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The Daily Life of a Day Camp Counselor
August 27, 2015
- Wake up at an unreasonable hour and question why you ever even applied for this job.
- Get to camp only to find all your eight year old campers seem to have had five cups of coffee while you can hardly keep your eyes open.
- Spend the entire morning day dreaming of all the places you would rather be as you braid a little girl’s hair with three other sets of sticky fingers poking, tapping, and smacking you in an effort to get your attention (because they want their hair braided next, of course).
- Lunch time…but not for you. Each time you’re about to sit down to eat, another camper asks for something. You quickly realize it will be a daily battle to actually eat your food while simultaneously serving hungry children as they all scream, “mooooooore please!”
- You think the day will be filled with various activities, but you actually spend a majority of your day taking children to the bathroom or nurse. Apparently kids are always hurt or on the verge of having a bladder explosion. That’s okay though because it’s too hot for any activity anyway…except for arts and crafts.
- Pretending like you’re actually doing activities when the division heads come checking on the campers and counselors.
- All the campers start fighting with each other to sit next to YOU on the bus. Actually you could get used to this.
- Chatting with the counselors who you’d probably never be friends with in real life, but developing a strong bond over the mutual dislike of crazy campers.
- Swimming. You actually have to get into the pool. EVERY single day. Sometimes even twice a day depending where you are working. And the kids will never fail to ask each time, “Is it cold?” before getting in. The problem is, it IS cold, but if you admit that you know they’ll never get in so instead you respond, “It’s um..refreshing.” It works (almost) every time. Once in the pool, they latch on to you with death grips and you have suddenly become a tree with little koalas climbing all over you.
- Never being excited for an activity, but pretending like it’s the greatest thing in the world with the hope of earning more tips..
- Come home way too exhausted to do anything, so you just lay in your bed.
- You quickly realize your job is too draining to keep up with work and a social life, so you decide to eventually accept the fact that your summer best friends are going to be 1. Your bed and 2. Netflix (But what’s really new about that?)
