This week I had the opportunity to go to day camp up at camp Jeremiah Johnson with our ward’s activity day girls. I made the reservation, got the forms, and all that jazz.
Aside from the worrying that we would either have too many girls or not enough girls going, and the fact that I really didn’t want to spend my one free night of the week with a bunch of girls at camp, it was not a bad experience. Mostly not a bad experience. It was well run and fun for the kids. Which is amazing since I don’t think I saw an adult the whole time after we checked in. I’m not kidding! The whole place is run by 13-15 year old kids. And run well. These kids have enthusiasm, patience, and were responsible. Amazing, right?
By the time we were done, the girls were all crowding around the trading post to spend every last dollar they had brought. Jenna and two other girls had gotten slushies, and were sipping them. Yum. After a few last minutes of “shopping”, I started to round the girls up. “It’s time to go, girls. Wrap it up,” I said. Most of them came over and we made sure we had everyone. One little girl, who I will call ‘Jane’, came over, and then said, “But I wanted a slushie! We can’t go yet! I want a slushie!” Now, we had been milling around the trading post for at least 10 minutes allowing them to buy whatever they wanted, and she was just realizing that she wanted to buy a slushie? I don’t think so. I said calmly that she could not buy a slushie now, because we were going to the car, and there were no slushies allowed in the car. The other girls were already half finished with their slushies, and therefor they would be mostly gone by the time we got to the car.
Nothing doing. This little ‘Jane’ proceeded to throw a fit. “But that’s not FAIR! I wanted to buy a slushie, and I still have a dollar left! Why can’t I get a slushie?” By this time, I wasn’t going to let her get a slushie for the sole reason that she was being a royal pain. I remained calm (because this wasn’t my kid, after all) and told her that no, she wasn’t going to get a slushie. If she had wanted to buy one, she should have done that 10 minutes ago, and now we were leaving. Reluctantly, she followed up to the car, complaining the whole way. This girl can REALLY ramble on.
Not knowing if I could really survive the whole drive home without my head exploding if I had to hear about the injustice of her slushie and that fact that she didn’t get one. I said, “Sarah I mean ‘Jane’, you have twenty seconds to complain about your slushie. Go!” I was looking at my watch to count the seconds. ‘Jane’ did not say anything for a few seconds until I said, “Only 16 seconds left, you’d better get started.”
“I WANT MY SLUSHIE!” she began, “You didn’t let me get a slushie, even though I wanted one, and that’s not fair that I didn’t get to get a slushie and those girls got to get slushies…… (slushie, slushie, slushie….)”
“Three, two, one, done.” I said. “Now, there will be not one more word of complaining or mentioning slushies. Understood?”
She nodded. And we actually had a pleasant, slushie-free drive home.
And did I mention that I was very glad to bring MY daughter home with me, and let all those girls go home to their own parents?
You exhibited excellent skills at being firm!! I’m proud of you. Shame on her for acting that way with you (she probably does that with her own mother and gets what she wants every time.)