Hardship camps for kids: can paid struggle build resilience? (opens the source in a new tab)
- A Mint Lounge column looks at hardship camps, popular in China, where parents pay for children to chop wood, dig tubers and feed pigs without phones, with rations tied to work; the longest cost close to 10,000 yuan. Europe has survival camps for children too.
- Columnist Avantika Bhuyan argues that simulated struggle is not resilience. Experts she quotes say resilience grows from daily responsibility: chores, managing small sums, and parents who resist fixing every problem.
- A Gurgaon teenager tells her that rules imposed from outside put children off, while explaining why screens matter makes them switch off on their own.
Why it matters Resilience is being sold as a product, much like the best baby. The cheaper fix sits at home: let children own small tasks and small failures.
Other side Short, structured discomfort can still help children who rarely leave air-conditioned rooms, and a psychologist in the piece backs adventure camps for that reason. The real line is between challenge with support and hardship as punishment.