Parent Help School Camp

PLEASE NOTE THIS CAMP WAS WEEKS BEFORE COVID19 


OMG what the hell was I thinking to Parent Help on my son's school camp. How did this happen?

Hubby has always done our sons school camps cos he drives and I don't and camps usually need parents to drive to provide transport to and from camp and sometimes driving on camp. I checked with teacher in charge of camp if me not driving would affect their parent help, no so I gave hubby a break except he did drive us and 2 kids to and from camp. 

So that's how I ended as Parent Help.

The camp was 4 days, 3 nights.

DAY 1

Hubby drives me and our son to school to get instructions where to drive for our meeting place.
That done having teacher tell us Parent Help what our roles are regarding duties and responsibilities. 

We all get into car and drive off. 

Hubby used the GPS on his phone but it was giving wrong directions and we ended off track. I used my data to use my GPS app and it got us back on track and we found the meeting place at the designated time 😊

A quick food/drink break then back on the road to the camp's final destination.

We arrive at camp and to my horror I see tents 😱 I was thinking WTF are you serious. Yes we all had tents to sleep in.
Backtrack when I read the info it wasn't clear that everyone would be sleeping in tents, it seemed we were sleeping in bunk rooms, that's what I was lead to believe.
Anyway we all grab our stuff find our tent and unpack stuff we need. The kids were in groups for their tents, all adults had their own tent 

The camp area was divided into 3 main areas and to get to them there were steps to walk up and down. Top area was bathrooms and kitchen. Middle area was feeding and meeting place. Bottom area was tent site. 

With bathroom it was toilet beside shower with wall in between, no lock so I never showered not trusting full privacy. 

Back to DAY 1. After unpacking we ended going for a walk down to the Warf. Weather was hot and the walk was tiring due to the heat. 
While walking I would stay at the back to be sure no one was left behind, plus I was slow walking so it fit well for me 😉

I ended walking with 2 girls and one touched a bumblebee on the ground, yes it bit her. Her finger became red and sore. Once we arrived at the Warf I showed teacher what had happened and we applied some first aid to help relieve her pain. I turned to her and said "What have you learned today?" 
She replied "Not to touch bees". 🐝 
Bees are furry and tempting to touch but with eyes only not hands. 

After walking in the hot sun we all make it to the 
Warf. The kids had choice whether they would jump or not and most did and wore a life jacket, there were 2 parent helpers in water to help the kids in the water, both wearing life jackets too. Safety first 👍

Watching the kids face their fear of heights and overcoming them by jumping off the Warf was great to see, more so my son, he needed encouragement and took the plunge literally jumping in water💦 Felt so proud 😊

The Warf was the highlight of Day 1.

That night the kids couldn't sleep cos of their excitement being at camp and were very noisy, took ages for them to sleep. 

DAY 2

Annoyingly some kids woke too early and disturbed others trying to sleep through to the allowed time to wake up 0700. I heard kids running round my tent, looked at time on my phone 0430, I was thinking "Are you kidding me?" Later I found out the kids by my tent were chasing a hedgehog, kids said it was trying to get inside my tent 😅


All the kids were in groups for their jobs and there were Parents to be sure all groups did their jobs. The everyday jobs were breakfast, lunch, tea and it included prep and cleaning up afterwards. It was great seeing the kids with responsibility and expectations from them, even cleaning toilet. 

For the teacher to get attention she used a whistle and by the end of camp I was happy not to hear that whistle ever again, it drove me crazy with its piercing sound 🔊🙄

The activity was The Giant Swing. A 30 degrees day so we all had our water bottles. First mission to walk up a hill. I ended right at the back again making sure no one was left behind and again I was slow so best place for me. The hill was murder to walk up in the heat, halfway up I was huffing and puffing trying to catch my breath thinking 'my gym workout is easier than this'.
Finally make it to top of hill 😀

The instructor tells us all how the Giant Swing works which is required teamwork, everyone had their part to play. Basically we were in a line pulling a rope that pulled the person on Giant Swing up the hill, in the extreme heat it was exhausting. 

It came to my son's turn who is terrified of heights he needed A Lot of encouragement just to have him try. Step by step my son overcame his fear to did it 😊 Felt very proud of him feeling his fear and doing it anyway.

The kids slept well that night 😴

DAY 3

With each day the mornings were getting harder feeling exhausted from daily activities and sleeping in tent on hard ground, plus now have my son staying with me cos he's feeling homesick. It was nice to have his company though 🤗

Activity Kayaking. 

We meet our instructor and gather round in a circle saying our names to help them know who we are, it helped me too, I didn't know any of the kids names before camp and this repeated getting to know names activity helped me a lot. Being Parent Help it was important to know how many kids and who they were in our group. 

Instructions given we walk up to grab our safety gear

Once safety gear is on we hop into van and drive to beach. 
We arrive at beach when I realise my water bottle wasn't with me, I had left it behind at the gear shed Doh. Not making a deal of it I just hoped it would still be there when we returned. 
Just as I was getting out of van I lose my hair tie so by the end of activity it was messy and knotty. 

Anyway. We get to beach and Instructor demonstrates out of water how to use our paddles being sure everyone is doing it right. 
The instructor brings us to kayaks and shows us how to use them. Now it was the real deal to use what we just learned out on the water 💦

Most of us were in double kayaks so both of us had to work together to paddle, my son ended in same kayak as me. Paddling was hard with a strong cross wind that caught us and put us in wrong direction. First time we lost control and ended needing a rescue, sooo lol, good test to know if in trouble help would be there 😜

After that fun experience we started to work together and improved our paddling a lot. Such hard exhausting work, wasn't a fan and other kids felt the same 😢

Activity done we all helped bring the kayaks onto beach and up to trailer. I helped extra by carrying the paddles. I was happy it was over, an experience I wouldn't be repeating anytime soon. Kayaking involves fitness and coordination and when in doubles teamwork is vital. Knowing your left from right is helpful too. 

The kids go for a swim still wearing their life jackets till its time to head back to gear shed. 

Once back at gear shed I'm relieved to see my water bottle is still there 'phew'.
We go through more instructions what to do to get safety gear off and lots of us unzip when we were told not to, easy to forget, yes I did it too but quickly zipped it up before being noticed 😉

All gear returned we walk back to camp. 

It was a quiet night 😴

DAY 4

Our last day and by now my energy levels have plummeted feeling exhausted, irritable just happy it's the last day 😀

Final activity Coasteering. 

As usual we meet up in our groups with our instructor gathered in a circle getting to know each others names. I almost know all kids names in my group now. 

We walk to the gear shed and an important thing I was told to wear thermal underneath swimsuit cos even when wet it still kept warm. We were told to wear shorts underneath and on top of swimsuit to prevent rips. I forgot shorts to wear over swimsuit and like mother like son he forgot too, lucky they had spare shorts we could wear. 

All sorted we drive to location for Coasteering. 

At the top of hill and I feel anxious with my heart racing, taking slow deep breaths to calm myself down. 
Instructor shows us how to climb down the rope leaving space between each person with a parent help in middle and the other at end, yes me. The other parent voiced concern when I said I'd stay at the end of rope and I said cos I'd slow everyone down this was my reason. 
With everyone ahead I started to climb down backwards just holding onto the rope and not being able to see where I was heading freaked me out 😳 I panicked and yelled for help. Yes I needed the instructor to guide me down to the bottom. Again testing if you need a rescue it would happen 😜

Finally get to bottom of hill soo relieved, huffing and puffing to catch my breath back. Instructor voiced concern if I'd be ok climbing uphill to get back, I reassured her Yes and that going downhill backwards not seeing where I'm going was the worst part, I'd be fine climbing uphill. 

More instructions how to walk round the rocks without hurting our hands on tiny barnacles. I hated walking on the rocks, exhausting work. We come to a high rock to jump off into the water. As Parent Help I had to do it to be in the water to help anyone who needed it. Once in water I was happy. Water is my friend 💦🤗

After Instructor jumped I did too and kids followed. Before we jumped we had to think of our favourite ice cream flavour (clever distraction from feeling anxious to jump). My son was scared but with encouragement he did it 😊 (no pics taken couldn't being in water). 

After jump we get back on rocks, do more walking to another jump a little higher than the last. If any kid didn't want to jump they weren't forced, my son didn't jump and that was okay. Of course I had to and when I hit the water I didn't jump out far enough and hit a rock, not seriously just grazed it with my leg protected with shorts and swimsuit so no big deal 😉 Again loved being in the water 💦😊

After all jumps more walking on rocks till finally we are back at bottom of hill where we started. 
OMG climbing uphill was murder 😱 I was huffing and puffing struggling to breathe till got to the top, taking slow deep breaths to slow my heart rate and get back to normal. At top the other parent help had marshmallows for us to eat, very kind 🤗
Funny thing was when offered a marshmallow I said I had dirty hands and when my son reached the top of hill some time after me and was offered a marshmallow from packet he said same thing that he had dirty hands, like mother like son. 

Coasteering complete. Back to return safety gear and dress, yes wearing thermals kept me warm in water and once swimsuit and thermal were removed I shivered brrr. 

Short walk back to camp to pack up our stuff and be sure all rubbish is taken care of. Thankfully we didn't have to take down tents cos another camp was arriving that day. 

All stuff packed we drive to area to have lunch. 

Hubby shows up and gets hugs from my son and me, it felt sooo good to hold him feeling I needed it, felt very homesick and happy to be going home 🤗

To sum up I learned many things to pass on to anyone who has thought of being Parent Help on school camp. 

First know how you will be sleeping e.g tents, bunk beds. Sleep is damn important so be sure to bring what you need to sleep well 😴

Bring snacks for everyday, you'll need them to keep up your energy to face everyday activities. I had snacks just for the first 2 days and needed more as my energy reduced each following day. 

The camp checklist for your child, if you think something is unnecessary on the list check with teacher, you don't want to carry extra stuff that's not needed e.g sunscreen was provided for all. 

Get fit. Fitness is vital to cope with everyday activities that are physically challenging always exhausting, lucky to have been going to gym beforehand, even then I still found it bloody challenging to keep up with everyone. 

Patience you will need lots of it, thankfully we got downtime everyday to rest and distance ourself for some ME time, you will need it 😜

You will discover your strengths and weaknesses during camp. My strength was water, weakness heights, hill climbing. Also I'm seen as a nurturer not authority figure, taking charge didn't go well as kids didn't respect me as much as the male parent helpers, mainly boys, being a Mum with boys it's to be expected. I was there to care if kids needed it e.g girl who got bit by bumblebee needed first aid, give certain kids encouragement to feel their fear and do it anyway e.g doing the Giant Swing when scared of heights. 

As Parent Help I did my best not to hover over my son or give him special treatment in front of the other kids, didn't want my son seen as a Mummy's boy, so kept my distance during downtime and was there if he needed me. 

Being Parent Help gave both me and my son an advantage by sharing information given to me to help prepare for the activities e.g wear thermals for Coasteering to keep warm. 

I was glad to have this opportunity to Parent Help on my son's school camp, being able to take pics and share this experience with my son will be memorable. 

                          Notes of appreciation ❤️❤️❤️