This is my second summer working as a day camp counselor. As long as some of the days seem, I can't help but be grateful for the job. Children can teach us "grown-ups" valuable lessons; or maybe I should say re-teach us. They're not afraid to be blunt or brutally honest--they just speak what's on their minds. They are eager to learn new things and have huge hearts.
It's easy to forget what it was like being a kid, but when working with them I think it's important that we bring ourselves back to those times. Literally trying to figure out "how to do life" was like a roller coaster; there were fun parts and terrifying parts. I've learned to be compassionate towards them but strict, so they learn discipline but also respect. Even if some are wildly misbehaved or rude, give each child equal amounts of your attention, and make them feel special. You never know how difficult their lives may be once they return home.
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So what is it actually like working with kids five-days-a-week?
Joyous:
When a twelve-year-old helps to teach a six-year-old how to shoot a basketball, and after multiple shot corrections and what feels like fifty failed attempts, she finally scores a basket and both kids jump in the air simultaneously.
When you get to experience a group of 30 children ages six through 13 all seated "criss cross apple sauce" with their hands overlapped, smiling, laughing, and singing in unison "Down By The Banks".
Exhausting:
When immediately before playing "Down By The Banks", those 30 children were yelling, whirling dervishes poking and blaming each other over nonsense, all trapped inside a single room due to thunderstorms.
Hilarious:
When a nine-year-old girl wearing a green shirt announces, "Everyone can tell that my third-favorite color is green".
When a twelve-year-old confidently stands up during a game of hot-potato and randomly teaches the group how to "whip and naenae".
Disheartening:
When you ask a girl why she shoved her dirty socks in another camper's face and she just stares at you. You ask her to apologize to the camper, and she just stares at you. You ask her to go sit on the steps, and she just stares at you.
When you ask a seven-year-old how their day went, and they say bad, because that morning his dad told him they couldn't see his mom anymore.
Rewarding:
When a camper comes up to you during snack saying they didn't bring one and they're hungry, and the girl sitting nearby promptly reaches into her own full lunch box, and hands a snack to the hungry camper.
When you're out of work for a few days, and you find out from your bestie/coworker that children have been asking where you went. You arrive back to camp and kids walk past you, do a double-take and then exclaim, "You're back!".
Joyous, exhausting, hilarious, disheartening, and rewarding. Camp counselors, babysitters and teachers alike have experienced all of the above and more while working with kids--a job unlike any other.
