Monday report
Dear ch4rm,
Picking the kids up from the first day of a week-long afternoon soccer camp, the first thing I noticed is they were BEAT. Tired and red-faced and dirty beyond belief. Walking slow and with a slump, they shuffled to the car... and Paris didn't stop to hug me, which just doesn't happen. Cai had been crying - I saw him on the field with his coach - but he likes to talk about things in his own time (and then he likes no not STOP talking, but that's another story) so I left him alone. Maddie was snarling sub-vocally, almost.
I could see they had HAD IT so I pulled the 'ol "Let's go get chocolate shakes!" which had a tiny effect - still, Paris wasn't talking, Cai was tearing up sometimes and Maddie was downright cranky. After 15 minutes of me chattering about funny things and some tasty shakes later, everyone was cooling off and I got some stories.
The soccer camp is mostly practicing soccer (read: RUNNING FOR 3 HOURS) and there are kids from 7-14; Paris is the tallest and Cai is the smallest. I gather there are 1-3 little boys about 8 yrs old who are terrors - bossy, name calling, telling people they 'suck'. Cai was crying because he was SO HUNGRY, he was tired, he didn't know what he was doing and he was told he sucked and every bad thing was his fault one too many times. Paris says the kids even fussed at HIM, they were so mean. I only saw two youngish high-school girls on the field when I was there and that's pretty impossible to keep order with that many kids, so I've called and volunteered to help out on the field. I have no idea what I'll do with Syd, but I'm sure that I don't want a few bad apples to spoil everyone else's fun. Also, 8 year olds swearing with grown-up words is Not. Acceptable.
I made it clear to the kids that they have no choice but to play this out for the week the soccer camp runs, no discussions, so the arguments have ceased and they're resigning themselves to it... which is kind of pathetic, really, but necessary. They aren't too cranky right now but I'm keeping them busy with fun things so they don't let their tiredness get away from them.
They're all very sore. Our big plans for the night include popcorn and I'm going out to get Howl's Moving Castle and the rest of the night is nothing else but cuddling. They are good kids and they like to be happy and have fun - I hope tomorrow is more fun for them.
Wish us luck,
-S
Picking the kids up from the first day of a week-long afternoon soccer camp, the first thing I noticed is they were BEAT. Tired and red-faced and dirty beyond belief. Walking slow and with a slump, they shuffled to the car... and Paris didn't stop to hug me, which just doesn't happen. Cai had been crying - I saw him on the field with his coach - but he likes to talk about things in his own time (and then he likes no not STOP talking, but that's another story) so I left him alone. Maddie was snarling sub-vocally, almost.
I could see they had HAD IT so I pulled the 'ol "Let's go get chocolate shakes!" which had a tiny effect - still, Paris wasn't talking, Cai was tearing up sometimes and Maddie was downright cranky. After 15 minutes of me chattering about funny things and some tasty shakes later, everyone was cooling off and I got some stories.
The soccer camp is mostly practicing soccer (read: RUNNING FOR 3 HOURS) and there are kids from 7-14; Paris is the tallest and Cai is the smallest. I gather there are 1-3 little boys about 8 yrs old who are terrors - bossy, name calling, telling people they 'suck'. Cai was crying because he was SO HUNGRY, he was tired, he didn't know what he was doing and he was told he sucked and every bad thing was his fault one too many times. Paris says the kids even fussed at HIM, they were so mean. I only saw two youngish high-school girls on the field when I was there and that's pretty impossible to keep order with that many kids, so I've called and volunteered to help out on the field. I have no idea what I'll do with Syd, but I'm sure that I don't want a few bad apples to spoil everyone else's fun. Also, 8 year olds swearing with grown-up words is Not. Acceptable.
I made it clear to the kids that they have no choice but to play this out for the week the soccer camp runs, no discussions, so the arguments have ceased and they're resigning themselves to it... which is kind of pathetic, really, but necessary. They aren't too cranky right now but I'm keeping them busy with fun things so they don't let their tiredness get away from them.
They're all very sore. Our big plans for the night include popcorn and I'm going out to get Howl's Moving Castle and the rest of the night is nothing else but cuddling. They are good kids and they like to be happy and have fun - I hope tomorrow is more fun for them.
Wish us luck,
-S