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No gingerbread houses for you
Jul. 5th, 2010 06:54 pmMy son has been to camp before. Last year he went to day camp and had a wonderful time so this year we decided he was ready for the full experience. He'll be at camp all day, all night for the whole week.
Now, this morning before we dropped him off, i got up at the usual time and found my son curled up on the sofa, weeping.
My first reaction to this is, as always, "Where are you bleeding??" It turns out that there was no blood or injury involved. Instead, he had decided he didn't want to go to camp and nothing I said would convince him otherwise. He Was Not Going. Oh, his reasons why were numerous. He would miss me too much, there were too many animals in the woods, he didn't like bugs. On and on.
I finally convinced him that if he went today and really, truly, hated it that much, I would come get him. I wouldn't leave him there to suffer, I would take him home.
What did he say to me as he sniffled back tears? "How will you know to get me?"
A counselor would tell me, of course. I figured that was obvious. Well, apparently it isn't. My son did not realize that there would be adults at the camp looking after him! I guess he just figured we'd throw him out of the car to live off the land for a week on his own and eventually, we might come find him again, if we felt like it. He was terrified because he thought he would be by himself for a week!!
After explaining he would be staying in a cabin, with two teenage counselors and a bunch of other kids, he was eager to go. But it's nice to see how much faith my kid has in me, that he really thought we were abandoning him in the woods. *G*
Hey, Hansel, don't forget your breadcrumbs, kid!
Now, this morning before we dropped him off, i got up at the usual time and found my son curled up on the sofa, weeping.
My first reaction to this is, as always, "Where are you bleeding??" It turns out that there was no blood or injury involved. Instead, he had decided he didn't want to go to camp and nothing I said would convince him otherwise. He Was Not Going. Oh, his reasons why were numerous. He would miss me too much, there were too many animals in the woods, he didn't like bugs. On and on.
I finally convinced him that if he went today and really, truly, hated it that much, I would come get him. I wouldn't leave him there to suffer, I would take him home.
What did he say to me as he sniffled back tears? "How will you know to get me?"
A counselor would tell me, of course. I figured that was obvious. Well, apparently it isn't. My son did not realize that there would be adults at the camp looking after him! I guess he just figured we'd throw him out of the car to live off the land for a week on his own and eventually, we might come find him again, if we felt like it. He was terrified because he thought he would be by himself for a week!!
After explaining he would be staying in a cabin, with two teenage counselors and a bunch of other kids, he was eager to go. But it's nice to see how much faith my kid has in me, that he really thought we were abandoning him in the woods. *G*
Hey, Hansel, don't forget your breadcrumbs, kid!
