About Us
Kids Of Gold was founded by Gary Parsons and held its first camp in 2003. It became an incorporated association in Victoria in 2007.
The purpose of Kids Of Gold Inc. is to provide an opportunity for children from 9-12 years of age (or attending Grades 4-6) in Primary Schools, primarily in the Outer Eastern Melbourne area to participate in subsidised camps for the purpose of building their self esteem and confidence.
Level 1
Recognise they are special and uniquely gifted
Take Pride in their accomplishments (overcoming fear)
Attempt new tasks and challenges (confidence building)
Take home what they have learnt and apply it to their lives
Have Fun!
Level 2
Learn goal setting concepts
Act Independently
Tolerate frustration
Handle positive and negative emotions
Learning and understanding about affirming one another
Level 3
Take on more leadership in the camp situation
Assume responsibility
Offer assistance to others
The importance of friendship & its relation with God
To develop the concept of the power of forgiveness
Level 4
Focuses on learning the skills attitudes and passions required for being a good leader, spiritually emotionally and physically.
We aim to work co-operatively with schools, principals and staff in the promoting our camps and follow up of children from these camps. We do allow children in the lower Secondary School area who have attended these camps to return for the purpose of participating at an advanced level.
Our Aims
The main aim of the camp focuses on increasing self esteem and confidence, and we have seen many children grow in both these areas, we have also seen many children show improvement in a number of other areas, including: Overcoming fear- fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, fear of not achieving expectations, etc.
- Learning how to overcome bullying.
- Learning how to make and keep friends.
- Dealing with conflict resolution in a positive way.
- Overcoming shyness.
- Improving social and relationship skills.
- Overcoming homesickness.
- Being able to set goals- both short term and long term goals.
Who We Work With
Kids Of Gold Inc. works closely with parents, teachers and students and endeavours to maintain a relationship with the children long after they have attended our camps.
Here are some of the things that we see at our camps:
Some kids often won't leave mum/dad after arriving and won't let them out of their sight, or are even too scared to join in the evening program. We have had some great breakthroughs in this area, and have found that, with a bit of perseverance, the children can achieve very worthwhile outcomes. We have even had some go home on the first night, come back next day, and settle into the rest of the camp without difficulty.
On one camp a couple of children became really homesick on the Saturday night. Both lots of parents were contacted, and after talking with the parents and then talking with love and compassion with the kids, both were persuaded to stay. They did so and both thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the camp.
One of them in particular, who came back to the very next camp, took a very active part in that camp's Saturay Night Talent Time, and stunned us with her ability to sing in front of everyone and almost stole the show. We felt very rewarded the for our perseverance at the previous camp!
Another Example...
Two sisters came to a few of the camps, and we soon discovered that from the ethnic background and culture that they were from, girls are not normally encouraged to do anything in a public kind of way. We also discoveed, quite by accident, that they both had lovely singing voices, and that they had both been 'game enough', through the emphasis we had made in the camp, to sing a song to their own buddy groups.
With encouragement, they gained enough confidence to sing to the camp in the Saturday Night Talent Time. When they first sang it was in front of six people in their group, and when the sang the second time, it was in front of 53 people, but then, on the Sunday, one them wanted to sing in front of all the parents as well, but the other was too scared!
Undaunted, she went ahead and sang on her own, in front of 80-90 people, and could not stop saying, with amazement, that this had been a huge achievement for her! Their mum could not believe what she was seeing and hearing, and she kept on thanking us for what we had done for both her girls! In truth we had really only persevered, but it was one of those moments not easily forgotten, and we sensed something pretty amazing had taken place.
Committee of Management
Gary Parson - Public Officer and Committee Member
Jenny Breukel - Treasurer
Charlinda Parsons - President
Stephen Parsons - Secretary
Graham Rhodes - Committee Member
Ronnie Rhodes - Committee Member
