Hello everyone! I officially have one week left of summer, and I am quite disappointed by how fast time has flown by. It doesn’t feel like I’ve been on break for nearly four months now! Nonetheless, I am very excited to get back to school and see my friends. This will be my first year completing a co-op term (which is in the winter) and I can’t wait to see what job I get! Applications and interviews began as early as mid-September, so I’ll have an update about that soon.
For today, I would like to reflect on my experience this summer as a camp counsellor. Quite honestly, I never would have thought that I’d have this job. I was always the kid who went to camp. I ended up applying for several different camps this summer, and this is the one I felt I was most compatible with.
I was so lucky to have such an amazing team. Seriously, all of the other counsellors were awesome. There was always something new going on at camp, too, and this job really taught me to think on my feet and be creative.
Although I am still working at the camp (this is my last full week!) I’ve been able to come up with ten lessons I learned as a camp counsellor. These lessons will no-doubt benefit me in the future, not only during my co-op terms but also in my everyday life. I want to share these lessons with you to perhaps inspire you to become a counsellor next summer, and to understand that counselling is much more than just playing games and singing songs all day.
With that, let’s get on to the post!
1. You need to be adaptable.
When working with kids, you need to be able to think on your toes and act quickly. Maybe you had an activity planned at the turf that you thought the kids would love; turns out they’d much rather kick soccer balls around and run into the walls (yes, some of them enjoy doing that). Or maybe you’re making a craft that worked well for the senior kids, but it’s just too confusing for the juniors who can’t even hold a pair of safety scissors properly. You need to always have a backup plan, and even better, a backup to your backup plan. You need to read the situation, act accordingly and adjust the activity so everyone can enjoy it equally.
2. Patience is key.
If there is one thing that I think this job really tested this summer, it was my patience and tolerance. Kids are great, but they just. Don’t. Listen. You have to constantly tell them not to do something, only to have them do it while they’re staring right at you defiantly, knowing that you don’t want them to do it. Sometimes you have to put up with five kids yelling in your ears at once about the fight that happened between Bob and Billy. Sometimes you have to walk a bit slower because the youngest campers aren’t even half your height and climbing up three floors is like climbing up a mountain to them.
There were definitely times that I felt my patience running very thin, but I think my ability to tolerate stress and be patient has grown tremendously this summer. At the beginning of the summer I was surprised by how much the kids expected from me. I would get frustrated when they wouldn’t listen, or screamed at me about how Paul stole Gary’s chair. By the end of summer I could take all of this yelling and fighting and other stimulations without even flinching. Sometimes another counsellor and I would make eye contact while we were both being yelled at, a silent communication that we both get it. So what if Barry cried because he got apple juice instead of orange juice with his pizza? They’re kids. We shouldn’t be mad at them for the little things. They react differently than us big humans, and they don’t always understand the consequences of their actions.
3. Having an imagination is an amazing thing.
One of my favourite things about my job was hearing the kids’ crazy stories. As an adult, I often times find myself weighed down by the pressures of life and the harshness of reality. The amazing thing about children is that they still have this purity to them, where they can allow their imagination to run wild and do not worry about the things happening in the world around them. Spending time around them let me see the world through their eyes, a lighter, happier perspective that I used to have when I was their age.
I loved it when the campers would tell a story that was absolutely positively true, even though you know that’s hardly the case. For instance, one camper told me a story about something that happened to them when they were eight—but they’re only four. It’s so fun to tell your own stories, too! To get the kids to stop sticking their heads into these vents in the outdoor play area, the counsellors would tell them that an alien monster was sleeping inside and every time they yell into it or poke their heads in, the monster will wake up and try to eat them. They believed us, alright, but for some reason they said they wanted to be eaten by the alien and would continue to scream into the vents. Oh, kids…
4. If you need help, don’t be the hero. Ask for help.
When starting at a new job where there are many senior counsellors, it can be intimidating to not know how everything is supposed to run. There are norms that everyone is accustomed to that you don’t want to mess up. You also don’t want to ask because you think that the others will look at you like you’re a fool that shouldn’t be asking simple questions. Instead of asking for the help you need, you keep your mouth shut and try figuring things out yourself — only to make the situation worse. Asking for help in the first place is the only way to avoid the embarrassment that will ensue if you create an even bigger problem, and it shows that you are actually wishing to learn how to complete your responsibilities properly.
On the first day of camp, I started at 7:45am at Express Drop-Off. Parents can drop their kids off downstairs and save the time and effort of signing them in upstairs (camp is on the third floor). I was so nervous to do this because I’d only watched the training videos and never got a chance to practice beforehand. I was scheduled to work with one of the senior counsellors, and when I walked into camp that morning there were only senior counsellors and the supervisor. I was very nervous because I was the newbie in the group and wasn’t sure what to do, so I stood there awkwardly for a few minutes until my Express partner said it was time to head downstairs. When we got down there, I finally worked up the nerve to ask my questions. I realized that I had nothing to be afraid of, and that the senior counsellors are all super friendly and welcoming to the new staff. They didn’t want us to feel isolated from the group and were so helpful at answering all of our questions throughout the summer. On the first day I told my Express partner that I was nervous to ask for help, and they said that they didn’t want any of the new counsellors to feel that way. Now we’re a big family, and I have the title of “Express Queen” because I do Express Drop-Off every single morning, training whoever my partner is. If I had been afraid to ask for help during the summer, things would not have gone nearly as smoothly, and we all wouldn’t be as close as we are now.
5. Don’t bring your work stress home.
In any sort of job where you are working with people, you are bound to come across an irate customer. I had several occasions where angry parents condemned me or my teammates over something that was out of our control. I would feel bad that I couldn’t help them, yet hurt because the anger was often misplaced. Sometimes a parent would be having a bad day and take it out on us. This is something we all do as humans from time to time, which I totally understand, but that doesn’t make it okay. In addition, there were several situations during the summer that left me shaken when I got home. I can’t go into details, but some campers could have been seriously hurt if I had not intervened. These moments are when I truly realize that I am responsible for the lives of the children at these camps, and anything could happen to them at any moment.
Some nights I would come home from work very frustrated with how I was treated or what had happened to others at camp. Being the empath that I am, even if a camper is being bullied I take on the stress that the victim feels. I realized quickly that I needed to leave my work stress at camp for my own sanity. Dwelling on the stressful moments when I was at home would impact how I functioned in other areas of life, impede on my sleep cycle and just create unnecessary anxiety. I had to establish a rule with myself: what happens at camp stays at camp. This helped me relax once I clocked out and come to work refreshed the next day.
6. Camp counsellors are some of the hardest workers out there.
A parent once said to me when picking up their child, “Hey, you just take care of my kid during the day. Try being a parent and having them for the rest of the day.” I’m not saying that parenting isn’t hard. I applaud parents for all they do. However, I feel that this comment makes us counsellors seem like we’re just glorified babysitters. Counsellors do so much. We watch over up to 110 kids for ten to eleven hours every day. From planning activities, to watching the kids in the pool, to making sure our campers are safe while on trips, counselling is a lot of work. In addition, the campers are not allowed to have any electronic devices or trading cards at camp, and today’s kids are so attached to these items that the campers have a difficult time sitting still without them. This makes it extra challenging to keep the kids’ attention. Some counsellors work open to close, 6:30am to 6:30pm. Some counsellors do a full day shift at camp and then go to their next job right after. Needless to say, I have respect for camp counsellors all over the world. My coworkers are definitely some of the hardest workers I know.
7. Repetition, repetition, repetition.
At the camp, we work with kids as young as four. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of patience (like I said before) and repetition to get a point across to these kids. Especially when youngsters are in a group with their friends, their attention spans are even shorter, so repetition is key. Whether you’re learning to ride a bike, using the quadratic formula for the first time, or baking your first ever cake, you don’t magically succeed on the first try (unless you’re a super human or genius…). Same goes with teaching kids how to behave at camp. Sometimes it takes one day to teach them how to listen. Sometimes it takes the entire week. You can’t be angry with campers for not complying to what you say the first time; they’re just kids after all. Sometimes they won’t ever get it, and that’s okay. There’s no harm in repeating what you’ve said before. After a while, the campers would get annoyed from hearing the same thing over and over anyway, and would eventually listen just so they wouldn’t have to hear it again.
8. The kids look up to you as a role model.
To young children, the counsellors are like wise, old superheroes. They want to hear all about your life, what you do, what you’re good at. You watch over them from 7am to 6pm every day, and are their leader. They’ll mimic your actions, your sayings, all to be like their cool, grown-up counsellors. They want to help you hand out lanyards for the other counsellors, or cut off wristbands at the end of the day, or carry your binder and backpack. Although the job can be tiring, seeing how the campers want to be just like you is one of the things that motivates me to go to work every single day.
9. Your words and interactions with the kids can change their lives.
Since the kids look up to you and start to mimic you, what you say and do can really change their lives. Have you ever had a bad day, and then you pass a stranger on the street who smiles and says hello to you, and you say hello and smile back, and feel instantly a bit better? Our interactions with the campers are like that. The little things we do, from braiding their hair, to holding their hand while walking through the gym, to letting them sit on our lap during opening circle really makes a difference.
I’ve seen kids sitting alone at lunch because they were too shy to interact with the other campers. I would sit down with the kids and eat my lunch with them, and they would instantly open up and start talking to me. Other campers would then come and sit down with us. The shy camper would interact with the others and laugh along with them, acting nothing like the quiet camper they had just been. I’ve also had one-on-one talks with campers that were crying because they were so self conscious over years of bullying. I’ve told them that the bullies are just trying to be mean, that nothing they say is true. I’ve told them about my personal struggles and how I came out so much stronger from experiencing them. I told them that I think that they are amazing, and that any time they feel down about them selves to remember that their counsellor thinks they’re a true leader that will change the world. The look in the child’s eyes when you say these things to them, or sit with them when they’re alone, or make them your special helper, is a look of admiration and hope. Many of the small things that happen to kids resonate with them their whole lives; I remember many negative things said about me when I was younger, and that was over ten years ago. I don’t think I’ll ever forget these things. I wish that my younger self had a friend or older peer to look up to, who told them that the bullies were wrong and that they were amazing. I want to prevent any of these kids from feeling bad about who they are, just because of what others think or say. I want to ensure that these kids have the best camp experience possible, and leave at the end of the week with their heart full. They’re too young to be dealing with some of the issues they tell me about, and it breaks my heart to see how it weighs them down in life. They deserve to have these years as happy, free souls. Every little action I can do as their role model makes a difference in their lives.
10. These kids are our future.
What we teach the children now will inspire them to act in their future. I’ve told some of the kids about what I do in school, how I pick up litter and work to protect the environment, and they’ve said “I want to do that! I want to protect the environment!” We’ve had police officers, fire fighters, scientists and even Sam from PickWaste come in to chat with and inspire the kids. They see these successful individuals and ideas start to blossom inside their heads, their imagination running wild with all of the potential things they can achieve as they grow up. We teach the campers that they are capable of doing anything they set their heart to, and with a lot of hard work and determination they can achieve their goals. It’s important that the campers grow up with a mindset of optimism, otherwise they’ll be too discouraged to make a change. Inspiring them now will start them on the track of being our future leaders. Maybe one of them will be the prime minister, or the CEO of Canada’s greenest business, or a pop star, or a police officer, or anything else that will better our future. I know that some of these kids will make a big change in our world, and I am so excited to see what they do. I will do whatever I can to encourage them to achieve their dreams.
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This summer has been more of a learning experience for me than anything else. I’ve worked three jobs (often two in the same day) and learned something different from each of them. Though an exhausting break, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t have met so many great people or learned so many new things.
I hope that you enjoyed this post, and I will see you next week!
Until next time!