I got a phone call this morning. Very early by my summer schedule standards. Alicia wants to come home. She looks absolutely miserable. I was hoping it was another episode of just needing to get involved in an activity, so we decided she could handle the morning stuff and I would be there at lunch. I called before I left, hoping the fun had kicked in - but she still wants to come home. So for the second day in a row, I made the 140 mile round-trip to Girls Camp. The camp director and Alicia's adult leader told me she seemed to be having fun and interacting well with the other girls, but she has been persistent all morning that, yes, she wants to go home. I asked her what's up - she said she'd miss everyone and had liked it, but mostly she just really had to go home. So we loaded up her stuff and hit the road. The first half hour of the ride home she absolutely jabbers away about how great all the stuff was, who she liked in her cabin, what activities they did - this from the girl that it usually is a struggle to get a complete sentence out of. So I finally ask her, if she was having so much fun, what exactly was the problem that made her want to come home? Now we're back to shoulder shrugs. Did she miss her mom? No. Her little sister? Definitely not that. Her friends? Nope, not that either. So what didn't she like about camp?
The bathrooms. That was essentially the entire issue - or more accurately, the lack of privacy provided by the bathroom set up. The toilet area has very small stalls with just shower curtains for privacy. The shower stalls are small and don't have a separate, private place to change. She looked miserable before breakfast because she was trying not to pee her pants from holding it so long. No one cares for the bathroom setup at the camp, I must say, but the other girls solve it by using the buddy system - one holds the curtain for the other and makes sure anyone coming in knows the stall is occupied, or one showers while the other waits in the dressing area with her dry clothes then passes them in once the water is off (or they shower after swimming still in their suits). But this isn't enough privacy for Alicia. I hate that something so small was enough to make her give up the fun of camp. But I'm also a bit flabbergasted that she would let what amounts to about 20 uncomfortable minutes a day outweigh the rest of the day. Maybe I'm just not modest enough!
So in the end, Alicia's "free" Girls Camp cost me $35 in gas and 9 unanticipated hours. But there's still a happy ending, because she did make friends and is now excited to come to church. I suppose it's all worth it in the end. ;)
2 comments:
A small step forward is much better than none! I understand where she's coming from having not approved of the lack of privacy at Girl Scout Camp my one and only time! That isn't what kept me from going again tho', I had nose bleeds soon as we got into the mountains. Bummer!! gramm
I remember the one and only time I went to girls' camp. I don't know if VeeVee pulled a fast one on mom, or they pulled one on me together, but I ended up going because they needed another car to haul stuff up, and mom couldn't go but offered her car, and VeeVee said for some reason she couldn't drive, but they needed the car, so what to do? Oh, we'll make Kathy drive. The first night there Clare Wadsworth and Lisa Hathaway got lost in the woods (they were really scoping out a camp of loggers) and we almost got sent home. After that night's dinner, I woke up sicker than a dog and stayed in bed the next day. I decided to have some fun MY way and while everybody was out qualifiying for their whatever, I was sewing sleeping bags shut, Saran wrapping toilet seats, etc. I ended up having a great time all by myself.
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