Yes, her being 14 does put her in the weird spot of too young to work and too old for camp. Her task today is to find some ideas on how to spend her summer.
In my area, kids have to pay to be counselors at the local camps. Well, they have to pay for a summer worth of "counselor training" and then come back the next year. It's sort of crap.
My 14 year old has been trying to get accepted by the library as a volunteer, but they haven't been very good at getting back to her. From what I've seen, they normally accept every kid who shows up at the door, but she's been making lots of phone calls that never get returned. I'm beginning to wonder if it's because she's gay and not very private about it, dresses and cuts her hair "like a boy", etc. There are some small minded assholes in this town, unfortunately.
In my area, kids have to pay to be counselors at the local camps. Well, they have to pay for a summer worth of "counselor training" and then come back the next year. It's sort of crap.
My 14 year old has been trying to get accepted by the library as a volunteer, but they haven't been very good at getting back to her. From what I've seen, they normally accept every kid who shows up at the door, but she's been making lots of phone calls that never get returned. I'm beginning to wonder if it's because she's gay and not very private about it, dresses and cuts her hair "like a boy", etc. There are some small minded assholes in this town, unfortunately.
CIT (counselor in training) is actually just a way camps designate campers that are one year older than the oldest cabin. Pretty much every camp does this and gets away with it. It's not required in any way. The year after I was in the oldest cabin in camp, I didn't go to any camp for the CIT year. Then I went to another camp and was a regular old counselor. If you are the CIT age, you really just have to avoid camps that year. The people who usually do the CIT programs are kids who grew up in the camp and went every year, so the camp is like their family. They can't miss it for even one summer.
Scott I'll look into it again. She went to the same camp for 3 years (with a one year break to go to a camp in an affluent area instead.. big mistake there) and my understanding was that if you don't do CIT there, you can pretty much forget being a counselor as CITs get shortlisted. Maybe other camps in the area are different.
The reason I like the library idea is that she can reach it on her bike without needing to be shuttled.
ETA: actually, it just dawned on me that I went to school with a career volunteer at that library and his mom is a well respected, semi-retired librarian there currently, and both are Facebook friends with me. Duh. I need to learn how to do this human socialization thing...
Scott I'll look into it again. She went to the same camp for 3 years (with a one year break to go to a camp in an affluent area instead.. big mistake there) and my understanding was that if you don't do CIT there, you can pretty much forget being a counselor as CITs get shortlisted. Maybe other camps in the area are different.
The reason I like the library idea is that she can reach it on her bike without needing to be shuttled.
Well, if she is the CIT age, not much you can do unless you find a camp that takes campers a year older or counselors a year younger.
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My 14 year old has been trying to get accepted by the library as a volunteer, but they haven't been very good at getting back to her. From what I've seen, they normally accept every kid who shows up at the door, but she's been making lots of phone calls that never get returned. I'm beginning to wonder if it's because she's gay and not very private about it, dresses and cuts her hair "like a boy", etc. There are some small minded assholes in this town, unfortunately.
Library is an option but they are only taking four kids per week as volunteers.
The reason I like the library idea is that she can reach it on her bike without needing to be shuttled.
ETA: actually, it just dawned on me that I went to school with a career volunteer at that library and his mom is a well respected, semi-retired librarian there currently, and both are Facebook friends with me. Duh. I need to learn how to do this human socialization thing...