My Son Was Not Lonely Any More

Ms. Lee (Shenzhen, China)
August, 2009

In the summer of 2009, a friend of mine suggested me to send my two sons to a resort hotel in Shekou, Shenzhen to join a summer camp called “Move to Learn Summer Camp”. It was organized by a training company from Guangzhou and facilitated by a group of licensed Touch for Health and Brain Gym instructors. I did not expect them to learn anything specific. My original purpose was simply to let them have fun during the summer vacation.

My elder son was 9; Cloud (fake name) the younger one, 7. The latter had been lonely all along, never willing to actively mingle with other kids. Even though I proposed to bring him out, his usual answer was negative. He preferred to watch the television at home.

In the beginning, he stayed in the periphery. I therefore repeatedly reminded his group leader, Mr. Huang Jinkun the coach, to attend to his avoidance behaviour. Each time, Huang just smiled and said, “Relax!” He did not give Cloud any special attention. In the first few days, Cloud continued to avoid social interactions with group members, looking at other kids playing all sorts of games in a distance. He would play with some small toys during recess only.

However, strange things happened after a few days: during group activities, he started to join in. He began to play, even wrestled, with other kids. During breaks, he would continue to stay with them, doing things together.

More importantly, after the summer camp had ended, he called his new friend who lived in Hong Kong. He chatted with him, and even pledged to visit him there. Before, he had to have me lying beside him to fall asleep. Afterwards, he could sleep soundly all by himself.

Frankly, I did not see any change in my elder son, but he enjoyed the experience so much that he wrote an article about it right after coming back home. In his essay, he wrote that he thought he was going to a wild camp. To his surprise, he ended in a five-star hotel, eating good foods and having good fun. When I brought him back to my home village, he took the camp manual along to show it to my sister.

I was very curious. Just what had happened in the camp? What caused Cloud to change? After consulting Huang, I learnt that the Move to Learn Camp was mainly for firming the physiological basis of learning skills, e.g. the senses of physical safety, social security, balance, rhythm, touch, audition and vision, etc. Another important goal was to let the kids accumulate success experiences that positively reinforced them to formulate and pursue their own goals. As a result, they became motivated to learn.

Though I was still not getting it, I could feel my sons’ growth after the process. When the next offer comes along, I will definitely send them there again.