If you are a parent of a teen, you know how difficult it can be during the summer breaks. You love them and want them to have some time to relax, have fun, and enjoy their time off from school. But deep down, you are worried that they might have too much unstructured time on their hands during the summer.
Many parents feel it is generally not good for their teens to be unproductive for the entire summer. After all, hanging with friends at malls or spending whole days at the beach isn’t the most productive activity. That’s why there are so many teen summer camps or programs available to teens every summer.
Academic, community service or sports summer programs are the usual suspects. Still, they might not be the best option for your teen to spend the summer break productively.
An unpopular but great way for teens to be productive and enjoy their summer at the same time is through overseas summer volunteer programs. Some teenagers will cringe at the idea of even volunteering, much less traveling abroad to do so.
But volunteering abroad is way more than just ensuring teenagers have a productive summer. It is about building their futures. As a parent, it is always best to find something that helps build both responsibility and competency in your teenager, which will benefit them as they grow into young adults.
Watch this news channel feature on how summer volunteer programs abroad are way more than just facilitating a productive summer and can shape a teenager’s future.
Interestingly one of the key takeaways from the video is Eva highlighting how she discovered her journalistic career while volunteering at a radio station.
Some of the positive impacts of summer volunteer programs abroad on teens include:
- Helping them to learn a lot about new cultures, people, and social conditions;
- Providing opportunities for them to gain professional hands-on experience;
- Assisting them in discovering potential career paths (Eva changed her major at college after her experience volunteering);
- Helping them to become more marketable in the future – A volunteering experience always looks good on a resume;
- Equipping them with a valuable asset to have on college applications and can significantly boost admissions to universities/colleges;
- Promoting personal growth – gain self-esteem;
- Fostering a better understanding of the importance of giving back to others;
- Helping to build camaraderie – They are likely to volunteer with people they haven’t met or have worked with otherwise;
- Discovering hidden talents that they didn’t know they had. For e.g. Eva learned that she liked the field of journalism while volunteering at a radio station;
- Helping them to become more responsible.
As Eva mentioned in the video, you never know the positive impact volunteering might have on a person.
Jamaica Volunteer Programs provides great summer volunteer programs for teenagers to enjoy a life-changing experience on the beautiful island of Jamaica.
If you’re a parent, just imagine your child having a productive summer making a positive impact, learning a dynamic culture, and improving their perspective of the world and life in general.
It is likely to change your teenager’s life for the better and provides a platform to help pave a great future for them.
What are you waiting for? Speak with our program representatives today and find out how you can change your child’s life with our volunteer programs.
Ready to send your teen on an overseas volunteer experience? Here’s the Checklist You NEED to See BEFORE Volunteering Abroad.
Click HERE and submit your contact info so we can send it right over.
