NEW DELHI, June 21: During school vacations it has become common to find children engaged in some or other form of extracurricular activity, be it dance, music, swimming or arts, leading to a proliferation of the ‘summer camp industry.’
To a large extent such camps are turning out into big business for many with a hobby course that costs Rs 3000-5000 on an average for a month’s time ending up delivering a lot less than what it promised, say many parents.
“It is only after you enroll your child in such a course that you get to see the materialistic aspect of summer camps which are supposed to be an educational as well as activity centre for children,” says Anita Sharma, a retired teacher who conducts recreational activities for children, free of cost.
“Putting the blame on summer camps would not be fair since a strong demand in the market for them has led to an abundance of these camps. It is the responsibility of parents to focus on quality services,” says Tarjeet Bhasin, who runs a summer camp here.
“Keeping kids engaged and happy during vacations is a tough task on hand. With our patience and sanity dipping, we zeroed in on an educational summer camp providing a range of activities from craft, dance, swimming to public speaking offered by a school. However it is difficult for working mothers to monitor what exactly our child got to learn there” says Ella Sharma, who works as an insurance agent.
Apart from being expensive for parents, the pressure is also on children to pick up as many hobbies as possible to ensure a well-rounded personality.
“Since we don’t get time to exploring the city during the rest of the year I thought it would be a good idea to do so in vacation time. We started off with great enthusiasm but soon ran out of adventure options, mostly because they were hard on our pocket and our stamina level and I was left with no other option than to send my daughter for the nearby art and craft classes” says Suman Trivedi, a housewife.
Organisers and teachers at camps say there is no point in hopping from one camp to another to keep kids engaged.
“The concept of summer camp is to help children constructively utilise their vacations. It is more useful if the child goes for one particular hobby class at a time, so that by time the next summer vacations come calling the child has developed that hobby to some extent. Next year he can continue with the same hobby or pursue something else” says Arti Priya, who runs a playschool that conducts summer camps in Gurgaon.
From adventure to creativity to confidence, these summer camps claim to groom your kid for anything and everything in this world.
“Nothing wrong in kids being engaged in meaningful activities and getting chance to learn new things. Parents need to be more careful in analysing what will be more beneficial for their child and not to forget that no summer camp can compensate for the recreation which kids get through contemporary style of spending vacations,” says Sapna Sharma, child psychologist. (PTI)
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