Latest Posts by thelittlestladylikesthis - Page 3

Chaco tans are the best!

When camp friends get you the hook up on international foods ❤️🌏😁

Sneezing

My brother has one of those really loud, dramatic sneezes. He just sneezed three times in a row and scared the whole bus. I’m pretty proud of my response.

>

Brother: *loud obnoxious sneezes* “whew” *sees everyone staring* “I’m sorry…”

Me: “Sorry? God bless you! How’s your nose?”

Thats right! The rest of you look away! We all get allergies in south Texas!

The discussion went askew when “WHY WOULD YOU PUT GRAVY ON A BISCUIT?!” happened.

I don’t know if any of you have ever tried explaining biscuits and gravy to international staff from the UK, but it is A Time.

Waiting for Camp

What Camp Friends think I do:

What Out-of-Camp Friends think I do:

What I think I do:

What I actually do:

Let’s be real- I’ve been packed for at least a week and I’ve unpacked and repacked both bags at least twice.

I’m SO excited!!!!

I’m a Slytherin… I do this… there are people like me out there! 💚💚💚💚

Date a Slytherin who plans a future at like 2am and then texts you every detail for when you wake up

4 more days! I can’t wait to go back to camp!

7:30am: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

8am: Breakfast

8:30am: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

Every 10 minutes until lunch: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

2pm: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

Every 10 minutes until 4pm: “Texas, I’m hungry!”

4pm: Snacktime

4:01pm: “Texas what are we doing now?!”

Me inside:

When the new lid weights still can’t keep the raccoons out of the trash cans.

If you have the opportunity to sleep- take it!

Mental health tip

Get enough sleep.

Sleep is very important. Young adults (18-24) need 7 ½ to 9 hours and teens (14-17) need 8-10 hours of sleep a night. So, how does one get sleep at camp when it’s full of late nights, early mornings, and campers waking you up in the middle of the night. Tried and true tips:

Designate someone as the nighttime wake-up counselor. Everybody takes a turn being the designated person who gets up if a kid needs something in the night. Trade off? They sleep in a little bit.

Get kids to bed on time by using a nighttime routine and starting it early enough. Remember, it takes little kids longer to get ready for bed and calmed down enough to sleep.

Designate half the counselors to be bedtime counselors and half to be wake-up counselors. Bedtime counselors stay up later but sleep in a little and wake-up counselors go to bed a little earlier and get up earlier.

Don’t do your paperwork when you should be sleeping. Maybe that means you slip away during lunch to do paperwork, but reserve time in your tent for actual sleeping.

Take naps during breaks if you need to, especially if you were up during the night. 

Everyone during field games:

Me during field games:

When you let the kids use your fidget toys and what not:

When you take your campers on a nature scavenge hunt:

When 9-y.o. campers tell you about their family yacht and European excursions.

When people trash talk the Milky Way Unit. My little boys are angelic ducklings and I am their mama duck!

When anyone trashtalks my cabin

Yes. This is me. My campers usually learn by Wednesday that if they wake up before my alarm goes off they can take a buddy to the bathroom, read quietly, or go back to sleep!

When I hear noise coming from the bunks before 7AM

Children are THE most important work

This is awesome for camp counselors! If your campers don’t feel safe or listened to when they are upset, camp will not be magical for them.

Me… patiently waiting to fly to Washington for camp…

ATTENTION: MY MOM BOUGHT ME A BABY GROOT BOP IT!!!

When everybody leaves the summer camp before you

Me, roaming around the dorm rooms and cafeteria alone:

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me

That I live and you are gone.

There's a grief that can't be spoken. There's a pain goes on and ooon-

All my camp friends on facetime: you fucking drama queen we're just in the fucking airport we're not even dead-

Me: Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me what your sacrifice was for

Empty chairs at empty tables

Where my friends will sing no moreeee.

the most relatable camp staff post ever...

I Bring a Small Library to Camp

One of the many reasons people at camp call me “Mom” is because I love reading to my campers at bedtime or during down time when asked. I’ve been called “entertaining” by my fifth grade campers because I “do voices” and read more like I’m narrating a play and all of its parts. Part of the reason I do this is because, well, I enjoy it. They may not seem too interested in reading when you interact with them, but that’s usually because it’s during the day and there are so many other things to do. But when given the option to stay up a bit later, they will want to be read to; and many kids (and even teens) really do like listening to someone else read. For younger kids it may be something their guardians do at home; for the older ones it may remind them of the comforting reading time they had as a young child. Children who are read to on a usual basis (five or more times per week) often use more literary language when asked to speak or write.¹ While working with children, I have noticed that many kids show signs of stage fright or a feeling of discomfort when doing things as simple as introducing themselves to a group. I like to use reading to my campers as a way to show them that speaking up and being crazy when you talk is perfectly okay and even encouraged.

I find it’s often difficult to get my campers to interact (sometimes appropriately) at meal times. While being the icebreaker of the group can work, at breakfast I found my campers often spoke about the book I read the night before. That’s the last thing they remember from the previous day and it’s the first thing they’ll talk about the next morning (unless they’ve already been distracted by gaga ball). When we read to campers or children in general, they’ll unintentionally talk about the story, ask open-ended questions, question word definitions, and point out conflict and resolution. This promotes an increase in their language development and comprehension of stories– all of which lead to better reading skills.²

I usually bring a small collection of paperback books to camp with me and have a library in my cabin for down time or if they would like to read before bed. The big hits this past summer were J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Roald Dahl’s Matilda.

Keeping in mind that my campers are usually in the 3rd-6th grade (8-12 years old) age range, here are some books I keep in my little library:

Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s by J.K. Rowling

Lions at Lunchtime by Mary Pope Osborne

The Talking T. Rex by Ron Roy

Midnight on the Moon by Mary Pope Osborne

The Lucky Lottery by Ron Roy

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

The Canary Caper by Ron Roy

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Faith and the Electric Dogs by Patrick Jennings

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Fergus Crane by Paul Stewart

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Now just remember, if that character yelled- you should be using above an inside voice. If that character is described as having an accent- try your hardest to have one. The more engaged you are in the book, the more engaged they will be. Read to your campers. They will love it and you will have control over bedtime.

¹Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. New York: Harper Perennial.

²Berk, L. E. (2009). Child Development (8th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

I have had the same pink and black adidas backpack for at least 4 years. The wear and tear that would’ve ruined a normal backpack and mine is still awesome! I love it because it has so many pockets in different sizes that it could rival Mary Poppins’ carpet bag!

Nothing like ordering a new backpack last minute. I swear I should just become a backpack designer. That way I get everything I need out of it.

I want a backpack that is

not to small,  not too big, not too stiff, not too soft, not too expensive, not too cheap, able to carry all my stuff, but not too rugid has 2 large compartments plus a front pocket for pens/ small objects, plus a side pocket that can hold my nalgene not be too boring, and not be too flashy

Cue the part where I start singing in reaction to this meme: ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ THE STORY OF MY LIFE!! ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

When your cabin has to perform a skit

“World’s Greatest” (radio edit) by R. Kelly

“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by the Proclaimers

“Year 3000” by the Jonas Brothers

Camp Playlist

Every camp staff knows the struggle of finding camp-appropriate music to jam to. So here’s my playlist of camp-appropriate songs (which I play while driving).

“Best Day of My Life” by American Authors

“Pompeii” by Bastille

“All American Girl” by Carrie Underwood

“Bubbly” by Colbie Calliat

“Bright” by Echosmith

“Immortals” by Fall Out Boy

“On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons

“Don’t Stop Believin’“ by Journey

“Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall

“Ho Hey” by the Lumineers

“Whole Wide World” by Mindy Gledhill

“Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield

“Home” by Phillip Phillips

“Fight Song” by Rachel Platten

“Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts

“Brave” by Sara Bareilles

“Geronimo” by Sheppard

“Anthem” by Superchick

“One Girl Revolution” by Superchick

“Shake it off” by Taylor Swift

“Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon

“Firework” by Katy Perry

“Story of My Life” by One Direction

“Renegades” by X Ambassadors

(various Disney songs)

Alright camp people of Tumblr, add on your favorite camp-appropriate songs.

I AM SO STOKED!!!!

Want a Camp Job?

Come work at Camp Sealth in Washington State!

Need a good reason? Here’s 8: https://campfireseattle.org/blog/top-8-reasons-to-work-at-camp-sealth/

If you want more info contact me or Alex (tell him “Texas” sent ya)

Thank you thank you thank you for this post! I have always been “half Latina half white” because my dad is Latino and my mom is not. I took an ethnic makeup test:

53% European (45% West & Centeal Europe)

24% New World (23% North & Central America)

16% Middle Eastern (16% Asia Minor)

I am less than 1/4 Latina! People were going around saying half simply because I’m tan like my father and unlike my mother. But then as soon as I announced these results someone said “the European is from your mother,”. Um… yes that would accurate if I only received 40% of my DNA from my dad and if Spain was no longer part of Europe. I think what they meant was “most of the European is probably from your mother,”

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because they aren’t exactly 50/50

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because they are part of a race/ethnicity that you don’t like

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because they are multiracial but not multiethnic

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because they grew up with one side of their family

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because they only know the culture of one side of their family

Don’t earse a mixed persons identity because they don’t ‘look’ mixed

Don’t earse a mixed persons identity because they ‘look’ more like one side

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because they don’t speak in a certain dialect or slang

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because they don’t speak their native language(s)

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because they don’t fit a stereotype

Don’t erase a mixed persons identity because you disagree with them

Just don’t do it at all.