There's no phoning it in here

Slowly but surely the blogs are coming in. Sorry to those of you who did not get the assignment due to technical issues. We' re still waiting on three...you know who you are.

I thought it was important for all of you to spend some time considering how you and this program benefit the campers. It is not easy to see what positive things are happening when standing in the middle of the chaos, the demands, the acting out behavior, not to mention the occasional sense of inadequacy that comes when working with children. Nonetheless, you identified plenty of benefits including: exposure to positive role models, a wide variety of fun and challenging activities, a safe place to spend time, improvement in social interactions and even learning a few appropriate coping skills. I have no doubt there are many more benefits that we don't see and may not even know about until well into the future when because of something a mentor said or did, a camper makes a better choice.

I also know that these experiences for the campers did not come without a price. We all had to work hard, plan, be creative, flexible, patient and worst of all come face to face with our own inadequacies. There is no phoning it in here. If you don't do your work you will know because the campers will not tolerate less than our best. Perhaps that is why this work is so hard. They make us do our best work or pay for anything less.

In six weeks you have observed these kids experience growth in their ability to know themselves a little better, Some are getting along with each other more. Some are complying with requests on occasion and participating in activities they've never tried before. A few are more trusting and opening up about themselves. These are important achievements and should not go unrecognized. Let them know the progress you are seeing. Know the progress you are making!