ATTENTION: MY MOM BOUGHT ME A BABY GROOT BOP IT!!!

When everybody leaves the summer camp before you

Me, roaming around the dorm rooms and cafeteria alone:

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me

That I live and you are gone.

There's a grief that can't be spoken. There's a pain goes on and ooon-

All my camp friends on facetime: you fucking drama queen we're just in the fucking airport we're not even dead-

Me: Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me what your sacrifice was for

Empty chairs at empty tables

Where my friends will sing no moreeee.

the most relatable camp staff post ever...

“That’s not possible, there’s only 42 hours in a day,”

Camper in Response to another camper saying “I haven’t slept in 48 hours!”

Or worse, going to Thriftway covered in filth with people from camp

Being judged at Walmart for being covered in dirt with fellow counselors

We all know Scratch is the best boy 😁 (sorry Gale)

Being a girl is: wanting to go to bed early but deciding to just get on tumblr/wattpad/Ao3 for a little bit and then end up finding a fic series that you really like and read until well past your usual bedtime then keeping on because it’s already past your bedtime. Then being mad when you wake up in the morning because you overslept your timer.

Mother… Father… I’m leaving the Underdark to explore. I can’t be tied down to Lolth forever. *proceeds to be abducted by mindflayers, meet a group of weirdos, and fall in love with a vampire twink who gives good d*

It is important for campers to trust their staff.

9 year-old: “Well, it looks like lemonade and it tastes like lemonade, but the label says it’s fruit punch, so it must be fruit punch.”

(It was lemonade.)

Children are THE most important work

I Bring a Small Library to Camp

One of the many reasons people at camp call me “Mom” is because I love reading to my campers at bedtime or during down time when asked. I’ve been called “entertaining” by my fifth grade campers because I “do voices” and read more like I’m narrating a play and all of its parts. Part of the reason I do this is because, well, I enjoy it. They may not seem too interested in reading when you interact with them, but that’s usually because it’s during the day and there are so many other things to do. But when given the option to stay up a bit later, they will want to be read to; and many kids (and even teens) really do like listening to someone else read. For younger kids it may be something their guardians do at home; for the older ones it may remind them of the comforting reading time they had as a young child. Children who are read to on a usual basis (five or more times per week) often use more literary language when asked to speak or write.¹ While working with children, I have noticed that many kids show signs of stage fright or a feeling of discomfort when doing things as simple as introducing themselves to a group. I like to use reading to my campers as a way to show them that speaking up and being crazy when you talk is perfectly okay and even encouraged.

I find it’s often difficult to get my campers to interact (sometimes appropriately) at meal times. While being the icebreaker of the group can work, at breakfast I found my campers often spoke about the book I read the night before. That’s the last thing they remember from the previous day and it’s the first thing they’ll talk about the next morning (unless they’ve already been distracted by gaga ball). When we read to campers or children in general, they’ll unintentionally talk about the story, ask open-ended questions, question word definitions, and point out conflict and resolution. This promotes an increase in their language development and comprehension of stories– all of which lead to better reading skills.²

I usually bring a small collection of paperback books to camp with me and have a library in my cabin for down time or if they would like to read before bed. The big hits this past summer were J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Roald Dahl’s Matilda.

Keeping in mind that my campers are usually in the 3rd-6th grade (8-12 years old) age range, here are some books I keep in my little library:

Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s by J.K. Rowling

Lions at Lunchtime by Mary Pope Osborne

The Talking T. Rex by Ron Roy

Midnight on the Moon by Mary Pope Osborne

The Lucky Lottery by Ron Roy

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

The Canary Caper by Ron Roy

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Faith and the Electric Dogs by Patrick Jennings

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Fergus Crane by Paul Stewart

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Now just remember, if that character yelled- you should be using above an inside voice. If that character is described as having an accent- try your hardest to have one. The more engaged you are in the book, the more engaged they will be. Read to your campers. They will love it and you will have control over bedtime.

¹Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. New York: Harper Perennial.

²Berk, L. E. (2009). Child Development (8th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.