hey, teacher!

Some women are not only born to be moms, but they’re also born to be enthusiastic nurturers of kids attending the community camps.

• Other women sign their kids up for camp so that they can spend their mornings burning off energy with those enthusiastic women.

Some women find so much extra “umph” inside of them that they volunteer for the tough stuff first. Like leading the actual camp activities, or wrangling the kids that attend. They do this. On purpose. Nurseries are set up to care for their babies so that these leaders can be involved.

• Other women, after signing up their preschoolers, get greedy. And  in a moment of weakness, imagine how nice it would be to have both children at the camp, even though it means having to volunteer so that their baby gets a nursery slot. So they volunteer for snacks, or photography, or something else non-kid orientated.

Some women jump at the chance to replace a preschool volunteer who dropped out last minute. They’d be thrilled to find themselves a “helper” in their daughter’s group. A group that includes 5 other girls and 9 boys, all age 4.

• Other women consider pulling their child out of the camp instead. But can’t because their child is excited. “Mama! Now we can spend ALL DAY together!”

Some women take charge. To them, every role is an opportunity to lead.

• Other women panic when they realize that “helper” actually means “leader.” “Leader” who was given no training, no games, no arsenal of anything. Just a clipboard, a packet of name tags and an extra kid whose mother dropped him off early. And, go!***

Some women remember all of the songs (complete with hand gestures and dances) from childhood. They smile. A lot. They jump around in the humidity. They need zero help.

• Other moms have to ask the teenagers at the camp what games they’re playing with their preschoolers. What transition activities and songs they’re singing. Because even though their child is a preschooler, she is only 1 preschooler. Adding 14 more kind of changes the dynamic. And as it turns out, kids just like teenagers more.
  

Some women engage, engage, engage!

• Other women get stuck on bathroom duty. For the boys. Under her supervision, one decides to play hide-and-seek with his crocs in the bathroom (Newsflash, Crocs Float!), another boy pees all over his underwear, his pants and his name tag. And then refuses to wash his hands without a fight before leaving the bathroom. And a third boy announces, “Hey, Teacher! I got a big penis at home. Did you hear me? I said, I got a big potty at home. Like this on the wall. And my daddy doesn’t want me sitting on these potties, so I want you to pick me up so I can pee in this one on the wall.”

(Other woman may be a lot of things, but she’s not stupid. She directs the boy towards a stall and instructs him to please close the door behind him. No one wants to see his Big Potty.)

Some women appreciate their children the moment they are born.

• It takes other women a little longer, but they eventually realize how lucky they are to have intense, creative, bossy girls who don’t need help in the bathroom. Suddenly a day at the pool sounds lovely. Now, if she could only make it to the end of the week…

***Guilt kicked right about here and I feel the need to justify at this point that I’m faking it really well in front of the kids and they’re all having a great time. So if your kid is in my group, even if it’s Big Potty, no worries, really. There are two other moms leading the group and together we = at least one awesome teenager.

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©2009 CEK. All Rights Reserved. Touch my stuff and I’m comin’ after your ass when camp is over. Trust me, you won’t want a piece of me after a week like this.

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Tags: a type-A goes to camp, choas, leaders, panic, preschoolers, summer camp, teachers