THURSDAY
Most parents on Sunday thank me for writing the blogposts, but one parent told me (very nicely, I would add) that the blog was the most 'sanitized' story of what was happening at camp. I suppose that's true, but I did want to shatter that image today by telling all of our readers that we expelled a camper on Thursday night for being a bully.
Now, I imagine that some parents would be happy to hear that news while others would probably be worried about the camper who went home. It's not easy to send someone home from a Christian Camp because the message Christ gave us was based on acceptance and love. Every time I have to send a camper home because of our zero tolerance policy, I feel like we've failed the child in some way by not being able to guide them towards better choices.
I really believe that their has to be accountability and that camp as an institution shouldn't ruin the entire session for a cabin when one camper is really making everyone very uncomfortable and causing trouble. When we have an odd camper in a cabin or a camper who is difficult; we don't kick them out for just being different. Children are going to meet odd and difficult people during their lives, and learning to get along with those kids of people is an important life skill. However, if the campers feel unsafe or bullied by another camper, we just can't tolerate that kind of behavior.
If you're worried about the camper who was expelled, then we have something in common. Children who are bullies are often bullied themselves and I never know what kind of home life I am sending them back to when they leave camp. Parents whose campers are bullies generally have two reactions to their child being expelled from camp: 1) My child would never be a bully, or 2) Yep, my kid has bullied kids in the past and I'm so sorry. Both reactions make sense to me, even though I'm not a parent. I just hope that the camper remembers their time at camp in a positive way and that they will have the opportunity to make better choices in the future.
FRIDAY
After we drove the camper home, I went on some much needed time off. The biggest things I missed here at camp on Friday were Super Big Event (3:10 - 5:30 pm) & Pageant (8:00 - 9:30 pm). Pageant is our Friday night program and it's geared towards helping camper decide to become followers of Christ, some of them for the first time.
I don't like missing Pageant, but I heard it went very well. When I got back to camp, everything was running of schedule and we were able to give the staff a nice snack.
Otherwise I will have another update for you tomorrow.
Happy Sabbath,
-Jeremy
No comments:
Post a Comment