Money
Real life lessons for spoilt children
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-29 07:51
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A series of accidents and injuries among young students has worried parents recently and since schools have now closed for the summer, many parents fear that the only security gate protecting their children is gone.
So, a new type of summer camp, the "junior solider summer camp", is becoming a favorite of many parents. These summer camps offer specialized training tailored to children between the ages of 7 and 17.
The courses are intended to serve as a "survival guide" for today's young girls and boys.
Many uncommon yet important survival skills are taught, such as women's self-defense, open-wound treatments and survival in the wild; some summer camps have even come up with special kidnap prevention programs.
China Junior Military School has been organizing military-training based summer camps for 10 years, but it has experienced a student boom in recent years.
Beijing Youth Daily reported that more than 500 students had signed up for the school's "China Junior Military Travel Camps", many of them overseas Chinese students.
According to the report many parents feel that their spoiled children are not capable of even the lightest work. Wang, an employee of a foreign owned company in Beijing, said he had noticed that his 8-year-old son would not even pack his own bags. Also, the third-grader preferred to spend his spare time in front of the TV or the computer rather than going out to play or exercise. Wang came back freshly motivated from an extension training course organized by his company, and decided to send his son to the summer camp. He said he hoped his son would learn how to face difficulties by himself and become tougher.
Du Binyue, a former camper, said when he attended the camp, the four things that he missed the most were his mom and dad, his computer and the TV. However, now he misses his "comrades in arms" at the camp.
On completing the camp, Du was not only able to do everyday household chores, he knew how to deal with a stranger at the door, and how to escape from a house fire.
The China Junior Military School runs a standard program called "5-5 Junior Travel". Students are expected to be able to "sit, walk and talk like a professional soldier" by their fifth day at the camp. By the 25th day, they hope to turn these spoilt children into brave and knowledgeable teenagers who have excellent manners, strong self-discipline and a sense of responsibility.
The school also offers two other short-term camps, which discipline campers from 6 am to 10 pm every day.
