Playtimes HK Magazine Autumn Issue 2019 | Page 40

education My parents didn’t really push it: I’d never been away from home before and I don’t think they were too keen on the idea themselves, especially because one of the big things about all these camps was that there was no student-parent communication. Maybe it was supposed to build confidence, or independence, but I think throwing a bunch of eight-year-olds into a brand new environment and expecting them not to want reassurance from mum and dad, was a bit optimistic. Other kids weren’t so lucky, but my parents were never the type to force me to do things I didn’t want to do, so I happily skipped Year 4 camp, and didn’t feel any FOMO (fear of missing out) when the rest of my year group came back. I didn’t get to skip school, but hearing about rock climbing and tightrope walking made me feel thoroughly vindicated for staying behind, and so I dodged Year 5 camp as well. My parents might have been a bit bemused as to why—I was sociable and had close friends who were all goin—but they didn’t object. Year 6 was a different story: I felt a bit more confident, and (although I never admitted it to my parents) I wanted to get away from home for a bit, too. Unfortunately, my experience proved my earlier theories. Faced with the prospect of having to eat Spam—yes, really—I essentially went on hunger strike for a week; and our mattresses may as well have been rocks for all the sleep I got. The activities, as I’d predicted, weren’t exactly up my street—I was risk-averse, and jumping off (what felt like) a ten-metre-high jetty into the sea and roaming through the Sai Kung wilderness in the middle of the night were two things I would have preferred to avoid. Parent “My daughter was excited and a little nervous about the Year 3 camp. I think I was more nervous actually. But she is an independent kid so she really enjoyed herself. My son, who is younger, was very nervous at first for his year 3 camp, mostly because he sleeps with a blanket and was a bit embarrassed as to how he would manage. But he was fine and my husband was actually a parent volunteer for his camp, so it made him feel a bit reassured.” 38 www.playtimes.com.hk We were told that all this would ‘push us out of our comfort zone.’ I didn’t want to be pushed anywhere, except on a bus back to civilisation. Did it make me more independent, or more confident? Well, I did tentatively try to argue with one of our instructors, so maybe it was character-building in a way. But generally, it just made me grateful I’d avoided camp the previous two times. In spite of all that, by the time secondary school rolled around I was full of youthful enthusiasm for Year 7 camp. For one thing, it was—in classic international school fashion —in Borneo. Even waking up one morning with a moth dozing on my face was an improvement over the stench of Spam, and what can I say? That certainly took me out of my comfort zone! This may all sound like a horror story, but it’s one with a silver lining. I went to camp every year after, and each year they got better and better. Each time was a dynamic new experience. I’d never been snorkelling before Year 10 camp in a beautiful island off Malaysia, let alone been a hairs’ breadth away from green turtles and black tip sharks. Blasting down deserted roads in a rickety tuk-tuk in Thailand in Year 8 was breathtaking (quite literally). So hang in there— it’s not quite the boot camp you imagine it to be! All schools seem to have different thoughts on school camps, with some starting as early as Year 3 and others as comparatively late as Year 7. For most primary schools, residential camps are only within Hong Kong, with popular spots including Lantau, Cheung Chau and Outward Bound in Sai Kung. Others take a bigger step across the pond for a cross-cultural trip to Beijing. There really is no one-size-fits-all approach; some children aren’t quite ready for it at that age, others are confident, independent and raring to go. Often the parents are more nervous than the kids. What helps make it easier to pack them off to camp is the ethos of the school itself, some parents say. One mother with children at an international school explained that her school’s “very nurturing environment…comes out at camp too.”