Summer Camp for Kids: The Need to Light Up the Dark Corners:

However, after the glittering images and the glamorous program, many children had to leave the camp exhausted, panicked, and even suffered from long-term psychological trauma.

Students participating in the program "Journey across Vietnam" organized by the Tue Duc Green School system. *Photo: Hien Phuong*

The "dark corners" of summer camp

Many parents shared their disappointment, even anger, when picking up their children from poor quality summer camps. Ms. NTT, a parent in Hanoi, is still heartbroken when recalling the scene of her young son bursting into tears, his face scratched when his parents came to pick him up because he was so scared after days at summer camp.

“My child was bullied, beaten and scared at night. He was timid, so when he was put in a strange environment, without adults to properly protect him, he suffered every day until he was picked up. I texted the summer camp manager to report this but received no response,” Ms. T. said.

A similar story was shared by Ms. NB (residing in Vinh Loc ward, Nghe An province). Her child, when he was in 7th grade, attended a week-long retreat with the hope of spiritual training, but returned in a state of fear and prolonged mental crisis.

“During the retreat, my child had all his belongings stolen by a friend, had them changed, and was scared by a monk, leading to a mental breakdown, insomnia, not daring to stay home alone, and demanding to follow his mother everywhere,” Ms. B. recalled.

These reflections show a worrying reality that currently, many summer camp programs are organized with commercial goals, lack quality control and have almost no independent monitoring mechanism. Meanwhile, the participants are children - people with unstable psychology, vulnerable and difficult to protect themselves.

From a professional perspective, educational psychologist and life skills consultant Nguyen Le Thuy - who has more than 10 years of teaching and consulting at summer camps - pointed out three common "dark corners" that are rarely clearly seen by parents.

Firstly, many summer camps have very attractive programs on paper, with content that sounds like it only exists in international educational environments. However, the actual organization is often not as advertised or introduced.

“Programs have been cut, and teachers lack expertise. Many programs are run by people without a background in pedagogy or school psychology. There are places that charge high tuition fees but in reality, their only activity is childcare,” said Nguyen Le Thuy.

The second “dark corner”, according to Ms. Nguyen Le Thuy, lies in living conditions, hygiene and health care. While parents often accept that their children “lack a little bit of training”, there are minimum living requirements that need to be ensured, such as clean hygiene, nutritious meals, and safe resting space.

The third most dangerous "dark corner" pointed out by this expert is that the team in charge lacks capacity and practical experience. Many units currently assign groups of children to students to manage. Meanwhile, children participating in summer camps are usually between 6 and 12 years old, and need psychological experts, experienced people with appropriate skills and expertise to accompany them, because they understand the psychology of their age, know how to observe behavior, detect early signs of abnormalities and handle situations of conflict, bullying, anxiety, etc. if they occur.

Don't let summer camp become a "double-edged sword"

According to a survey by Hanoi Moi reporters, the current summer camp programs have quite diverse costs, ranging from 3 to 20 million VND, depending on the time and form of organization. Some high-end programs organized at resorts, combining learning and playing, can cost up to tens of millions of VND per student. However, it is worrying that high costs do not mean quality.

Psychologists say that if organized properly and with care, summer camps will be an ideal environment to help children develop confidence, adaptability and team spirit. However, when there is a lack of standards in organization, summer camps can become a big "gap" in the process of developing children's personalities.

Particularly, between the ages of 6 and 15 - an important period for forming a psychological and emotional foundation, negative experiences at summer camp such as being bullied, being neglected or isolated... can leave long-term consequences. Children may experience problems such as anxiety disorders, loss of interest in learning, low self-esteem or even develop extreme behaviors.

As a teacher who has been working with students for many years, Ms. Dang Thi Man, a former teacher at Ngoc Lam Secondary School (Bo De Ward), believes that experiential education is a progressive trend, reflecting the spirit of innovation in modern education. Activities such as summer camps, military semesters, field trips, life skills training, etc., if properly organized, will bring students many values, from practicing life skills, developing independent thinking to forming personality and a positive attitude towards life.

A memorable summer vacation is when children have positive experiences, feel safe and believe in themselves. But if the wrong choices are made, the price to pay is not only money but also silent psychological damage that can have great consequences for children.

(To be continued)

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/trai-he-cho-thieu-nhi-can-lam-sang-nhung-goc-toi-bai-2-khi-trai-he-tro-thanh-noi-am-anh-709556.html