for its natural beauty. For residents of the southwest (due to the geographical proximity and low prices), recreation centers for teenagers in Ukraine may be of interest.
The list of countries where you can send your child for the summer is far from complete. Special international institutions exist in any state of Southern Europe, to a lesser extent they are represented in other European countries. North American camps are also waiting for Russian teenagers, but they are less popular in Russia due to the considerable distance and high cost of flights.
What things should I take with me?
The set of things for a vacation in a teenage camp should be the same as for any other vacation. Take care of the most important thing - linen and clothes. When choosing clothes, be guided by what the institution is doing - for example, for a sports camp you should take more sportswear, and for a literary one you need less, although at least one sports suit will be needed at any recreation center.
Pay attention to the fact where is the place where you send your child - swimming trunks, swimwear and towels are very relevant at sea, but in the mountains, even in summer, a jacket will be much more useful.
In all other respects, the set of things is standard - personal hygiene items, food and drink on the road, some medicines, if they are rare and absolutely necessary.
The very specifics of the camp may require certain additional things, but then it is better to simply contact the representatives of the organization and ask for advice from them. Even if the host organization is not a tourist one, remember the rule of experienced tourists: the more experienced the tourist, the smaller his backpack.
How to choose?
A teenager is already a person with his own views and preferences, capable of making an informed choice (especially if he is already 16 years old), so do not pull the blanket over yourself and discuss with your child exactly how he sees summer vacation. This can be done even if the trip to the camp is planned as a surprise - tactfully provoke your son or daughter to talk about what they would ideally like to do in the summer.
However, this is a matter of choosing a direction, and there are more practical points. Any good parents will probably not trust their child to untrustworthy people - they will want to know what awaits him. Fortunately, modern technology makes it possible to determine this fairly reliably.
If you want to understand what conditions this or that organization offers, refer to its personal site. There, all the advantages of choosing in her favor will be clearly described in detail, there you will also find photographs that allow you to get an idea of the living and recreation conditions. Usually, the schedule of the day with information about educational and entertainment programs is also posted here, and the cost of the voucher can be found on the same website.
At the same time, the site of any organization always presents it in a good light, while the flaws are usually hidden. If you do not trust what you have read and seen on the camp website, use search engines and thematic forums to find on the Internet the opinions of people who have received experience of staying at a particular recreation center.
Keep in mind that there will always be dissatisfied people, so draw conclusions based on the argumentation of the positions presented and the general proportions of positive and negative opinions.
If an organization of interests clearly suits your teenager, the site promises favorable and comfortable conditions for recreation and development, and the Internet is not replete with negativity about this recreation center, then this is the ideal camp for this summer.
