Two women are helping children acquire valuable life skills in an outdoor setting, writes Meera Murugesan.
THERE are some things a child may never learn in a classroom. Values like resilience, perseverance, maturity and independence and skills like teamwork, problem solving and creativity.
When Beverley Nah and Debbie Yap started Mad About Education (MAE) three years ago, they were clear about one thing — they wanted children to acquire these values and skills in a hands-on, natural manner. Both women, who have extensive experience in working with young children, believe Malaysian kids are spending too much time confined to classrooms and that the focus of education is always on grades and academic skills.
“We want MAE to be a non-academic platform for children because our education system is already so academic-based,” says Nah, who has a degree in child psychology and an MBA with more than 10 years of experience working with children of all ages.
“Given the academic nature of our schools, goals like building values and character in children get left behind. Life skills are also not given enough priority and we notice lots of kids today who lack teamwork, or leadership and problem-solving skills.”
LEARN THROUGH NATURE
MAE helps instil these values and skills through a series of camps, usually held around the school holidays.
All programmes and activities have been designed to cater to children of all ages and place great emphasis on the importance of going back to nature and encouraging the city child to explore the wilderness within his surrounding environment.
Based within the compound of the Amverton Cove Golf and Island Resort, on Carey Island, Camp M.A.E. is an hour’s drive from KL.
Its lush green setting and serene landscape provides children (and parents too) with the perfect opportunity to escape from city life, and for children to learn and connect with mother nature. The camps target children aged 7 and above, and focus on themes such as art, nature and survival; they range from a duration of two days to a week or two.
Some camps are solely for children while others target the whole family.
At the Survival Skills Camp under the Adventure Camp series for example, activities are aimed at assisting children to learn to care for themselves and acquire some basic survival skills.
There’s also a Daddy and Me Camp under the Ohana Series designed for kids aged 3-7. Together with their dads, this camp encourages city children to explore and discover the natural environment and gives them the opportunity to learn and build different sets of skills and abilities.
Nah says the idea for a father and child camp came about because they felt that in general, fathers were not spending enough time with their kids.
She adds that so far, feedback from parents has been positive and in general, most parents see an increased sense of independence, responsibility and maturity in their children after the camps.
“We have even had kids who were labelled special needs but we realised that they were just children who found regular learning environments boring and unstimulating and needed something that challenged and excited them,” says Yap, a trained early childhood educator who has worked extensively with babies and young children in Malaysia and New Zealand.
The confidence level of children improves tremendously after every camp, adds Yap, and parents and teachers too, are often surprised at the changes they observe.
For details on MAE, go to madabouteducation.com