Summer Day Camp Good or Bad?

Ok I had to work much of this summer so we signed the kids up for a summer camp they seem to love and hate.  At the beginning of camp I felt really guilty.  JD seemed to hate it and Amanda loved it at first.  It got better after they had been there a couple of weeks.  I kind of eased my guilt because they were outside and getting lots of exercise.  Not only that but they were getting to play with other kids.  Camp has had its up and downs.  When I have dropped them off on some days they ask to be picked up as early as possible.  When I have picked them up they want to stay.  The feeling is I can’t win for losing.  Then other days they are ready to come home.  JD had a bit of a triumph earlier this week.  He has a kid who has been getting in his face each time they play a sports game and he makes an out.  We have discussed it but he hasn’t been sure how to handle it.  I don’t want to step in and fix it because I want him to develop some skills to deal with it.  Anyway this week he did.  He said when the kids starting yelling at him because he got out, JD told him “great you learned what an out is,  I am so happy for you”  anyway according to JD the rest of the campers laughed and boy didn’t know what to say.  JD’s sense of pride was so evident when he told me the story and I was proud of him for finding a way to deal with the issue.  When I told my dad he said in his day and age he would have just hit the boy in the mouth and been done with it.  You can’t do that now a days so I am proud JD handled it in his way. 

I think camp is doing more good than harm because JD and Amanda are both great kids but sometimes have difficulty relating to their peers.  JD I think because he is so smart and I think that is part of his problem he doesn’t seem to relate to the kids.  The other thing I have begun to notice about JD is his sense of right and wrong is developing.  The part of camp that seems to irritate him the most is some of the boys cheat and he really gets angry at this lack of sportsmanship.  I am very happy with this and I hope he continues along this path.    Amanda is making friends and seems to be having fun.  The other day they went to a nature preserve. Amanda who is very afraid of all bugs to the point of almost getting hysterical if she sees one and thinks it is going to land on her came home so happy she is not afraid of Dragonflies anymore.  It seems a few of them landed on her.. one even landed on her butt and she thought it was funny.  She loved telling me about the dragonfly on her butt.  I have a strong feeling that if the same incident had happened while she was with me or my husband she would still be afraid of dragonflies.  I am so proud of her.