The Swellesley Report’s Summer Camps page is now updated with over 75 camps in Wellesley and beyond. It’s time to sign your child up for the summer camp experience of a lifetime. Whether they’re into coding, arts and crafts, sports, drama, or nature, the perfect camp is out there for them.
Swellesley’s camps page is sponsored by LINX Camps. Over 40 Premier Camps. Perfect for your family.
Contact Deborah for more info on inclusion of your camp located in Wellesley or elsewhere, or for advertising on Swellesley. Camp parents and guardians: Please let camps know that you found them here, if you did…thanks.
The LINX Response to COVID-19
While schools have closed and playdates have stopped, LINX took their classes online so that students could still have their weekly classes with their peers and teachers. So much uncertainty and sudden change can potentially lead to anxiety in children. LINX is working to maintain a sense of normalcy by providing LINX members with their regular classes and familiar LINX leaders with whom they feel comfortable.
Instead of using a one-way video streaming platform, LINX is utilizing a two-way interactive video program so that teachers and students can talk, ask questions, and interact with each other; simulating a normal LINX class as much as possible. LINX has
also been adding “bonus” content for all members, including virtual, indoor recesses, with more content being added each week.
Why Social Interaction Is Critical for Child Development
Starting from a young age, social interaction is vital to children as it impacts other development, including language development, self-esteem, learning skills, creativity, understanding, and conflict resolution (1). By watching, imitating, modeling, and interacting with others, children learn to share, solve problems, and collaborate. They also build friendships, which promotes positive social and emotional development (2).
Years of research has supported the importance of social interaction as it helps children develop the social and emotional skills that provide the foundation for future learning and relationships. The main settings in which children have social interactions are at preschool/school and enrichment classes, and playdates, all of which provide children with opportunities to learn and try out new social skills.
Enrichment classes, like LINX, outside of school and the home provide children with another opportunity for novel experiences. They stimulate their minds in a non-academic way, but also build cognitive skills, large and fine motor control, language skills, creativity, and social skills. During these enrichment classes, instructors can also introduce positive self-talk that supports children’s long-term functioning skills. Students also have the opportunity to work with adults that are not their parents, like a coach or teacher. Research has suggested that teacher-child relationships play a significant role in influencing young children’s social and emotional development.
Finding new and creative methods of social interacting while social distancing is essential to keeping kids engaged and developing at this time. Let the existing habits of your family and your child’s imagination guide you to discover the best options!
References
1. https://www.scanva.org/support-for-parents/parent-resource-center-2/social-development-in-children/
2. http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb8.pdf
