School Camps - A very big Thank You to the Teachers.

The Hat, the PJs and the new shoes.

In this day of litigation and laying blame and suing for every little broken nail and graze I reckon teachers must be more than a little mad to take off with more than  100 10 year olds who more than likely have never packed a bag or been totally or mostly self reliant. They will no doubt be up until all hours doing kid silly stuff and then be as cranky as all get out the next day cos they are so tired. There will be kids who are fussy eaters and some who might still wet the bed even if it's just under duress. There will be messy ones who fling there shit all over the cabins and are then unable to find anything, so wear the same undies for the whole time they are away and these kids no doubt will be bunking in with the most anal of kids who happily line up their socks and toiletries. And then there will be the more than expected number of kids who suffer from  homesickness or bus sickness or sore feet or migraine and I don't even want to think about the epileptic kids or the kids with diabetes or serious allergies. Yep the teachers must be nuts, and as a veteran of more than 30 years with more camps than I care to recall under my belt, I can safely say they sure are NOT doing it for the cash.

I know no other profession where the staff are expected to be on duty for 24 hours a day for days at a time, let alone doing all this for no financial bonus.

Zig is off on his own - well with all the other year 5s tomorrow. He is packed and ready to go. The 'to bring' list has had a Santa check over and to say he's excited is a bloody understatement. He has chattered about little else for weeks. Me - well I am happy to have helped with the list and have loved watching the joy of preparation but am absolutely thrilled that I am not going along.

Zig said that only 2 kids in the school are not going, one cos his mum is worried about hygiene and the other cos they couldn't afford it...that's the topic for another day.

I might not be living in the real world, but at least at 10 years old I rather hope that the teachers will not be forced to send anyone home for dealing drugs or getting pissed or taking off with some local boys to the make-out spot to look for UFOs and then returning to the fold courtesy of a police escort.....oh the memories are just flooding back and I am not smiling. I am pretty sure that I managed to put a spanner in much of the sex planning but there was plenty of snogging  and I am sure that the kids would have had a long list of the naughtiness that that they did get away with. Yep I sure am glad that this is all behind me.

The 'growing up' lessons for the kids cannot be underestimated. So far this year, Zig has grown up dramatically and beautifully and I am looking forward to hearing all his news next week, but I will be bloody staggered if all his stuff makes it home, cos I reckon he could well be that kid with his shit everywhere.

Good luck Holland Park Year 5s and of course I wish the teachers at least a little sleep and I thank them for putting all these kids ahead of their own families.