The Importance of Kids Wellness

Brianne Feinour, the camp director at Camp NAC, located at the Newtown Athletic Club, shares the importance of kids wellness.

In today’s society, self-care for kids is just as important as it is for adults. Teaching kids self-care can improve their overall mental health and well-being. Children are learning ways to deal with day-to-day stress and anxiety in their own way — but finding healthy ways to deal with things is important now more than ever. At the Newtown Athletic Club (NAC), we offer more than just wellness for adults: we offer if for kids too. 

Our NAC KidsFitness mission is to teach children healthy habits at a young age and to associate exercise with fun. We offer traditional classes for children such as gymnastics, Spin, yoga, Zumba and aerial yoga. We also created our own class categories such as Ninja Nastics, Power and Kid’s Six Zone, which all focus on strength and high intensity interval training.

Camp NAC is a summer camp for children ages three to 15. This coming summer at Camp NAC we will be incorporating wellness with our cooking and art camps by adding yoga and mindfulness into our curriculum on a weekly basis. 

Below are five things we do at Camp NAC to establish a positive environment: 

1. Movement: Physical activity is incorporated into each curriculum daily.
2. Being outside: One hour of recreational swim time each day. 
3. Find social groups to help children feel like they belong by offering over 75 different themed camps. 
4. Safe space to express themselves: On-site nurse and mentors. 
5. Being unplugged: Limited to no screen time during camp hours.

All of these things are under the umbrella of wellness, and it is our mission to keep all children in a positive physical, mental and emotional state.

We impact these children more than we realize, and that is what the joy for me is. Through our programming, children learn to not only be independent, but they gain social skills, confidence, self-esteem and creativity. 

A healthy outside starts from the inside, and the best product you will ever work on is yourself. We are passionate about providing the community with programs that teach children a healthy body starts with a healthy mind, and that exercise is medicine.