A camp for super boys — and their mothers

Every boy has likely had dreams of becoming a superhero, and now they have an opportunity to make those dreams come true with the mother-son Superhero Training Camp, offered through Community Education, on Jan. 17 at the Woodbury High School Activity Center.

“It’s just a fun opportunity to do something fun with your kid,” youth programs coordinator Sue McKeown said. ““The boys are excited to wear their superhero costumes and come and do something, I think they love showing off that they can be fast, and powerful, and smart.”

The idea for a super hero training camp came from the desire for a mother-son activity since the father-daughter dance has been so successful in the last five years, youth programs coordinator Anne Haertl said.

“We always got the question, ‘What are you going to do with the moms and the sons?’” she said. “So we went to work brainstorming what it is little boys like to do.”

Ultimately, Haertl and McKeown landed on superheroes because it is something that almost every boy loves.

“That’s sort of a guy thing,” McKeown said. “They’re really into it.”

During the training camp, boys in grades kindergarten through six dress up as their favorite superhero and participate in a wide range of super activities, including a moon bounce, an obstacle course, a scooter race, bowling for villains, kryptonite catch, tattoos, and Dance Dance Revolution

In addition to just being a fun experience for the boys, the training camp also hopes to act as a great bonding experience for the boys and their mothers.

“I think they don’t mind at that age doing fun stuff with their moms,” McKeown said.

Since this is only the first year for the training camp, Haertl and McKeown said they have no idea if it will be successful or not, or if they will continue in future years, but they are optimistic because families are already starting to express interest.

“You don’t know until you try it,” McKeown said. “The goal is to meet a need, for the teens to get excited to volunteer, for the moms and sons to have an awesome bonding experience, and to get a good group of people there for a positive family experience.”

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