Walmart: A 6-year-old's "home away from home"

Today in my 1st/2nd grade religious school class we were learning about Israel because Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel's Independence Day) is next week. I was going through a packet with my students that introduced the idea that Israel is the homeland for all Jews, a sort of "home away from home". To help explain this concept, the packet included an activity in which the kids were to draw two pictures, one of their actual home and one of a special "home away from home" that they visit often. We discussed places they could draw such as their grandparents' house or a friend's house. I walked around the room as the kids drew their pictures and asked them to tell me what they drew. One child drew the pool at which she swims several times a week. Another child drew her grandparents' house. As I passed by the desk of one of my 6-year-olds, I glanced at his "home away from home" drawing. He had drawn Walmart!

Bullying in our own Backyard

A national crisis. An epidemic. Taking lives at an alarming rate. No, I'm not talking about some new virus going around. I'm talking about bullying.

Bullying has made headlines quite a bit lately with the release of the new documentary, Bully. The film follows the lives of several bullied teens throughout the course of an entire school year. While I have yet to see the film, my point is that it has brought a lot of media attention to the issue of bullying.

As a kid, I was a head taller than almost every classmate, and I was pretty bright. While I wasn't all that different from the other kids, being so tall and often the first to understand concepts in class made me just enough of an oddball to be a victim of bullying. In 1st grade, one little boy had a "clubhouse" at recess, and I was not invited to join. In 2nd grade, a girl pushed me around daily while everyone was hanging up their backpacks in the classroom. In 4th grade, a couple of boys called me "smart one". In 6th grade, I had some leather shoes that I liked to wear and was called "moo shoes". These are just a few examples, and they were not isolated incidences; they happened daily for several months if not the whole school year.

I'm not trying to start a pity party here. At 20 years of age, I have some great friends and, perhaps more importantly, the freedom to avoid people who are mean. But looking back at my childhood, I can see an obvious pattern of being the victim of bullying. We learned about bullying at school, but it never occurred to me until I was older that what happened to me was bullying.

Despite being a victim of bullying, I never realized that what was happening to me was bullying, because bullying is taught to kids as something that happens to other people. "Kids, we're learning about this so that if you ever see it happening, you'll know how to respond." Are you kidding me? I have yet to see a school, youth group, sports team, Girl Scout/Boy Scout troop… you name it, that is truly free of bullying.

Kids are mean sometimes. It's how they are, but that does not mean that bullying is "just part of being a kid". The actual content of what we teach kids about bullying is fine, but we must adapt a "when you see it happening" attitude when we teach kids how to respond to bullying.

Let's stop looking at this issue as something that happens in other groups, other schools. Teachers, coaches, child care workers, youth leaders, camp counselors, please don't ignore it when a kid is obviously being singled out. And, speaking of obvious, bullying is often far from it. It's the way kids stand in a circle talking and won't let another child join in the group. It's the stepping on another child's heels while walking in line when the adult is at the front. It's the absence of passing to one particular team member. The response cannot be, "now, now, little Jimmy, let's be nice please". It must be a firm conversation with the bully, involving the bully's parents if necessary, that lets everyone know that bullying will not be tolerated under your supervision.

Accept it. Bullying is happening in every community. Posting on Facebook about how we want to end the national bullying crisis is lovely, but until each person takes some responsibility for this issue, things are not going to change.

You know you're a camp counselor when...

I got my first summer job at the age of 16 when I was hired as a camp counselor at the day camp I had attended as a camper and then CIT (counselor-in-training) almost every summer for the 7 years prior. This summer will be my fifth working with children and my fourth specifically as a camp counselor. I also volunteered as a religious school aide for five years during middle school and high school and, since August 2010, have been teaching the 1st/2nd grade religious school class. I have come to realize over these past several years that working with kids is absolutely my passion, even my "calling", if you will.

Kids are funny, and working with them makes you a little goofy as well. Following the trend of lists titled "you know you're _____ when…", this is my list for being a camp counselor.

You know you're a camp counselor when…

You can think of more than three name games off the top of your head and could effectively lead one with no prior notice.

You regularly refer to your campers/students as "my kids" and people give you strange looks, sometimes even asking in disbelief if you really do have children of your own.

Your best stories involve something funny a kid said or did.

You can turn any activity into a game on the spot.

You take great pride in watching your campers/students accomplish something that you helped them achieve.

You have no shame in screaming silly songs at the top of your lungs.

During your hour off (overnight camp) or when you get home from work (day camp), you lie down and immediately pass out from exhaustion.

You would rather spend the day corralling 20 nine-year-olds than have to deal with one angry parent.

You know how to play more than two variations of dodgeball.

You realize all the other competitors are under the age of 10, but still, winning a game gives you a boost of self-confidence.

You are a pro at coming up with cheers for your group.

You have been asked the exact same question by more than three different children over the course of an hour.

The only time you go to the amusement park is on field trips with camp.

You have seen a child limp around all day, but when it is time for a fun game, they forget about their "injury" and go play.

Any injury that cannot be fixed with an ice pack, Band-Aid, and/or trip to the water fountain is probably a medical emergency.

image from www.gymnasticsnevada.com

You have told a child that you will not talk to them until they are wearing clothes.

You can often be seen walking around holding a giggling child upside down or on your shoulders.

You can make a crying child start laughing within minutes.

You can usually accurately guess the age of a child you have never seen before.

You have no problem wearing a weird hat, crazy hairstyle, or inside out and backwards clothing for a whole day.

You can be dressed and ready to go after swimming in under five minutes.

You can put sunscreen on twenty kids in a matter of minutes.

You have ever been given a presentation by an insurance company representative or watched a DVD provided by an insurance company outlining ridiculous things not to do with your children that someone has actually done before.

You can carry on a non-child appropriate conversation with another adult in such a way that no kids pick up on what you are actually talking about.

You have ever laid on the floor during group time and conducted a "contest" with your co to see which kid could give the best back massages.

You have ever repeatedly announced a group bathroom break only to have a kid come tell you they need to go to the bathroom the second you return.

You have a plethora of staff shirts that you rarely wear but refuse to donate or throw away.

You have never had to sign up for a CPR/first aid class because you get re-certified every year during staff week.

You have learned that regardless of what you say around middle schoolers, they will find a way to turn it into something dirty.