Prank War

Pranks are as big of a tradition at camp as s'mores and mosquito bites. When done well, I think they are wonderful, memorable and what kids will hold in their memory long after they've forgotten about my extensive programming or well planned activities.

However, I cringe at the thought of pranks because, in my experience, they are not usually well done. 19 year old counselors are still learning about boundaries, how to make good choices and are not always aware of how quickly things can get out of control when you are dealing with ten year olds who have no idea of boundaries nor decision making.

Last year, counselors thought picking up other staff members, carrying them kicking and screaming across camp and throwing them into the lake was great. I outlawed that immediately with my new set of staff this year. It's not that I'm afraid to get wet. It's that kids see that and think it's okay to push other people into the water. They see a lack of respect between staff and, even when the staff being tossed in laughs, it's annoying and can ruin your day (and your watch, cell phone, etc.). It's unsafe in a variety of ways and a great example of a bad prank.

This week, the 4th-6th grade girl cabin played a prank on the boy cabin of the same age. Someone had brought several Jonas Brothers posters to camp and the girls snuck into the boy's cabin and hung them everywhere. When the boys returned, there was screaming and 10 year old outrage over the girly posters. Hilarious.

At the staff debrief meeting, Counselor D talked about the prank as her high of the week and one of the other staff said, "wait, how did the girls get into the cabin when they aren't allowed in that area?" D immediately pointed to Program Director S saying, "I got permission from her to go over to that area!" And S immediately pointed to me and said, "yes, but I got permission from her first!" Everyone thought it was extremely hilarious that the counselors came up with the prank and that both S and I had known about it.

I was happy because it was a great example of a good prank. They got permission, didn't cause damage to anything or do anything unsafe. Kids had specific boundaries. No one was singled out, embarrassed, targeted, or hurt. And it was good, clean fun without negativity or any trace of mean-ness.

I fully encouraged the staff to continue with such ideas (letting them know that asking permission is a prerequisite for all future pranks). Counselor T asked what they should do if they wanted to pull a prank on S. I said, "get permission from me." "And what if we want to prank you?" I told them to get permission from S. When I told my best friend X this story, she said it was funny that I hadn't said, "don't prank me" but I think pranks are hilarious and if they can think of something creative, I welcome anything they can come up with- that's all part of camp and why my job is awesome!