Your child’s counselor shoulders much of the responsibility for how her summer turns out. What camps are doing to ensure counselors are prepared for their vital role.
“I
was not fit to be a counselor,” says Elisheva, now a mother of seven children. “It sounds horrible, but in retrospect, I’d never want my child to be cared for by the 16-year-old that I was.”
Sleepaway camp offers children a welcome respite from the rigors of school and a sometimes-rare chance to shine in a nonacademic setting. But the setup has its snags: Parents entrust their most precious assets to often inexperienced adolescents who mean well, but may not have the maturity and skills required for safe, effective nurturing.
“My friends and I were deep in social stress, resolving identity crises — it was the most self-centered stage of our lives,” Elisheva recalls. “And then we became responsible for ten impressionable nine-year-olds for two months! We were too busy making sure our campers thought we were ‘cool’ to actually focus on giving them a great summer.”
Every child — even the most emotionally healthy one — requires enormous doses of patience, tolerance, and attention. What’s more, when a child leaves for camp, he doesn’t leave his problems behind — and the ramifications of a mismanaged issue can be tragic. Are today’s counselors qualified?
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