While summertime is fun for kids, it can be stressful for working parents who aren’t able to take the season off to spend time at home. That’s where TRUE Summer Camp comes in.
Now in its 10th year, this West Bloomfield camp provides working parents with a place to send their children all summer for engaging activities, unique programs and fun field trips.
“Our day camp runs 11 weeks of the summer. It’s specifically designed for working parents, so they have a place to send their kids for the duration of the summer,” says Matthew Sikora, owner of TRUE Summer Camp.
TRUE Summer Camp provides campers with a wide range of activities like martial arts, gymnastics, hip-hop dance and outdoor sports. Kids also take field trips every week to do things like bowling, skating, hiking, canoeing and visiting the library.
“Many of the campers are with us for the entire 11 weeks of summer, so we keep every week exciting! They are developing skills and routines through a wide variety of different activities,” Sikora says.
The camp is operated by an all-adult staff that have all undergone thorough background checks and are specially trained in CPR and First Aid. Sikora says the camp only accepts teachers and activity coordinators who have fun and positive ways to engage the kids. But structure is also important.
“We believe in keeping our day very structured and organized. We find that the unstructured time can lead to chaos so we have organized activities that the kids move through throughout the day,” he says. “There is some down time at the end of the day for the kids to play games in our Kids Cave (game room), but they earn time in the Kids Cave through positive behavior, a good attitude and helpfulness throughout the day.”
The Kids Cave, he adds, has parent-approved video games, Lego building stations, board games and card games, and more.
Kids who participate in the before- or after-camp care – which is offered at no additional cost – work on arts and crafts, play games, play with Legos, and many other fun and exciting activities.
“For the parents, the main attraction of our camp is the culture. We have a culture of respect, positivity, and kindness,” Sikora says.
TRUE Summer Camp is based on the after-school and school break programs that are also run by TRUE.
“We try to keep our camp on the smaller side, with only about 50 kids per day,” Sikora says. “Although the majority of the kids are with us all summer, many of them choose to come for just a week or two.”
For more information on the TRUE Summer Camp, call 248-706-0000 or visit bloomfieldsummercamp.com.
