Where can I find self esteem programs for my kid nephew to attend in Houston Tx?

Question

He's 11 years old and overweight I think he should go somewhere he can interact with other kids and talk to a counseler who can help him.

Answer 1

I'm not from Houston, TX, but try locating a local chapter of the "Young Marines", they have a program where the child actually goes through a type of boot camp and by the time they graduate they have earned their uniform which is almost identical to the real ones. The boys look so sharp and they're so proud of what they've achieved. This program has just amazed me. Also if there's not that one look for young army programs, etc... Also if you wouldn't like to do that maybe something like working as a stable hand for a place with horses. Horses are so therapeutic. Just the responsibility alone will bring his self esteem up. He'll have the feeling of, "Hey, I did that on my own". There's so many programs or things out there for him to do. You just have to look for them. You know what his interests are so build on them. I have four boys, ages 16, 13, 11, and 5. My 13 year old wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up so I keep him focused by various ways, including he just held a 45 minute interview with a paleontologist from a prestigious university. Also from that University he has been invited to attend several classes with them in the fall. We're also thinking of sending him on a dig with the professors. My other kids as well, one is in the school band playing alto-saxophone (his first year because he showed an interest-11 year old). My 16 year old has issues with grades but we keep him focused into technical engineering/automotive because his interests lie there and his grades are coming back up mainly due to the fact of taking him to career day at a local college, letting him watch and help my boyfriend work on vehicles and also helping work to reconstruct 2 motorcycles from scratch. You can do this it just takes digging for the information from newspapers, Internet, colleges military programs for the young, and maybe the horse farm thing. Write down a list of his interests and start digging. I hope this helps and Good luck.

P.S. My 5 year old is starting to show signs of artistic ability so for now I'll build on that. When I see more signs of other things he's interested in then I'll build on those. Just look out there programs and activities are everywhere.

Answer 2

There's a camp my daughter went to last year, but I checked the site and they don't offer one in Texas (closest one to you would be Colorado or California). However, people send their kids to this camp from all over the U.S. It is truly an amazing camp that builds self-esteem and gets kids fired up about life and about succeeding in school. It's not exactly an academic camp, because it is for kids that make either good grades or bad, but it gives them the tools they need to succeed. Plus it is very structured and supercharged, and VERY team oriented. Each child is placed on a TEAM for the whole week. They get to bond with their team and encourage each other. The instructors are so energized that you'd think their on crack or something. But by the end of the session, the kids are really into it.

The downside of this camp is that it is unbelievably expensive! I could have never afforded it, but my mom helped me finance it. I was desperate to help my daughter get motivated about life in general because she suffers from depression. She went to the teen camp and it was 10 days. I was lucky, because we happen to have a location for this camp in my state, so I didn't have to put my daughter on a plane or drive a long distance. She was homesick much of the time, but the counselors really worked with her and brought her out of her comfort zone. I'd say she benefited a lot from this camp - - - she's definitely more outgoing. Her grades didn't improve though.

Another thing, this camp isn't for "overweight" kids, but there are all kinds of kids there - - - all shapes, sizes, colors. From what I could see from the photos they posted and from what my daughter said, no one pays attention at how you look, but everyone makes friends.

If you are interested in taking a look at their website, it is:
www.supercamp.com

Answer 3

He should interact with the adults in his life who care about him and can give him the lifestyle and confidence he needs.

There arent programs for that, only places where kids with these issues can go so their parents dont have to provide what they need.

Thats what I would do. I cant imagine shipping a kid off to some program of fat kids hoping he'd some how magically feel better about himself while his peers are out playing foot ball and playing after school games, and he's attending fat-kid counsiling.