Teens, Fitness and Summer Camps

As summer is approaching many parents are searching for places for their children to actively spend their time - especially if they are overweight.  The last thing you want is for them to be digitally connected all summer.

There are options.

 Most families believe summer is a time when their kids will be outside and more active, participating in sports and other healthy activities. From speaking with tens of thousands of parents of overweight children, adolescents and young adults, Wellspring admissions counselors know that most families with overweight kids believe that summer is a time when their kids are likely to be more active and to lose weight.
Wouldn’t  it be helpful to study this? That’s what Dr. Paul von Hippel and colleagues from Ohio State University and Indiana University thought. So they put together a study of 5,380 children from 310 schools to determine which version of summer is more prevalent:
  • Weight Loss: more daylight and warmer weather => more active; happier; less stressed; greater availability of the best tasting fruits and vegetables…
  • Weight Gain: less structure; greater availability of snacks; more time to spend on computers, playing video games, watch movies and other sedentary behaviors.
Dr. Paul von Hippel and his colleagues found that the Weight Gain scenario happens much more often. In fact, the average child gains significantly more weight during the summer than during the school year. This was true for all children, but especially so for overweight children.
To read the article from the American Journal of Public Health, please click here.
For parents of overweight young people, these findings suggest that the time to take action is now. Wellspring offers the most effective programs for weight loss and long-term weight control. Consider enrolling your child or teenager in one of Wellspring’s eleven summer programs, including:
  1. Wellspring New York (young women ages 12-24)
  2. Wellspring La Jolla (boys and girls 11-18)
  3. Wellspring Hawaii (boys and girls 13-18)
  4. Wellspring Texas (boys and girls 12-17)
  5. Wellspring Wisconsin (boys and girls 12-18)
  6. Wellspring UK (boys and girls 12-18)
  7. Wellspring Adventure Camp North Carolina
    (boys and girls 11-17)
  8. Wellspring Family Camp at Pinehurst Resort
    (boys and girls 5-14, with their parents)
  9. Summer session at Academy of the Sierras California
    (young men and women 13-24)
  10. Wellspring Australia (boys and girls 12-18)

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