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Posts Tagged ‘Teens’

A change is as good as a holiday’ is an old saying. And it’s true when it comes to a troubled teen and a wilderness camp. Kids today can get into all sorts of trouble. They can dabble in drugs and alcohol, fight with their parents and teachers, run with the wrong crowd and even suffer from such conditions as depression and ADHD. Parents are naturally very concerned. There are several options and one is the choice of a wilderness camp. This where the change is as good as a holiday.

The discipline is not so much an order barked from on high but rather one of survival. The setting is, as the name implies, the wilderness. The teens can’t pop into the local shopping mall and meet their friends. They are in the wilderness far from the madding crowd. So when the camp orders a march into the wilds and the teens have to do almost everything for themselves, they have to keep up. If they don’t you’ll be hungry and possibly cold and wet.

Some activities in a wilderness camp involve a trek for a week or two into the wilderness away from the base camp. The teens have to carry their pack, find firewood, light a fire without matches, find their own water, cook their own food, pitch their tent and do all this just to survive. It doesn’t take a leader to tell the kids what to do. The discipline is self discipline.

Now this is a major benefit of a wilderness camp. Kids who are lazy, have falling grades at school and a don’t-care attitude are suddenly whipped into action by the need to survive. And the best part is that this experience is a life-changing one. Tough, rebellious kids survive and thrive. Introverted kids come out of their shell and survive and thrive

Another form of discipline at a wilderness camp has nothing to do with orders and rules but rather the setting of the camp. Nature can be spectacular and beautiful and for many teens, the camp offers a huge change of location. The sheer beauty of the environment can attract and inspire kids giving them something new to think about. Instead of their old friends and bad ways, the teens find their new friends and wonderful surrounds to be an effective way of disciplining and changing their attitude.

Another form of discipline which occurs naturally is the set-up of the camp. Away from their city apartment or home, the teens find themselves in bunk beds in log cabins and such and then, when out on the trail on overnight camping trips, sleeping under canvas or even under the stars. This is a quantum leap from their usual living arrangements and such a change gives the teens a short, sharp jolt into the real world. Mind you the peace and tranquility is also a sobering and an inspirational situation.

The reputation of wilderness camps tells of troubled teens finding a new way to look at life. It helps teens turn their life around and return home a revitalized and refreshed young adult.

Sports, nature, languages and social activities are the keywords to talk about Scuola Leonardo da Vinci Milano’s new Junior Camps.

Our Summer and Winter Junior Camps are located in Polsa, a beautiful mountain area in the heart of Trentino region, famous for its winter ski-slopes and for breath-taking surroundings, offering a great variety of activities both for winter sports lovers or  a relaxing summer in an enchanting scenery.

Our Junior Camps, especially designed for young people looking into an international study holiday, combine language lessons, recreational and social activities, sports, fun and time spent with new friends.

All students will have the opportunity to study Italian or English in an easy and active way, learning quickly and easily with professionally trained teachers. After class, they will have plenty of time to enjoy all sorts of winter and summer sports, such as skiing and snowboarding for Winter Junior Camps (both with a certified instructor or individually under one of our coordinator’s supervision) and playing tennis, soccer, volley, basket, horse-riding or swimming during Summer Junior Camps.

Evenings will be dedicated to social games to promote interaction: cooking pizza, dancing or singing karaoke, playing table-games will also allow students to practice their new language skills and make friends to have fun with.

Scuola Leonardo da Vinci Milano’s Winter and Summer Camps are available for young students from 12 to 17 years old: we provide accommodation in selected 3 stars structures with full-board service, pick-up service form Malpensa Airport,  transfer to and from Polsa and day-trips to Gardaland, Italy’s biggest amusement park and educational visits to local farms scattered among the mountains.

Scuola Leonardo da Vinci Milano’s Winter and Summer Camps are the best option to live an international experience while studying a new language in an amazing surrounding: being it for a week-long Junior Winter Camp or for a two-week long Junior Summer Camp, all young students joining our programmes will have a great chance to broaden their horizons in a fun, proactive, safe and healthy environment while enjoying nature, friendship, sports and social and recreational activities that will build up confidence, self-esteem and team spirit, for the best vacation ever.

There is no doubt a boot camp for your troubled teen can help. And that help comes in at least two major ways. First, you the parent get a break from the fighting and hassle of living with a troubled teen. Second, your teen gets a serious makeover, so much so that their life can be turned around. Yes, it’s as important and as dramatic as that. Don’t think small when your teen goes off to camp. Think success for life.

One of the major complaints made by the parents of teens who are troubled is that the teen is wasting their life. They don’t work hard at school, they sit around at home they don’t do anything worthwhile and healthy. Now there can be any number of reasons for this type of behavior and one beneficial aspect of a boot camp is the therapy angle. Here trained therapists can work with your son or daughter on a one to one basis and in group sessions. Your child may be reluctant to talk to you but far more open with a stranger, a professional staff member who is trained to work with troubled teens.

Besides there are many other teens at camp and all with their gripes and complaints about so many things in life. Your teen will feel among friends. Remember the camp is not there to punish but rather to help.

Motivation, taking responsibility and discovering the realities of life are just three of the areas which troubled teens face when staying at a boot camp. The aim is to turn the lazy teen into one with drive and ambition. It doesn’t happen overnight but through therapy, bonding exercises and the building of trusting relationships, young people turn from being bitter about life to being excited.

Taking responsibility is a major step in any young person’s life. Facing up to what they have done and what they need to do in order to contribute to society is what the camp is all about. Forget this attitude of ‘the world owes me a living’. Instead the teen will ask how they can help others.

Of course discovering the real me is a vital part of any boot camp program. Why am I like I am? Do I have a condition such as ADD? Am I eating well? Am I treating myself and others with respect? Once these issues are faced and conquered, the troubled teen is well placed to be a ‘fit and raring to go’ young person. They can set goals and know ways to make those goals achievable.

To be brutally honest, some troubled teens definitely need a boot camp. Without that sort of treatment, the teen is heading for serious trouble. We hear of young people taking drugs, committing crimes and basically ruining their lives. That is the end result of an unchecked troubled teen. For some parents the time to act is now. Certainly investigate the boot camps which work with kids just like your troubled teen. Take action while you can. Help your son or daughter turn their life around.

Teens in trouble face all sorts of problems. One way to help these troubled teens is to send them to a wilderness camp for a number of weeks. The aim of the camp is to help the teens break free of their problem and to give them confidence and skills to return home and be a happier and healthier individual.

Wilderness camps have two solid aspects to their programs and sometimes a third. The main two aspects are therapy and outdoor education. A third aspect is academic study although this is a lesser factor.

The therapy sessions are specific and intensive. They are specific in that they target the precise problem faced by the teen be it depression or rebellion or whatever. The therapy sessions are both one on one and in small groups. One of the main reasons parents send their child to a wilderness camp is because of the quality and quantity of the specific therapy sessions.

Then we come to the outdoor education. This serves several purposes. Firstly it is fun. Instead of teens facing boring classroom based sessions, the kids get outside and into the wilderness. There are all sorts of healthy pursuits like climbing, hiking, river based activities and more. Most wilderness camps include a week or two week long camp where the kids go away from the base and live in the wilderness. They have to make their own fire, cook their own meals and find their own water supplies. This is a real challenge and can have enormous benefits for the young campers. It builds self confidence, a spirit of friendship and teamwork and brings out the best in most kids.

The main purpose of a wilderness camp is to produce lasting change with the participants. These are not summer camps where the teens have fun and their folks take a break. These are life-changing experiences where troubled teens discover skills and an attitude which breaks them free from their problems and gives them hope for the future.

The best wilderness camps follow up on their charges. The goal is to see the teen well and staying well as they return to their family and school and friends. The benefits are potentially enormous and the key to the success lies in the programs on offer.

Most wilderness camps offer some sort of academic study program. It is not the main feature or purpose of the camp but participants are given every opportunity to stay involved with their school studies. Of course much of their written and oral expression can concentrate on their new lifestyle – their freedom from their problem gained via therapy and their wonderful outdoor adventures.

One significant aspect of a wilderness camp is the specific nature of their therapy program. The camp concentrates on the condition facing each teen be it depression, ADHD, rebellion or whatever. General therapy in group sessions is always a help with the teens able to share stories and triumphs but it is the one on one specific session which give the teens their greatest source of help and inspiration.

If you are a parent concerned about your overweight children or teenager, why not take them for a vacation at a weight loss camp. There are 2 benefits in this, firstly, you are on a vacation with your kids spending quality time together and at the same time able to educate your children or even yourself about permanent weight loss. Your family can thus live a healthy lifestyle and avoid the dangers of obesity diseases.

Every year, millions of children around the world leave home in search of exciting camping adventures. In America alone, a conservatively estimated 8.2 million children and teens went camping every summer.

In a national survey of more than 2,000 camps, camp directors reported that parents rated the three most important benefits for sending their children to camps. These factors are:-

a)increase self-confidence for the kids

b)to make new friends

c)for children to have fun from educational and wholesome activities

“Summer camp is more than a vacation for children,” says Bruce Muchnick, a licensed psychologist specializing in child and adolescent development. “At the camps, children and teens learn to appreciate the outdoors, develop companionship and pick up skills that enhance self-reliance, cooperation and interdependence. These skills will remain with them throughout childhood and into adulthood.” That is a very way to develop skills for your children isn’t it?

So if you are sending your children camping, why not send them to weight loss camps if they are obese and learn healthy lifestyle skills and at the same time to let them enjoy themselves.

Weight loss camps can change your child’s life

We all know that bad habits become too internalized to modify without major psychological and physical effort, thus spending a summer vacation in camps that specializes weight loss can make a huge difference in the lives of your overweight children.

Often, fat kids and teenagers get caught up in a vicious cycle since their social lives become more marginalized as their weight keep adding up. Some children will avoid overweight kids and even taunt and bully them. So overweight children seldom participate in social activities because they are unfit or ostracized and self-consciousness about their overweight appearance and this will lead to less physical activity. Since these children are less active, then the tendency to put on weight is even greater.

When an overweight child has normal weight siblings the stress on them will become even more unbearable. There will comparisons made on them which is a very traumatic and depressive for the child. This can lead to terrible permanent emotional scars.

At a good weight loss camp, children will be left out of any activities. The camps are usually structured in such a way so that everyone has to join in its fun programs and social activities. Since these fat kids usually opt out of activities, their choice should be between camp activities, not whether they join in or not.

Children will be exposed to many sports and taught athletic skills in a non-competitive environment. There will also be enrichment programs arts & crafts, confidence building and team building to help them integrate into the society. They will also be taught how to choose healthy and balanced meals and nutritional facts. The benefits from a vacation at a weight loss camp will last a lifetime.

So, will you be sending your overweight children to a weight loss camp vacation this summer?