A Slice of Heaven

Club Med Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

By Brad Keywell

The counselors even supervise a nap time from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., playing quiet music in the air-conditioned room in which each child gets his or her own cushioned mat, blanket and pillow. When we were there, the child-to-counselor ratio was just under 4:1. The quality of the counselors (called "G.O.s") was exceptional, with one friendlier than the next and each one very sensitive to the needs of each child. Within minutes of our arrival to the Mini Club Med area, two counselors were actively engaging our daughter, Chloe, to meet other kids in the program and join them in their arts and crafts projects. That afternoon, those same counselors spotted our family swimming in the pool and came over to talk with Chloe and engage with her.

I was truly impressed by the self-empowering nature of nearly all of the Mini Club Med activities. For each age group, the kids were engaged in activities of teamwork and community, in which each child's self-worth was emphasized. The kids did not get lost in a crowd – each one received attention and adulation for their participation. And this was observed in a week when over 450 kids were at the Village (the maximum number of kids is generally 600, but that is only during peak Christmas and Easter weeks).

Extolling the virtues of the Mini Club Med program could take up its own article. Perhaps the most attractive part of the program is that it frees up you, the under-appreciated and over-worked parent, to have your own vacation – a rare treat.

There is a nonstop agenda of activities for both layman and adventurer alike. They include the following:

• Aerobics on the beach (in a specially-built, thatched-room, open-air, padded-floor aerobics room just steps away from the shoreline), with a variety of classe starting each hour on the hour, as well as water aerobics in the pool.


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