Mrs O Tags Along for Outdoor Education Camp

Fire to keep us warm inside. 

Never dreamed of the day I would be the parent who attends her son's events hoping not to totally embarrass him. But you see, the school organized a 3 day outdoor education camp and parents were invited to volunteer I thought it was a brilliant idea until I told my son.

Camp? On their own? (with adult/teacher supervision of course) but tell me, which parent would not be interested considering that these children are barely out of our sight for more than 12 hours at a time? His dad reminded me it was time to start loosening those “parent strings” but I was still curious. The only knowledge I had of American camp was influenced by Hollywood. 

We didn’t have outdoor Ed growing up or rather, we had it all the time - all the more reason to see how it's done states side.

My son thought I would cramp his style:
“No! But why do you want to come?”

“I’m curious. Besides it would be great to help out”

“Brruh!”

I was going anyway.

We got our sleeping bags and the basics all set and my young man and I headed to school the morning of camp.

Whats a camp without a fire place

Children learn about water bodies

The county camp site was surrounded by woods, not too far from the city (particularly helpful for parents who couldn't handle 2 nights away from their children). As we trekked up to the camp site the instructor asked children to look for signs of life;- birds nests,  trees, plants, ant hills …
They were a fidgety lot, easily distracted and they loved to talk. The adults made sure to supervise the front , middle and the back of the line.

Children trek up to the camp site

Eagles nest

As the day wore on the impressions I had of my son evolved. In comparison to his classmates he was quite calm and collected. I understood what he meant when he’d express concern for his friends:

“John sings all the time, I don’t know why he can’t be quiet. And Timothy, he just says whatever comes to his mind”.

It turned out camp didn’t mean sleeping under the night sky in the cold. We had nice cabins with bank-beds and mattresses. With fond and not so fond memories, I recalled boarding school life in Uganda;- How we fetched water from the well and the bore hole in jerrycans and basins. Carried hoes, slashers, brooms and toilet paper as school requirements at the start of almost every term. 

Camp states side was a piece of cake – there was running hot water, electricity and heating.  

I was in charge of a cabin with 13 girls.

As we settled into the room that evening I was struck by how these little girls were budding into women. They pulled out their toiletries; shampoo, body lotion, deodorants on the night stands mean while they placed teddy bears on their beds. I was reminded of the song “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman”.

A cute pillow one of the girls carried to camp

Big little girls - got their hygiene products all set

“I don’t bath at night, I will bath in the morning…”

“Nobody should wake me up before 7:00am”

“Oh my gosh! I love this perfume”

“My mom said …” (I can’t tell you how many times I heard that phrase)

“Did you hear what Derrick said?”
Then they would all burst into the little Einstein’s theme song.

"Please don't switch off the light, I'm scared".

One girl run into the room breathless: “Oh my goodness! Mr. Jefferson just saw me” I thought to my self - Really? You are not even 12 yet.

Girls will be girls!

Another girl boldly declared on the first night, “I will bath when I get home”. My eyes nearly popped, but yeah, she didn’t bath once in all the 2 nights we were there. She applied deodorant each morning and evening. Sure, I had heard stories but I wasn’t quite prepared. Given how sensitive the line is between parents and adults in charge I chose not to go there. Lets just say it’s complicated.

Boys search for organisms in the stream

We had a wonderful two days of outdoor Ed. The children were organized in cohorts each group involved in a separate activity after which they swapped. We converged for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The children helped setup and cleanup before and after meals.

We learned about the ecosystem, team work, and the effects of climate change. It was fun cooking mash mellows over the fire, watching the children chase one another as they learned about animal life - predators and prey and survival in the wild.

After 2 nights and 3 days children were happy to reunite with their parents - the latter more excited than the former. The loud kid was suddenly subdued in front of grandma. The boy who walked with a slouch straightened up on seeing his dad. Meanwhile, some parents paced the parking lot as they waited for the buses to arrive. We were right on schedule but something about their behavior reminded me of how mother hen puffs out her feathers when she senses her chicks are missing. The 2 nights may have felt like 2 weeks.

It was a memorable time for all. A great way to make learning fun.

I would do it again.

Oh, yeah! And when we got home, I received a good report:

“Mom, my friends said you are cool.”

Yay!!