Question of the Day - Monday, May 2, 2022

[Willowy]

That is a bit complicated, but I will try to condense it. I had denounced the Catholic church by this time. (I was 12 and previously had planned to become a nun, much to the joy of my family.) The camp was actually run by an Evangelical church, and I was forced to go because my neighbor's daughter did not want to go so far from home on her own and paid for my way. My very Catholic family thought if went and had fun I might want to still become a nun. It did not work, and I was deemed a "spiritual disruption" after a chat I had with some dormmates the first night there. After being talked to and prayed over, I was still "obstinant" and sequestered in the dorms under the strict order not to have any unsupervised conversations with any other campers. They said I could go to the church services as part of my "redemptive punishment."

I had packed some books and paper, giving me plenty to do.

I wish I had been that brave at age 12!



I went to day camp for 2 or 3 summers. Did Youth Sports for 4 or 5 years (spring-baseball, summer-soccer, fall-golf, winter-basketball). No sleepaway anythings; my mom was very distrustful of other adults.

 

[Jem]

I was in Girl Guides so did a few weekend and overnight (tenting) camping trips thru the years I was in it. I was also sent to summer camp (2 week cabin stays) for about 4 years...ages 9 to 12 years old. It was alright...I was a shy kid so It was pretty intimidating trying to make friends with a group of kids I had to live with for 2 weeks...especially when it seemed many of them were already friends and had "paired up". And when I was 17, I got a job as a camp counsellor with a camp for kids with disabilities, so I basically lived at the camp for the whole summer, with a new batch of kids coming every two weeks.....well, I say kids, but the last 2 week block were "kids" aged 16-19...some of them were older than me!

 

[Norachan]

Yes, I did lots of that kind of stuff when I was a kid. My parents encouraged us to be a bit adventurous. I went on camping trips with my school a few times, when I was 8, 9 and 10, and then I went on pony camp twice, when I was about 12 and 14 years old.

I also did The French Exchange, which is when you stayed with a French family and went to a French school for a week, as well as doing other kinds of day trips and cultural stuff. The thing I remember the most was being allowed to drink wine at dinner time. I think I was about 13 then, so it was kind of a big deal to have a glass of wine.

 

[game misconduct]

i went to one in the sixth grade to a place called camp colby was great fun went to raid the girls cabins the first night was also the first of 20 or so kids to get food poisoning from the food they served at breakfast. so i got one of the 2 beds available in the infirmary also learned that a girl needs help holding her hair while she pukes or it gets all over the hair and then they smell like puke afterwards not fun if your sharing a bed

 

[maggiedemi]

No, I wasn't allowed to really associate with anybody outside the church.

 

[Winchester]

No. Never wanted to. I always spent summers and vacations with my grandmother. And I probably learned more from her and my cousins than I ever would have at a camp.

 

[neely]

@Elphaba09 Good for you, for standing up for what you believed.You were very young but knew what you wanted, or in this case what you didn't want.

Ditto!

 

[maggiedemi]

a girl needs help holding her hair while she pukes or it gets all over the hair and then they smell like puke afterwards not fun if your sharing a bed

They let you share a bed with girls at that age?

 

[game misconduct]

They let you share a bed with girls at that age?

zero chance of anything happening not when theres a trash can between us to puke into on the bed with us

 

[MoochNNoodles]

We used to stay up so late at our youth stuff we’d crash where we were sometimes. There were always adults in the room anyway. One time our youth pastor said he woke up on the couch and it was a sea of youth…people everywhere. We did have rooms designated for girls and guys to sleep separately so anyone who wanted to go sleep could.

Yes. It did not go well, other than the fact that I ended up staying in the dorms 90% of the time because I ended up getting banned from activities other than the daily church services. I 100% did not want to be there, so the punishment was fantastic.

Any kind of grounding punishment never worked on me either. I had been an only child and introverted…I can entertain myself happily almost anywhere.

Actually one time I did get grounded from going to youth group. I still have no idea what I’d even done but I remember thinking shouldn’t you WANT me in church? Poor mom. She swears I was easy but I think mostly I was quiet stubborn. I’ve always resisted trends so that probably helped.

 

[AbbysMom]

The closest I ever came is attending some of the town's summer recreation activities. They had counselors at every playground in town. The playground was across the street from where I grew up and I would walk over for the arts and crafts. I took tennis lessons also. I remember the highlight was the big water balloon fight they would have once every summer. My brother was a counselor.

 

[DownTheLane]

I've done an after school music course when I was 12. Now looking back, I mostly enjoyed it because I had a bit of a crush on the teacher. She was beautiful and so kind, and I don't really have an interest in playing instruments

 

[Maria Bayote]

No, my Mom also couldn't afford extra costs for those stuff.

Also, I was bullied in my younger years, so even if we got the money I wouldn't have also joined any summer camps.