At our first day of Man Cave, I heard a wonderful tale. Before I go further, let me say that Man Cave (and its close cousin Friendship Games) are our daily efforts to spend time getting to know every cabin. I will describe more about the history of Man Cave/Friendship Games in soon-to-be-written blog.
On to the story.
Finding the Inner Batman
We have a camper who is here in for his third summer. Frankly, he was very late to sign up this year (luckily, he is male and so we had a some openings on the boys' side) and we wondered why he did not sign up earlier with his sibling.
Of course, it is difficult to fathom the mind of elementary school boys. In fact, whatever reason a child gives for why he or she is reluctant to come back to camp is (in my extensive experience) not the real reason. A camper that says that the activities were boring often turns out to be risk averse and shy about attempting new activities dislike a particular cabinmate. Another camper that says he had a mean counselor might have wet his bed the previous summer and attempted to deflect his embarrassment (incredibly common, by the way). We've seen that awkward age with our own children. They've lost the openness of early childhood and become self-conscious. They're acutely aware of their own perceived inadequacies and hide this from the people with whom they previously shared everything.
In the case of this camper, I think his reluctance stemmed from a fear of deep water. We had known he had this fear in the previous summers. We would either allow him to stay in the shallow areas or wear a life jacket. I suspect that as he got older, the fear remained, but his desire to wear a life jacket diminished, thus creating a potentially embarrassing situation.
Nevertheless, he did decide to return and that is where our story takes us.
Two days ago, he was at Instructional Swim (as the sign at the swim bay reminds us - "you can't find a better sport to save your life") and he swam with a kickboard to the deep end of the pool escorted by two counselors.
At the end of the pool, they talked about him swimming back without the kickboard, but still with the escort.
This was a long discussion. The best estimate is that the three people (the boy, and the counselors) hung on the end of the pool for about 15 minutes. They saw that he wanted to try. They also saw his fear.
Inspiration strikes at the oddest times. It paid a visit to the counselors then.
They asked the boy about his favorite heroes.
"I love Batman."
"Do you know the story of Batman's origin?"
"I think so, but please tell me."
"Before he was Batman, Bruce Wayne had a crippling fear of bats. Once he decided to fight crime, he knew that he had to conquer his fear before he could conquer the bad guys. He chose to become a bat - to face his fears. When he did this, he became strong and brave."
After a moment of thought, he released himself from the end of the pool and swam back.
He then swam two more full laps.
He might not have been fighting crime, but he is a hero in my book!
Learning More Than Bargained For
This morning, the oldest boys' cabin was at the Outdoor Cooking Pavilion. In class, they learned how to make macaroni and cheese. They learned how to boil and strain pasta. They tried different types of cheeses. They also experimented with various toppings like potato chips, shallots and croutons.
They are older, more decisive and faster eaters. As a result, they finished 15 minutes early. The instructors (all college-aged woman) asked the 14 year-old boys what they would like to learn about before class ends. She suggested food safety, diet tips, cooking techniques.
They simply said "girls".
Let me start by saying that this story could go several ways at this point. I am delighted that it took the best possible direction. The women running the class are mature and caring. They are also really patient. The questions and comments came fast and furious:
"How the heck do I break out of the 'friend zone'?"
"They only like my sweet dance moves. If its not the Wednesday dance, they're not interested."
"When do you call? When do you text? When do you do neither?"
"How do I avoid getting stuck in stupid text conversations like 'what r u up 2?', 'nada', 'how bout u?', 'nada'?"
"How can I tell a girl its OK to hang up if we have nothing to talk about?"
"If I like a girl, why do her friends all suddenly think everything about me is fair game? I'm not dating them!"
"Why are girls so confusing?"
I will not bore you with all the answers, but I will tell you that the advice was solid. Here are the main points that the guys remembered later.
"False compliments do not help. Avoid at all costs."
"You will not ever understand teenage girls. Teenage girls do not understand teenage girls."
"Be kind and genuine. Eventually that is what the girls will value when they become women."
All that and a serving of Mac and Cheese sounds like a great hour to me!
Steve Sir
Every August after camp ends, we spend several days brainstorming ideas to improve camp. We read the parent surveys, share comments from our staff and make our own observations.
We then create a list of potential projects. From there, we call colleagues from other camps to ask about their summers. We read articles and we call experts.
After all of this, we come up with a final project list.
This year, it was ridiculous. Most of you already know about the physical improvements. I will not go into detail, but let me briefly outline them:
Whew! We have never taken on this many projects in one year. As you might imagine, we have been busy. During January, we had 5 different crews working at camp. We called it the Camp Champions’ Stimulus Program.
Tomorrow, I will tell you about a scheduling change we made this year that is making for a lot of happy campers!!!
Steve Sir
It is almost 11:00 and your children are in bed and resting for another day at camp.
Camp is peaceful. A light breeze blows through the screens and the cabins are cool and quiet. I often take this time to share some thoughts with you.
Yesterday, we had a powerful guest speaker, Shawn Achor. He is an international consultant, author of The Happiness Advantage and the teacher of the most popular course at Harvard for 3 years.
What he shared with us was both powerful and useful. Here are some of the highlights.
I came to the summer camp experience late in life.
After over 40 weeks without campers, our first little ones will arrive this Sunday! All of our counselors are here and cannot wait for camp to start.
This Sunday afternoon, think about all the Kindergarteners and 1st Graders that will be arriving. I hope that puts a huge smile on your face - it does mine!
Alumni, we know it's been a while since we last posted a yearbook and we don't want to make you wait any longer! And now we turn back to the beginning of the 80's...
