I’m wrapping up a piece for the paper on a long-running summer camp that is only six weeks long, but it does provide enrichment for children ages 5-high school whose families would not otherwise be able to afford it. There are quite a few programs around that do assist with similar camps and we try to spread the word through the paper about these.
Further along the spectrum; granddaughter has her first time at a day camp this week. She was excited about the idea and we hope it works out. Her mom and dad are heavily involved in wrapping up the summer intensive dance camp and they need to be able to focus.
In looking back with what we did with son – and I may have mentioned this before – we sent him to multiple camps; all of which were science-type with the expectation he would be pursuing such a thing. Although he did love Space and Aviation camps, the Audubon and Marine Mammal camps were what led him to the plan of Wildlife Ecology. If you happen to be new to the blog, that of course derailed when he fell headlong in love with dance his freshman year at university and college went by the wayside. The utter irony is if we had had a clue, we could have put him into dance and performing arts camps and he would have had at least a chance of getting on the professional dance ladder at a much better time. Ah, the “you don’t know what you don’t know” truism strikes again. A potential irony which might not unfold for a bit is granddaughter has literally been raised in the dance studio and she’s already swapped from ballet to tap. Currently either of her planned careers include being a dancer. On the other hand, at age eight there will no doubt be other ideas to come about.
I can hardly believe your granddaughter is eight already! How time flies!
And with the camp thing: you just never know, some kids find their path later in life, no matter what they have been exposed to earlier. Several of my fellow university students ended up doing something different to what they started. My brother started marine biology but graduated as a geologist and has been one ever since! And my best friend in college started out training to be pianist at the conservatoire and ended up teaching English as a second language in East Asia. The great thing about college is that it opens up those possibilities and experiences at an age when one is mature enough to do something about it.
Ah yes, time does zip by. For sure on finding different paths than planned. Hope you’re doing well. Take care. Charlie