For some wacky reason, I decided to receive minimal pay to entertain twelve overly dramatic, argumentative pre-teens for eight hours a day for eight weeks this summer. I am in the middle of week three. At this point, I have joyfully exited survival mode and entered I-was-made-for-this mode. As bizarre as it sounds, I am enjoying my job. I get to play games, go swimming, be silly, and go on field trips with young people who are at a point where they truly need someone to be a model in their lives.
Why would anyone in their right mind actually choose to spend their summer with scary 9-12 year olds, you ask? Well, think of it as this adventurous quest to find a hidden magical jewel deep within the jungle on a deserted island. Who wouldn’t accept such a quest?
“Think of it as this adventurous quest to find a hidden magical jewel deep within the jungle on a deserted island. Who wouldn’t accept such a quest?“
I get to enter the deserted island that is an empty elementary school during the summer every day. The jungle consists of about fifty 5-12 year old children who all want to do fifty different things at the same time including rolling around on the floor as if someone just yelled “stop, drop, and roll”, running from one end of the gym to the other unceasingly for thirty minutes convinced that if they stop then the cheetahs will get them, yelling simply because some other camper plays a card game differently then they do, making up games with a deck of cards with directions such as “hit the deck with the back of your right hand,” and seeing if they can get the newly purchased dodgeballs to get stuck in the rafters of the gym. Sounds like a jungle, right?
The hidden magical jewel that I am seeking is that fine line that a tight roper can’t even walk where campers don’t hate me for being too strict. Where they respect me enough to do what I ask without pushing the limit. Where they are comfortable talking to me about things that really matter such as how they really feel about their parents’ divorce that happened three years ago.
Where all twelve of them are actually having fun and are happy to be at camp. Where they all yell my name when I come into work after the kids get there and ask me where I was as if they were terribly worried about my well being. Where I can sense when one game is going sour before it gets too sour and start a new game quickly before one camper begins ferociously attacking another one. Where I sit back and watch as all twelve of my campers interact in a way that shows respect for one another and think to myself, “I actually get paid to do this.”
Do you see how awesome my quest is? Working with children is always such an adventure for me. I am honored to accept my quest and will fulfill it to the best of my abilities.
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