Ask any camp counsellor and they’ll tell you that life at camp is an experience they will never forget. It takes a special person to spend their entire summer with kids, and I may be biased, but I think camp counsellors are like superheroes. I’ve spent nine summers working at summer camp, so I consider myself somewhat of a pro by now. From one camp lover to another, here are some things all camp counsellors will understand.
We’re prank experts
When you live and work with the same people for an entire summer, a prank war of some kind is inevitable, and for many counsellors, it’s a way to stay sane. Sometimes these pranks get taken too far… Like the time some female counsellors tried to hide the guys’ shoes in a doghouse that ended up being infested with bees.
We know how to handle animal escapes
The camp I work at has a horse program and a little petting zoo, so there was the occasional escape by sneaky pigs, goats, and turkeys, which are all animals that are surprisingly hard to catch. The scariest thing was when the horses would escape and run through camp while we frantically tried to keep campers out of their way. It always ended well though, and now we look back and laugh at those memories.
We’re used to things turning up in weird places
Like the time the golf cart ended up in the middle of the gaga ball pit… Or rolling out of bed for breakfast only to discover that the tables and chairs had relocated from the dining hall to the lawn.
When you find a golf ball at the bottom of the pool for the third time this week.
We get really creative for theme dinners
Rollin’ into Disney Dinner like
This comes in handy outside of camp when you need a last-minute costume. You’ve dressed up as an elderly person, a baby, and everything under the sun. To be honest, we probably all wish we had more excuses to break out our super creative theme meal ensembles in our life outside of camp.
We put up with a lot of crap…
Like, literally… the number of kids you helped clean up after accidents have either fully prepared you for parenthood or made you swear off having kids forever. And discovering human poop in random places (like the pool deck, or randomly on the lawn) is always a fun surprise (not…)! Cleaning out the cabin at the end of the week usually also results in at least a couple pairs of unclaimed (and probably dirty) underwear.
And we get messy on the daily
Whipped cream in the face is a weekly occurrence, and if you’re unfortunate enough to get caught doing something you shouldn’t, you may end up with a “special schmuck” (aka a bucket of food scraps) dumped over your head.
We don’t love special schmuck…
We’re pros at convincing kids that the activity they think is lame is actually the coolest thing in the world.
Even when it’s really not… But give me 15 minutes with a camper and I’ll have them begging to go on a nature walk.
Band-Aids are one of our best friends.
They fix a multitude of injuries (and non-injuries) instantly. You need a Band-Aid because someone breathed too close to you? If it makes you stop crying, then here have five! We’re also finding them in every backpack, hoodie, and shorts pocket for months after summer ends.
Chances are we still have some random mementoes from camp we can’t bear to throw away.
Whether it’s friendship bracelets, letters that other counsellors sent you in the camp mail, or random creations you made during arts and crafts… The memories attached to these weird objects have made them so sentimental that you can’t part with them.
Camp friends become family.
They’re the people you share every moment of your summer with. The inside jokes, the successes and the failures, and many tears. The love you have for your camp family is real.
Which mean the last day of the summer is one of the most emotional days of the year.
You mean I won’t be able to see them every day anymore? But who will help me decide which socks look best with my Birkenstocks?! The tears on the last day of camp are unavoidable.
And coming back to camp always feels like you’re coming home.
When you drive back down that driveway, it’s almost as if you’d never left. And that’s why I just keep going back because camp really is home for me.
Camp isn’t just a workplace and being a camp counsellor isn’t just a job. It’s truly a life-changing experience that I am so grateful to have had, and a piece of my heart will always be back at the Ranch.