Archive for the 'Counselor Tool Box' Category

If you really want the campers to listen to you, kids enjoy boundaries. If there are no boundaries the campers do not know where the line is and they try hard to find it. In doing this they could cause a lot of problems and hassle trying to find the line. The best thing is to set the bar and then stick to it. If you make a threat and then do not follow through the campers will see that and you lose all credibility with them and they will not listen to you. Once they know that you mean business then you can give them freedoms and good times.

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If your campers are have trouble sleeping at night or settling down here are a few things to try:

Age 5-7:
Home Sick pills (see post)
After lights out, light a candle and read them a book or bible stories from the Message
Have a bed time routine for them to follow (the same every night)
Let the few that are still struggling move their mattress beside your bed (never let campers sleep in your bed)

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Ask the program director to have cabins sign up for their activity as a cabin during tuck time. Have the program director add showering to the list.

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This is a great way to deal with the homesick campers. What you do is tell the campers that it is fine and normal to be homesick. The typical way of dealing with it is to get the campers involved in something. The campers get homesick when they can think about and remember their family so if you get their minds off of that, it usually works. However at bed time it is very hard to get them involved in something so you give them a homesick pill. This is a very special pill that has the power to take home sickness away. You give it to the camper and in minutes the crying will stop and they will go to sleep.

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