Homesick Win

On Sunday, Camper M and her sister were dropped off at camp. M's sister has been a camper for several years and she joined the pre-camp group game right away, without hesitation. Camper M was not as excited. She stood by her parents with tears in her eyes and when it came time for them to say good bye, the tears turned into hysterical crying. They stayed while we introduced the staff and divided into cabins. I stood with them and gently let them know that the longer they stayed, the worse it would get and that most of the time, kids will snap out of it once the parents are gone. I promised I'd call them later to update them on how she was doing.

She cried on and off all of Sunday. When she was occupied, she was happy, but then she would remember that she was homesick and the tears would begin again. On Monday, the same thing was happening and in the morning, she was in my office, letting me know that she would like to go home. I made a deal with her that if she could make it to lunch, we'd call her parents and see what they thought.

She was satisfied with the deal and left. I called her mom and let her know that she was doing okay, but that we would be calling at lunch. I prepared her that no matter how much Camper M cried, if she told her they would not come and get her, she would be fine. 99% of the time, when kids hear that, without an "out" their survival mode will kick in and they will adapt to camp.

After lunch, we called her mom and she cried and told her "I've never been sadder". She went on and on for a few minutes, and I could hear the mom encouraging her but also remaining firm. When she got off the phone, she was a very sad little girl. I got out a camp journal and we started making a book for her mom of all of the best memories of camp. I told her she could come into my office any time she wanted to work on it.

As the week went on, she came in less often and eventually not at all. Tonight in chapel, when we asked for volunteers to come to the front of the chapel and lead the motions for a song, her hand was up in the air and there she was, in front of the whole camp, leading the actions and smiling.

Counselor D and I looked at each other and smiled with pride- we won that battle of homesickness and it felt good!