Today my two youngest kids had the day off. I sent them to a park district camp, one they've attended before. I didn't know that today's camp was headed up by Miss Jenny.
Most people who work with kids, I think, do it because they genuinely like kids. There's a small subset of people who work with kids because they genuinely like making kids obey them. That's Miss Jenny. "No, you cannot get a drink of water. You have to wait until the schedule says it is time for drinks of water." "No, you may not keep the little ball of Sculpey you found. It's not time for Sculpey, so you have to give it to me" -- whereupon she threw it in the trash. "No one can watch the movie until I say it's time to watch the movie, and then we're starting it where I say we left off, even if all of you think we left off in a different place." Stella got frustrated and started to cry during one of the planned activities. Miss Jenny said, "You have to sit in the corner by yourself until you stop crying." Stella stopped crying and sat with bowed head; Miss Jenny said, "None of that pouting, either."
This was not what I had in mind when I signed them up.
I am sure Miss Jenny would tell a different story about the day. I am sure she would say she wanted the kids to be safe, and that's why she didn't allow any unplanned water fountain stops. I bet she would say that she didn't want any children to be treated unfairly when there wasn't enough Sculpey to go around. I expect she would say that she couldn't allow an agitated child to disrupt her carefully planned activities. I would be pretty surprised if she is sitting in her apartment right now, thinking, "Wow, I spent my whole day upsetting children. Perhaps I need a different job."
The thing that's most on my mind is Pete's reaction. He's my sweetest, meekest, most rule-following kid, and he was on the edge of tears when I picked them up. It wasn't exclusively about Miss Jenny, but she was a big chunk of it.
I don't know quite how to respond. Stella is supposed to go back for another day of camp on Monday. I suppose I can stop by tomorrow and see if a manager is available to tell me who will be running the show. If Jenny is in scheduled to be in charge again, I could conceivably request a refund and let Stella hang out with her brothers on Monday. They are not going to be delighted about giving me a refund. But they might also be un-delighted by blog posts about spiteful camp staffers who make campers cry. (NB: I have never once said "I am going to flay you on social media if you don't make this right." Not really my style. I'm just musing about outcomes here.)
Advice? Commiseration? Job recommendations for Jenny?
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