Mon Jul 27 07:53 EDT 1998 Weekend Update: What I did at Summer Camp What I Did At Summer Camp I went swimming. I made a CD bucket at wood craft. I walked a lot. I began my inagural year as a camp counselor without any expectations going into the week. I wondered what I might do with sassy or unruly kids but waited to see what the make up of my cabin would be before deciding on what I should do. On Sunday, I met each of the kids at the cabin. They selected their bunks and headed to the lake for the swim test. Finally the cabin was empty except for me and one camper who was playing his Gameboy. "Why don't you head down to the lake? It's free swim until 4:30." "I don't want to." "Is there a problem?" "Yes. I'm angry." "Angry? At what?" "At my parents; I don't want to be here." ("Oh boy," I thought.) "Let's go for a walk." "I don't want to." "That wasn't a request." We talked things over a bit and after two days, I had a clearer picture of the boy's reticence. At dinner that evening, as I sat with 9 boys, the camp nurse came to me with a piece of paper informing me that my cabin had two boys that needed to see her after the breakfast and lunch meals for their ritalin medication. Oh, and two others had medication to be doled out with one possible problem of bedwetting. Still, things were going okay and we even got to sleep around 10:30 after lights out at 10:00. At 12:30 that night, I was abruptly awoken by a loud thud. My first thought was that the lone bunk bed in our cabin had collapsed and killed the kid in the lower bunk. My second thought was a vain hope that luggage had fallen to the floor. When I heard the wimper, I knew one of the campers fell out of the top bunk and my third thought was a hope there wasn't any blood. There was, so my next thought was, "I'm going to be up for several more hours!" I walked the kid to the nurse and was back at the cabin by 2 AM. I fell asleep again after 3 AM. Day 1 was over. The rest of the week was a cake walk by comparison. I had to douse what might potentially have erupted into some fighting because some kids got on each others' nerves by the time the week was over. The ADHD kids bothered some of the less compassionate kids. I had some really good kids in my cabin, too. As for behavior control, I discussed the difference between a bribe and a reward, then told them that I give rewards but I do not give bribes. At strategic times, I tossed them a few Oreos, a Star Crunch, an Oatmeal Creme cookie, and a Nutty Buddy bar. All told, it cost me about $5 to hold the carrot out in front of them. For talent night, I taught the cabin how to sing the alphabet song, which uses the tune that begins, "A you're adorable... B you're so beautiful..." only my version begins, "A you're an antelope... B you're a buffalo..." It was a hit that may spread to all the churches on the district. Other counselors asked if my dad taught it to me. I told them some girls from East Rockaway, New York taught it to me when I was a camper at Camp Taconic. Friday morning, parents came to pick up their kids and I crawled to the finish line, exhausted... mainly because after I put the kids to bed, I'd come out of my cabin and chat with other counselors till midnight. I needed the whole weekend to recuperate and get ready for a very busy week at work. I'll probably do it again. My greatest sacrifice was not my vacation time this year, but the loss of the comfort and companionship of my dear wife! Miranda and Jessica are at camp this week. Then we have four weeks left to our family as we know it, because Miranda heads to college on August 29. I am not prepared for this. Mark _________________________________ __ _____| Mark Metcalfe |_____ __ _________| |__| :| Cadence Design Systems, Inc. | |__| |_________ \ :| |::| :| (978) 446-6451 | |::| |, / \ :| |::| :| metcalfe@cadence.com | |::| |\_0__,/ > :| |::| :|_________________________________| |::| | M < / :|__|::|____:/ \.____|::|__| .|\. \ /_______:/ \::/ \::/ \._______\