Life at the Bay

The diets and general physical activity of kids might need improvement after lockdown. Holiday camp is a good place for your kids to revisit healthy lifestyles. Sugar Bay promotes healthy eating and physical activity in 5 ways. 1. Eating Plans The kitchen staff take note of all campers’ dietary needs. Every meal is served with fruits and vegetables, and regular water intake is encouraged by the counselors. 2. Tuckshop The Tuckshop promotes healthy snacks. Campers may only buy snacks containing sugar after lunchtime, and only if only they are buying a healthy snack as well. 3. Positive Role Models Holidays are a time when kids are more vulnerable to inactivity and unhealthy eating behaviors. At Sugar Bay holiday camp, your kids will enjoy learning from the good example set by the older kids and counselors. 4. Daily Habits Our experience has shown that repeated exposure to healthy foods and exercise promotes acceptance. A number of kids arrive at camp unenthusiastic about heal...

We hear it all the time - "This generation has lost all hope". They can't communicate, veg in front of the T.V and they're quite the self-centered bunch. The question we should be asking is: how are we enabling them and how are we going to help our kids find another route in living their lives? Stop what you're doing and take a look around, whether you're at home, the supermarket or a park, you will find one constant - a tech device. While technology plays a part in millennials heading to zombie land, kids are missing simple essentials in their daily lives to living a full life. Kids need an environment away from their over-caring parents, tech devices and hectic schedules; an environment that allows room for interaction, enjoying the great outdoors and self-reliance. Traditional summer camp: outdoor, hot, sweaty, buggy, muddy; sounds about right. This is the antidote for the societal black hole children dig for themselves, day in day out. Simply...

Camp is a great place for children to get some much-needed time out from mom and dad and form relationships with other authoritative, yet not as threatening, figures: camp counselors. The role of a counselor is not only being of a guardian and caretaker, but a friend as well. Camper- counselor relationships provide long-lasting values for both parties; camp allows children the freedom to grow into independent individuals and teaches counselors teamwork, communication and responsibility. Let's take a look at the benefits of camper-counselor relationships. Counselors show campers that being an adult can be fun.  Children have many adults in their life: mom and dad, the family doctor, their teachers; they're constantly surrounded by someone who either always has something to do, stressed out from work or giving them instructions. A counselor is an adult that is also a peer to the camper. When they see an authoritative figure playing in the mud, ...

"I don't want to go, it's just not fun anymore, I'm not a kid anymore." This statement is usually followed by a well-prepped speech on why your teen doesn't want to go camping anymore, accompanied by a list of alternative activities that can preoccupy them during the school holidays. Teenagers have different reasons for not wanting to go to camp anymore, from feeling like they have grown out of the annual excursion to wanting to invest time in things that interest them outside of camp. When teenagers grow out of their adolescence, they want to create an identity for this new stage of their life. This is when you cue in the "I don't want to go anymore" talk. In a 2014 survey done by Sarah- Jayne Blackmore, Royal Society University Research Fellow and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience , found that teens between the ages of 14-17, were more likely to shift away from the things they loved as children. Creating new habits, hobbies and socia...

Are leaders born or are they made?     We're close to 4 decades since the act of  absolute bravery displayed by the courageous South African youth in 1976. In celebrating this heroic act, we cannot help but wonder what the future holds for our youth at this moment in time. In the spirit of youth month, the big question on our Bay is , "What efforts are we making to encourage sound leadership and teamwork among our children?" In light of this, Youth Day gives us a few things to ponder when it comes to leadership and reformation. While there is no formula or scientific theory to raising children, the small lessons and experiences in daily life have the power to transform a life, no matter how small.  At Sugar Bay our response to the question of raising leaders is found in our vision for camp: To create a nurturing environment : Not only do we strive to promote a fun environment for children, but our core vision is to invite children into a sp...