#camp asks

Hi friend, that's awesome! I totally understand not enjoying school and really wish I'd taken a gap year at several points.

My story is that I grew up in Girl Scouts and did a lot with it. I moved for college but worked at my childhood day camp for two summers. I also ran events for my local council while I was in college as part of a student group. Then, in winter 2014-15, I realized I wasn't happy in my path and applied for a job as a curriculum writer. Then I applied for summer camp and became the CIT (counselors in training) director. The next summer I was the director (long story) and then did two summers as assistant director while I was in grad school.

When I graduated, my current job became available. I applied and was hired. I've been in this position ever since. I run events, support parents and volunteers, work with the community, and more. The blog encompasses both camp stuff and my work stuff (as well as some random stuff from my life).

I have tons of tips, and they're in a variety of tags. One is my tips and tricks tag, which I've included on this one. Camp asks is another one, because those are all the questions that people have asked over the years. Some top tips are:

Take care of yourself. You can't pour from an empty cup.

You will get better the longer you do something, including being a camp staff. Your first year won't be perfect, but do your best.

Kids come first when you're on duty. Like, don't neglect your basic needs, but also you are responsible for them and need to act like it.

Every kid is different and has something they bring to the group. It's your job to bring that out.

Hi friend,

I've think you have some options. One is that you can go ahead and apply, with the thinking being that you can take a chance on yourself and hope that they've seen it too. Another is that you can not apply and just move on from camp. A third is that you apply to a different camp where you have a clean slate and you're only judged on your resume/application and references (pick them wisely).

A final option, which is probably the one I'd recommend in your case, is to reach out to the camp director and discuss their recommendation. Express how much you want to work at camp, and what you're willing to do to get there. Ask for their advice in applying again. Then ask for their recommendation. Camp is a job, yes, but if you've grown up there it's different than walking into Walmart and applying, where you would never do this.

If you go this route, be prepared that it will take a lot of courage to lay yourself out like this, to be vulnerable with someone who could well be your boss. It also depends on your relationship with the camp director. Earlier this summer, it sounded like they were willing to work with you. This is also a risk, because it's not typical for staff to ask for advice from the person hiring, although it's usually different with CITs.

Before you make any decision though, do a little soul searching. Is camp really going to be the best environment for you? Camp isn't for everybody, disabled or not. You know what camp is like, you know what you're capable of, you know what your strengths and weaknesses in that environment are. You can even do a pro-con list or a strengths-weaknesses list to see how it all adds up, if you're into that.

Hi friend,

First, let me say, as an autistic person, I am maybe not the best to be giving social advice. What I can speak to is the camp environment, so here's my suggestions.

It is ok to not connect with them prior to camp. Participate in conversation on whatever medium you're using, but don't try to force it.

When you get to camp, it is ok to start with 1-2 people that you know better and work your way out in socializing. Getting to know just one person well will be super helpful.

Just like with making friends and socializing in the "real world," you should practice active listening and ask open ended questions. However, you should only start more in depth conversations when it's an appropriate time. Appropriate times: time off (not resting or trying to rest), meals during training (if you have that)/away from campers, downtime at training. Not appropriate times: during training sessions, with campers, the exception to that being when you're doing get to know you games with campers.

I think that it's important to still be yourself. If you try to force yourself into a box, you'll falter or stumble at some point, and it's hard to recover after half truths and lying.

As much as it sucks and hurts, it is ok if you don't make a quality connection with your fellow JCs. It sounds like you're young enough that a couple of years makes a huge difference in life stage and maturity. Sometimes that's just hard to overcome. Try, of course, but be gentle with yourself if it doesn't work out.

It's hard for me to give more specifics without knowing about your JC program, as it sounds different than ours.

While sad, sometimes going home really is the best thing for a camper. There's a space at camp for every child, but not at every camp and not at every time. She can get older and try again, and that's ok. You did your best and that is enough.

For homesickness, I actually have a whole tag of homesickness stories, tips, and tricks. This is my masterpost and then there's more in the tag. The tips and tricks from that post are:

Just as there are lots of different ways [to be homesick] to deal with homesickness. And each camper is different, so you may have to try multiple approaches.

Let them talk. Just letting a child say what’s on their mind, uninterrupted, is a great way to cure many problems. It works pretty well for upset adults too.

Camp appropriate hugs, if they want one.

Writing. Maybe it’s journaling, maybe it’s writing a letter home.

Become a master of distraction. A lot of kids could use a distraction from their homesickness. Doing activities as you are able to is a great way to engage and distract kids. Ideas might be friendship bracelets, crafts, simple science experiments, or a game.

Look out for them. Check in with them in a way that doesn’t make them feel like they’re being singled out. 

Focus on the positive. Ask them to reflect on their favorite parts of camp so far.

Focus on the future. Tell them all about the cool and fun things that you’re going to do that week (or however long) at camp.

Ask your director/ACD to call the parents and ask if they have any suggestions. Also ask your director/ACD/supervisor/people with more experience than you for suggestions when you’ve run out of things to try.

A couple of other notes:

With writing, focus on positives. And if you say you'll mail it/email it, you actually have to - don't lie about it.

Actually focus on the positive with everything. It's all about what exciting things they get to do tomorrow, the friends they'll make, the fun they'll have.

Sometimes it is ok to let the kids call home when they are truly struggling. It serves a couple of purposes: one it's a pep talk and two it gives the parent the opportunity to make an informed decision about their camper staying at camp. This should be a later intervention, when other things haven't worked.

Tap into the wisdom of older staffers and admin staff. Also tap into them when you need to tap out, because we all get overwhelmed by emotions sometimes.

Make sure that you dealing with homesickness, or the camper's homesickness itself, isn't negatively effecting other campers. This might mean appropriate separation from the group (following your camp's staff:camper ratio) until they calm down, so that they don't "infect" the other campers.

Here is a collection of answers from the crowd of forgotten items and things we may overlook:

tootbender replied

If there’s one thing you shouldn’t “skimp” on its shoes! You’ll be on your feet so much you’ll be so grateful to be in something that supports you. My camp is also very dusty so I always bring baby wipes so I can wipe my feet/legs before getting into my sleeping bag. 💜

chocolate-smash replied

i went through so many pens and sharpies working at camp, theyre so useful and so easy to forget sometimes 

campfire-chats reblogged

A lamp! The camp I worked at didn’t have electricity in the cabin I lived in. I was aware of that and it just never occurred to me that it would be dark in there at night.

Gold bond is a personal favorite for shoes and feet.

Also personally I would make a little sick kit, things you personally enjoy when you are under the weather. There has never been a summer I worked at camp where I didn’t end up with a cold, kids are germ factories. Sure they might have the basics but sometimes you want what you like.

ddienw reblogged

Small, silly things to share/gift and Be Seen In. Sharpies and pens.

queenmydishesplease reblogged

Crafts for you to do that aren't camp related! It's nice to have something to do that's not a friendship bracelet or a lanyard.

Also I recommend an unimportant small stuffed animal and/or blanket, it helps to calm kids down. I also like having cheap fidget toys (I use the tiny slinkies you can get for like 8 for a dollar at Walmart) for the same reason.

A less important thing, but still nice to have is extra silverware in your mess kit! It's great for serving and if kids forget certain silverware. At least at my camp, we don't have a lot of extra silverware.

I've talked about this with @ddienw, but the current troop model isn't necessarily the model that will propel us forward. I personally think that an answer (partly) is going to be staff-led troops, which a lot of councils actually have already. GSUSA pushed out "start-up troops" in 2021 which were staff led and a lot of outreach troops in different councils are led by staff (think part time/Americorps staff), plus many councils run series programs or virtual troops that essentially or actually are troops.

But yeah, especially with STEM, where it's got so many facets and differing levels of comfort. Crafts? Fairly easy to get up to speed on, especially for the littles, you don't have to be good at it. Cookies? Yeah, anyone can do that (not everyone wants to, but everyone can). But STEM is one of those where you can get out of your depth fast, even if you have some STEM background, and especially when you have curious kiddos. We actually have an astronomy "club" that functions similar to a troop, but is actually a series program.

Plus staff just have a different bandwidth to accomplish things like organizing field trips or guest speakers or managing funding. Not to say troop leaders can't do that, they're amazing, but also staff could be a viable option. For a STEM troop you could hire STEM students or something, have them supervised by a FT staff. The possibilities are endless.

I will say though, staff bandwidth wise, funders need to get comfortable funding salaries and not just supplies if we're moving to this model. Staffing is a real expense that is just not highly funded in a lot of cases because it's "overhead." Like, that's what cookies funds, the staff salaries. But if we could just get funders to cover staff salaries, we could go so far.