Today’s youth have started to grow. With the growing number of children and activities, children need to be socially ready to take on the world. The Chilton County YMCA has been working to do just that with local kids.

The YMCA has a summer camp for children to attend and learn to adjust socially. During camp, kids travel with each other and do activities that involve working together and using their social abilities to create friendship bonds that teach them how to interact with people in the future.

“It is a great opportunity for the kids to get involved and to learn how to create an atmosphere in a crowded room. When the kids learn how to work together at a young age, they are more prone to be successful adults because they are ready for a working environment,” program director Joshlynn Atchison Allen said.

While the kids are at summer camp, they take fun, yet educational trips, and they are given the opportunity to participate in sports or other events that they otherwise would not be a part of.

“We do a lot of fun things with the kids, including things like our watermelon race and water play days where the kids get to go outside and play with water guns, water balloons and other summer cool downs. We use fun days like this to break up time that is spent inside the building,” YMCA director Rachel McKinnon said.

The YMCA is working on making a difference and are placing stepping stones for the kids to follow for the rest of their lives by letting the kids learn how to have fun together. Allen added that she felt pleased with the camp and the differences she has seen in the kids.