One more bump in the road

And then there are the other groups accompanying us on field trips.
The loud.
Wild.
Out-of-control.
Crazy hordes.
I heard in so many director meetings as we approached Summer program that 'we might have different standards of behavior'.

Yeah, that's one way of putting it.

I'd put it this way... not everyone will notice the potential for accidents (in fact it's 100% likely they won't notice anything, ever)  and DO SOMETHING when kids are being stupid and unsafe.

For example, basic bus safety. You know, keep your arms and legs inside the little area formed by your seat. Keep your butt ON your seat.
Also, don't stand up and hit people either in front of you or behind you.

The kids aren't monitored closely enough and they get away with all kinds of shitty behaviors and attitudes. Not just on the buses but in their regular programs.

Not every program is crazy. And there are site directors who are more or less effective for at least some of the time.

But there isn't a single one that runs like mine does.
I would have quit a long time ago if I'd ended up in one of the crazy places. Although if I were stuck with some of the kids who act up, I have a feeling we'd manage to find a way to get along.

Speaking of rowdy hordes... This week we started hosting the kids from the families who pay for year-round care in other schools. The Portland Public schools closed all their program locations so they can finish cleaning and prepping for the new school year.

There are four locations open. Parents can drop their kids off within a half hour window of time at a more or less centrally located school and they're bused to those locations.

Guess who's running one of those 'every behavioral issue known to man ' camps?

Yep.

Kids from the madhouse programs can come and break my stuff.
Speak inappropriately, argue with every damn thing I say, break more stuff, be disrespectful to the other adults,  generally wreak havoc. (digression... I saw online just this week 'reek havack, rod iron and upmost respect for'... gods help us)

Yeah, there are staff-led activities for the kids, but many of them aren't interested in making something out of a paper plate or some construction paper. While the staff is involved with the project kids, the rest of the group is acting like children.One of the things that causes kids to act like kids is that there just are not enough things for them to do at their sites. If there were more THINGS for the kids to do, it would help immensely with crowd control. A shoebox container of LEGO for a group of 50 kids, even if only 10 of them want to play with them, is simply not enough.

They need more choices of things to do on their own. Instead of someone telling them 'here's the project' and making even the kids who don't want to do one have a seat at the table anyway.

They need to be able to choose their own adventure.

Kids need items for dramatic play.
Items for active indoor play.
Not running games, but things like ping pong and table hockey or target practice with beanbags or ping pong balls into cups.
Speed cup stacking.
Things to build with.
Not only LEGO but other things. One of the things I have at my site is a bin that originally contained 480 cups. There aren't quite that many in there now... they get stepped on and cracked and broken during regular play.
A corner of the room reserved for quiet time, too.
So they can escape withdraw when they need to.

We are running year-round at my school starting this fall. And I have the things I need for effective programming, something for almost everyone, and the support of my school staff. I've missed being there SO MUCH.

The SUN program was in our summer location. I've talked about them before. When I worked with Sunshine, we were instrumental in getting them booted OUT of our school. They were scary, those "qualified" adults.

The SUN program this summer has been amazing. They were respectful of us and our space. When they had breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria and the site supervisor asked the group to be quiet, our kids were quiet, too. They didn't intrude on our space (much) and once everyone figured it out, that was pretty simple, too. Thursday was their last day, which means I can once again get the ping pong stuff out to set up on one of the long cafeteria tables, can set up table hockey on another table, let the kids make long marble runs out of the sliced fun noodles and move our 'reading room' off the stage and back down to the main level.

That will be a nice change from being cramped in a quarter of the room.

Three weeks to go. Actually 14 more days, as the 30th is our day to break down the whole camp mess and relax for a WHOLE THREE DAY weekend before the start of school.

Counting down.