All’s well that ends well

Coco and Charlie missed Thursday at camp. They woke up and started to push back. Chris and I were confounded! “Why don’t you want to go?”  I asked them. “When I pick you up, you beg for just 5 more minutes.”

What is going on?

We decided they should stay home. I was a little bummed, this was my camp, too. ALL kids out of the house camp.

When we picked them up on Wednesday, one of the counselors walked up to me, and told me that they had some problems with Charlie. It was something I expected, something I only sort of dreaded. I know he isn’t easy, but I also know he is misunderstood. He doesn’t react to situations they way most people do, so people take it personally. I know we did for a long time. He was throwing rocks and then when she was trying to talk to him, he mocked her by moving his hands in a bird-like fashion. He was put in time out, only to leave it before she told him to get out. I can see how this escalated. Cameron, grand and generous big brother that he is, said “It wasn’t like he was throwing the rocks AT anyone, just kicking them around.” I told the counselor she did what she should do, but that he does better with carrot rather than sticks, offer him something for being good, and take something solid rather than just put him in time-out. Time-out just really doesn’t work. I wondered if this was the reason he wanted to stay home. But even if it was, why would Coco want to stay home?

I made Charlie work on http://www.readingeggs.com instead of letting him watch RMS Titanic videos on youtube.com. I made Coco draw more mermaids, not play on barbie.com. I was determined to make them work instead of play since I felt they weren’t holding up their end of the camp bargain. While checking on Charlie’s reading progress, (he got to ‘ee’ and read a sentence with Chris, my brilliant boy!) I felt his head and it felt hot. I took his temperature and it was at 99.5. It is never that high unless he feels bad. Coco had 99.4. They were heat exhausted! No wonder.

For the rest of the day, we played Barbies and games and worked on sportsmanship. It was a quiet and relaxing day.

This morning, they got up, ate breakfast and were ready to go, back to camp. When we got there, I talked to the head counselor about Charlie’s behavior and he said after the first day, he had no problems with Charlie. As a matter of fact, he said he totally gets Charlie. So maybe the other counselor just doesn’t. A big WHATEVS! He was happy to go this morning, and today is the last day.

I am grateful that even though I may not understand my kids all the time, I have enough patience to let things work themselves out.