Being a camp councilor is…. not what I was expecting. Today was my first day and to say the least it was one of the funnest days I’ve had this month.
For starters I was surprised to find out I’ll being working with 4-7 year olds all week….. I knew I’d be working with them for the morning but I found out after/during my lunch break that I’d also be working/being a councilor for them in the afternoon as well.
Oh my gosh these kids are adorable. So the first group I worked with was in the morning from 9–12. I played with a kid named Andy, he was a little bit anti social but I got him to play so that was nice. I also talked to a girl named Eleanor, she was actually the first kid I interacted with.
When you ask kids at camp if they want to make friends there, I found out that the majority of them are nervous/shy and arnt confident in their friend making abilities. Eleanor and Andy were in that category.
In the first camp I lead one of the games, it’s where I called out a sea creature name and the class would act as that creature. Well….. let me tell you. If you ever play that game….. don’t say crabs or stingrays, or narwhals, other wise the kids will pretend to pinch/sting/stab/tickle and or impale you. One girl named Leah just ended up circling me the majority of the time and pretended the impale me and stuff.
There was a couple kids who were in both camps, one girl who was in both was named Autumn (she is 7). During the second camp she had gotten tired and had layed her head on my thigh and she FELL ASLEEP. There was a point where I audibly heard her snore. Yes my leg and foot did fall asleep. Yes I did move them a little bit while she was trying to sleep. No I did not force her to get off, I did give her opportunity’s to, but the main reason she got off was because her heard the class switching between activities. (We were previously listening to stories with different morals).
Speaking of morals, one girl has said “Be nice to God” as an answer to a question, sadly I can’t remember exactly what question she was answering.
I sat down next to two sisters during our snack break for the first group and oh my goodness this girl nadai was smiling so much at me it was so sweet. I’m not even joking like she looked so content to have my attention and nearness. I had taught her how to play truth or dare and her and her sister Addielyn were so nice. During one of the group games they let me pretend to row a boat with them, Twas fun.
But guys! I haven’t even told you the best part! I met a boy named Leo during the second group and he reminded me soooo much of Kaden. Not just because he was a white blonde boy, but his hobbies and personality too. I had talked to him about his hobbies and he was like “I really like running because I like to see how fast and far I can go….. one time I ran the whole soccer field”. Like come on, that definitely sounds like something kid Kaden would say. Leo also likes legos and told me about some of the things he built. He also told me that his favorite animal is the cheetah and how he can tell the difference between leopards and cheetahs based on their spots.
But what I really liked about Leo that really reminded me of Kaden was when a boy who came over and was talking to me about how he was sad (and he really did look sad) about how he didn’t have a snack, so I told him maybe if he asked Leo he might offer him a piece of popcorn (yes I did check and double check with the kid to make sure there was no allergies and that it was in fact a brand of popcorn he had in his house often) (it was like white cheddar with pirates all over the bag idk not the point). And Leo did in fact give him one, he looked at me and then at the boy and gave him a handful, and they talked a tiny bit and then when the boy was still hungry Leo noticed and did give him more, and actually what I thought was really Kaden like was when the Leo looked at the boy and then at his popcorn bag and told him you can have the rest and he gave him his half full popcorn bag. When I tell you this boy got so happy….Like…..his was HAPPY, and I just really appreciated how mature Leo seemed. Leo is seven by the way, and I think the boy (I just now remembered his name, it was Holt) was 4 or 5…..
Holt was a bit antisocial, also it was really loud so I did understand his perspective of wanting to be separate from the group. A councilor earlier actually had went and talked to him alone for a good couple minutes but I could tell the boy was still distant and the noise was a bit much. So I had went over to him and at this time the group was playing a game where the adults and kids decide together what type of creature or situation they would pretend to be in. So I walked over and talked a tiny bit with him to see if he wanted to join the game, he didn’t, but then I heard the game switch situations to being babies…. So guess what I did. Yeah that’s right, I pretended to be a baby and that I wanted a banana or water or shoes and obviously that Holt was my dad. And guess what, he cracked up ! I got him smiling and laughing in no time. But being a kid gets boring after a while and after a couple minutes it did end up switching situations to something like princesses but I had the bright idea to pretend to be a zombie. I figured I could get him to move around and at least be around the other kids even if it wasn’t the same make belive. And oh my gosh, can that boy run. It was quite fun actually, having to walk around all the other kids pretending to be something else while I slowly continued my zombie chase. I think that broke the ice with him because actually I had told my coworker to make everyone’s situation into a zombie and she did and it got him more social with the other kids and it got him playing with not just me but also with other boys.
Yeah he was still a bit antisocial or antsy afterwards but I got him to smile and have fun, and that’s really what matters the most (besides their safety of course).
Also oh my goodness this boy named Brad(something something can’t remember his full first name) he was such a gentle man. No matter what I asked him he always responded so proper with a phrase like “of course I will”, and then he would immediately do whatever he was asked to do. Like… bravo to his parents, he is an awesomely mannered kid.
There was also this poor girl named Mia she had cut her finger a tiny bit (almost like a paper cut not bad at all) so I took her to the bathroom and washed it off with water and dabbed at it with a wet paper towel. But this girl was determined to use soap and water, but the soap machine wasn’t working for her so I did it and she just took the soap off my hands (this happened with the soap a couple times with other girls). But her hands were sooo small when she held mine. Like I have small hands anyways but hers were adorably small.
Anyways there was also this girl and she was soooo pretty, she had red bows in her hair and a red dress. Her name was Bella and I complimented her earrings and she was so proud to tell me that they were real gold. They were very pretty, and they did look real. Her sister was 4 and ohhhh my gosh she was even cuter, like her smile aaaaaah!
A girl was interested in my moles/birthmarks and I tried explaining it to her but she couldn’t pronounce it right and she got really confused when it said it was hereditary. So I had to explain that but then she got confused as to how there are different sized ones and yeah… she also later asked me why I had glasses and she was a little shocked/amused when I told her I could still see her without my glasses.
Also I wore my packman shirt and I actually got to connect with a couple boys because of it.
One boy was like “I like Pac-Man,” and I was like “well I like Mrs. Pac-Man more.” And that got us on a tangent.
Another boy later on started pointing at my shirt and explaining what characters he liked and how his friend had beaten the game without eating any special dots.
One of the boys was also concerned because 3 of the blue ghosts are at the bottom of my shirt but one of them is at the top and yeah, he was invested in why it was designed that way.
Oh last part lol, I get to choreograph a section of one of the songs for the week. ALSO, we sang and did coreo for “singing in the rain” and oh my goodness the kids were soooooo into it. They loved it when we finally let them dance with the umbrellas
Overall it was a really good first day, I really enjoyed it regardless of the loudness and constant correction of actions. I’m glad I got put into the group with the younger kids. My respect for parents has went up though to say the least. The kids are great but to deal with sooo many questions and actions all day everyday…… that’s a lot. I will say that the girls did behave better overall than the boys, but there was still boys who acted better than the girls, so it really does differ depending on the kid and their parenting styles they grew up with.
But if you ever bring ur kid to a theater camp, please bring them water, and a snack. Trust me your kids will get soooo thirsty and after a while everyone will have a break and what’s better than a snack break with friends? As a kid, almost nothing.
(Written around midnight)
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