camp counselor mess ups

We all know that everybody makes mistakes sometimes at work. Let me share you some of my mess ups when I was working as a camp counselor.

2017 14Y (CIT)

- Placed a camper on my lap and bounced her until the director told me it was inappropriate.

2018-2019, 15Y/16Y (CIT and Camp Counselor)

- Tickled very few campers who were girls to make them smile and laugh.

- Accidentally nudged a camper on the elbow cause I was annoyed at him and on my phone.

- After swimming the other camp counselor and I split the boys to the men’s locker room and the girls to the women’s locker room to change. I went with the girls to the women’s locker room. While I was changing the little girls were giggling at each other cause they were naked and I heard them say “let’s go see if the camp counselor is naked”. In my mind I was like, “oh no, please don’t see me naked” and when they saw me naked, they were all laughing. I was so embarrassed and I told them to wait until I’m done changing.

- Went on a field trip to the National Zoo and while we were waiting for the bus a kid was sitting on every camp counselor’s lap including mine because they were tired and hot.

- Talked to six year olds about drugs cause I thought they were smart enough to know.

2023/2024, 20Y/21Y (After School Teacher)

- Favored one student by giving them my phone and AirPods and let them watch shows on Netflix and gave it back to me when my boss showed up.

- Took them to the vending machine in the teachers lounge and bought snacks for them even though I wasn’t supposed to.

- Laughed at the 4th/5th graders jokes, even if they were inappropriate and didn’t stop them from doing that because I wanted them to think that I was the cool teacher.

2024, 21Y (Camp Counselor)

- Me and a CIT were both mean to another CIT and I made him cry. I got splashed with a water balloon by him for my comeuppance.

- Didn’t instruct four and five-year-olds to follow me because it was my first time being a lead camp counselor and I got yelled at on the first day of camp.

- Had a meeting with the camp director because I accidentally told my therapist something bad which apparently was a red flag to them and they had to report that.

2026, 23Y (STEAM Camp Counselor)

- Talked to nine, ten, and eleven year-olds about their Fourth of July, which led to political talk regarding the 250 anniversary and our current president because they were very smart kids so I thought until they decided to tell their parents which I realize my boss was right about the older kids more likely to snitch on their parents.

- Accidentally showed inappropriate answers when we played a family feud game which I was so embarrassed and angry about because they couldn’t invent a family feud game for kids. I was surprised they knew most of the answers and the non camp friendly ones (I think that’s the situation where I got in trouble about talking about politics because there was an answer on the game that was political related, and I said one sentence which was “I would not vote for so and so” and then another camper talked about the voting polls)

- Accidentally said “dammit” when me and the campers played Uno

These were honest mistakes. Mind you that I’m neurodivergent (autism + ADHD). I’m not saying that as an excuse. I’m saying that to make a point. I wasn’t taught about what’s appropriate and what’s not because when people figured out that I was autistic and I had ADHD they made the assumption of that I “don’t know any better”. This just goes to show that people who are neurodivergent need to be taught right from wrong about what appropriate and what’s not at school, work, and in the real world when they’re young cause if they don’t, they’re gonna make a big list of mistakes they made at these three situations, whether they’re honest or not.