Monday, July 26, 2010

Girl Scout Camp

This weekend my daughter went to three days of Girl Scout day camp. I was signed up to go for three days with her. I was set and poised to go through three days of mud, sweat, sun, and fun all for her. She's nine, and this was her first experience with camping. I didn't know how she'd do. Would she fit in? Would she drink enough water? Would she stay with the group? You have to understand that my daughter's a lot like me. While we like to be social, we also like to be alone. We're not your typical girly girl. I think we both have tried to fit in with girls. And there are some girls that like us, but a lot don't either. I just wanted to be sure that she wouldn't be wandering through the day by herself.

But after one day of camping, I was done. I live in Kansas, and let me tell you, it was hot! It was so hot, no human being should be out there. It felt like I had jumped into a pool with my clothes on. It was just gross. I would have endured this if I felt like my daughter needed me. But I saw her purposely hanging back with me, asking me to do things that I knew she could do herself. She was reallly concerned about me and my fitting in. I really felt like this was inhibiting her.

So, when I got up the next morning, I just decided I could not do one more day. When I broke the news to her that she was going to camp without me, she just looked at me and said, okay, shrugging her shoulders. Later, she professed that she was glad I was not going. I asked her why, and she said that now she could walk up front with the girls. I explained to her that she never had to stay with me if I did something as a parent with the group of girls, that I was there for her. I also told her I was glad that she was able to do all of these things without me. I told her my job was to get her ready to go out in the world so that she could go out and shine and just be herself. When she came home that night, I asked her how her day had been. She said it was the best day of her life. I smiled and thought that I must be doing my job if she wanted to go to camp without me.

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