All the things you can learn at camp (if you go to the right one)

I don't know about you but (I'm feeling 22. sorry about that...) I have never been much of a camper. Mosquitoes love my blood and I do not enjoy the layers of sunscreen, sweat, dirt and bug spray I have to peel off in an often cold shower. Although I was expecting and dreading all of these things when I left for the 2014 St Vincent De Paul Kids Camp, I was also tentatively-excited for what awaited me.

Basically, a bunch of volunteers from the age of 16 can sign up for a 3 day camp with disadvantaged children: these could be children with family issues, families with economic difficulties, young carers or anyone desperately needing a mini-holiday. Despite my lack of sleep the day before and throughout the camp, I had a blast.

To summarise my time I've made a little list of things you can learn at a kids camp if you open yourself to it. But please be aware, if you are there for 3 days, and you are buddied with 3 boys under 12 you can learn a lot of things.

1. You can learn the best ways to find children's lolly stashes: follow the wrappers and the not-so quiet discussions of midnight feasts.
2. You can learn how to love the least loveable children. The boys could pull my hair, climb on me for piggybacks, never listen to me, run over and under chairs and I still lost it when I we couldn't find them for 20 minutes.
3. You will learn if you are a child whisperer or not. What a skill to have. We all watched in awe as some volunteers stopped tantrums with one look. How do you do that and can you teach me?
4. You can learn a lot about karate and the fine art of Red Rover. 
5. Anything can be a toy. A spoon is a catapult, a hat makes a fine frisbee and a seemingly innocent bandana turns into a child sliding/spinning device on slippery floors.
6. The next day you can learn about the absolute necessity of sleep and generous servings of coffee on camp.
7. You can learn that the best piggybacks are when you are going downhill. Scary and crazy but very very fun.
8. You can even learn fun ways to climb back up hills.
9. You can learn how to take some time for yourself and Zen out when you really have to.
10. You can learn how to smile without it hurting. Smiling genuinely is easy with all the silly little things kids do. Some of my favourites were the eating competitions, playing with microphones, collecting 2 kilos of skipping stones and the underground lolly network which kids thought they could bribe you with. "If you don't tell them, I'll give you a mars bar," is a prime example.
11. You can learn how to make a girl smile with funny dancing.
12. You can learn how to make a boy blush by beating them at arm wrestling.
13. You can learn how to make a boy giggle like crazy when you swing them around on a bandana.
14. You can learn how to smile when a naughty boy tells another boy to stop swearing by swearing.
15. You can blush when a volunteer compliments your patience just as you were gearing up for a full-scale telling off.
16. You can learn to giggle like crazy when you sing camp songs at the top of your lungs.

There is so much you can learn at a kids camp like the Vinnies one. I strongly encourage you to get involved in your local Vinnies youth programs because the smiles on the kids faces are returned threefold to you. I feel like I made a real difference in someone's life and it was as easy as braving the outdoors for a few days.


Let me know how you want to help others this year in the comments. Follow the link to see how you can get involved. Ciao!

http://www.vinnies.org.au/