08-18-2024 Back to School - Flipbook - Page 11
A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Sunday, August 18, 2024
I watched a group of them run around it 41
times – having a total blast.”
Candy Carr-Smith, physical education
coordinator at the Community College of
Baltimore County, echoes those thoughts.
“I am all for sports because it teaches
camaraderie, it teaches teamwork, it also
teaches them how to deal with success and
disappointment, disciplining themselves,
hard work, and all this is great,” she said. “But
it gets so competitive, and you may not recognize that stress in your kid because you’re
so proud of what you’ve been able to instill in
them and what they have achieved.”
Carr-Smith explains that overtraining
can show up as loss of interest in the activity,
and parents need to be cautious about pushing kids too far.
She adds that the best thing parents can
do is model healthy behaviors, but not force
it. This means eating well, being physically
active, and encouraging kids to play and have
fun in ways that are natural for them.
“Start taking the dog for a walk with the
kids. You’re outside, you’re walking a pet, you
have all those neurotransmitters, those good
feelings coming into your body,” she says.
“And it gives the parents and the child time
to talk, it teaches awareness and trust, which
leads to more flowing dialogue.”
Allowing the child a safe space to take
risks, and get hurt, is important. Frank explains how they handle minor injuries like
bee stings or bumps and bruises at Lure of
the Wild.
“I get them talking about it. I ask them to
describe how it feels, what it looks like, and
then explain that it is completely normal for
it to feel like that,” he said. “It really works to
calm them and helps them understand that
these experiences are normal and not scary.”
At the end of each day, the kids gather in
a circle to talk about the best and worst parts
of their day, and what they want to do the
next day. The counselors allow the groups to
choose what part of the park to explore each
day, and while they are reminded to take water and food breaks, the campers eat when
they are hungry and rest when they are tired.
“These seem like such little things,” said
Frank, “But allowing that autonomy gives
them the confidence to become more independent, self-sufficient, and make decisions
for themselves – which is ultimately the goal
of any parent for their child.”
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