I Survived a Week as a Camp Counselor: An Interview with Myself

     On Monday, after weeks of shadowing field trips and attending extensive trainings and prepping and setting up for camp, I finally started my summer job as a camp counselor. This is my first time working full-time and it has definitely been an adjustment. I was prepared to be tired, but I had no idea just how tired I would be. This first week we had 42 or 43 campers every day which was a lot of kids to manage, but next week we only have 12 campers signed up, so I'm very excited for that break. As for weekends? They've never felt more glorious.

What is the best thing about being a camp counselor?
Leaving at the end of the day. And no, it's not entirely because I get to get away. It's mostly because I feel a sense of having accomplished something and even if the day didn't go perfectly, everyone was alive and well at the end of it and the vast majority of them had a fun time and will now go home and fall asleep in their dinner plates because we wore their little wild butts out.

What's the worst?
Dragging myself out of bed in the morning so tired I don't know how I'll possibly get through the next ten hours. Also, spending half the day trying to get kids to listen and move on to the next activity.

What is the one thing campers do that annoys you the most?
Fighting about who is ahead of who in line. Y'all too old for that.

What is the cutest thing campers do?
Tell stories about the most random things. Out of the blue this one boy started listing all of his favorite fruits in order from 1-7 while he and I were having a conversation about mulberries. Another girl told me about how her dog has a cone on his head and can't look out the window. I also find it ever-so-slightly amusing when the boys start crawling around on the carpet making weird noises. This isn't cute;it's just so weird and makes me remember what it was like to have a 10 year old brother....

What's the hardest part about working with other counselors?
Communication. Sometimes one counselor will give a kid permission to do something that another counselor will yell at the kid for and then the kid will be like "But Miss Katie said I could!" and it just makes everything seem disorganized. In the same vain, maybe only one or two counselors at a time will actually know what's going on and everyone else just has to go with the flow.

What's the best part?
Everyone I work with is there because they genuinely enjoy spending time with kids and they all work super hard and pull their own weight and will back you up if you're having a hard time with the kids.

What would you do differently next week?
Try to love the "bad" kids. This is so so hard because I was never a problem child and always did whatever the person in authority told me to do (with the exception of my parents) so I just can't relate to these kids who CONSTANTLY do whatever they feel like whenever they feel like doing it. Like no honey, you are 8 years old and you're going to do what we say you're going to do when we say you're going to do it. Sorry, it's not a democracy here. But I know that these kids deserve just as much love and (positive) attention as all of the other campers so I want to find a way to see past the negative and love the kids for who they are, challenging or not.

Most common phrases heard by campers?
"When's lunch?" "Can we go to recess now?" "Can I have a bandaid?" "I need an ice pack" "What time is it?" "What are we doing next?" "What are we doing after that?" "When are we going outside?" "When are we going inside?" "Can you help me _________?"

Most common phrases heard by counselors?
"Listen up, guys" "What's wrong, buddy?" "STOP THROWING ROCKS!" "Take a seat" "Who wants to play silent speedball?" (this is the default game we play to get everyone to stop running around being crazy while they wait for their turn to get changed into dry clothes before lunch) "Get in line, guys!" "Does everyone have their water bottle?!" "We're not ______ing until you guys ____!!"

Activity that the kids love and counselors hate?
Tubing. My goodness tubing is a pain in the butt. Morning shift (the shift I work) has to drag these monstrously heavy bins full of deflated tubes from storage, inflate 55 tubes using two electric pumps, take all of the PFDs down, and fit the kids with the PFDs. Afternoon shift has to haul all of the tubes back from the creek up to the nature center, deflate them, hose them off, let them dry, fold them up, pack them back into the bins, and haul the bins back up to storage. During the actual tubing session, all of us have to double time it through the creek, practically jogging to keep up with the campers in tubes while we help them avoid branches and get unstuck from rocks and lead stray tubers back to the group. We all fall multiple times and end the trip with cuts and bruises galore. It's terrible, but the kids LOVE it so it's a little bit worth it.

     Overall it was a good first week and I'm excited to start tomorrow with a much smaller group of kids, a new weekly theme (last week was Creek Explorers and this week is Adventure Games), and much more energy after a relaxing weekend. Fingers crossed that I don't melt...it's supposed to be in the 90s all week.

-SE Wagner