exhaustion
this last week drained me.
the cabin of girls i had were overall kind and easy to work with. each of them had typical camp problems. ones which are expected with eight girls living together, thus they were problems i could handle.
but i had one girl who was the most impossible person i have ever attempted to work with. i spent most of my time arguing over ridiculous things with her and trying to get her to do simple things like join the group in a game, walk up a hill or get into bed. i don't understand how children can develop that way or see behavior like that as attention, but it is possible. and there are children in the world who will do it. i was in charge of one of those rare random children. six days. wow. intense stuff.
the worst part was is i barely got to know the other campers in my charge. all my energy was squeezed into one camper. i had very little left for the others. i hated that. i didn't want the other girls to recieve that sort of experience. one of my other campers, the moment her mom came to pick her up, began to tell stories of the difficult camper. the encounters with the difficult camper was what she most clearly remembered and thought of to tell her mom. not, i had fun swimming, or i made this or that friend. but we had a difficult camper in our cabin and here is what she did. GRRR. that's an effect i never wanted, nor imagined.
this morning i felt completely at the end of my rope, counting the seconds down til 3pm. then i checked my mailbox. and life was good. amazing how a combonation of a boy and mail at camp can do that to you....sigh. week over. new batch in tomorrow.
bring it
the cabin of girls i had were overall kind and easy to work with. each of them had typical camp problems. ones which are expected with eight girls living together, thus they were problems i could handle.
but i had one girl who was the most impossible person i have ever attempted to work with. i spent most of my time arguing over ridiculous things with her and trying to get her to do simple things like join the group in a game, walk up a hill or get into bed. i don't understand how children can develop that way or see behavior like that as attention, but it is possible. and there are children in the world who will do it. i was in charge of one of those rare random children. six days. wow. intense stuff.
the worst part was is i barely got to know the other campers in my charge. all my energy was squeezed into one camper. i had very little left for the others. i hated that. i didn't want the other girls to recieve that sort of experience. one of my other campers, the moment her mom came to pick her up, began to tell stories of the difficult camper. the encounters with the difficult camper was what she most clearly remembered and thought of to tell her mom. not, i had fun swimming, or i made this or that friend. but we had a difficult camper in our cabin and here is what she did. GRRR. that's an effect i never wanted, nor imagined.
this morning i felt completely at the end of my rope, counting the seconds down til 3pm. then i checked my mailbox. and life was good. amazing how a combonation of a boy and mail at camp can do that to you....sigh. week over. new batch in tomorrow.
bring it