I am writing to express my sincere disappointment in the camp session my daughter attended. I had planned to stay and watch for a few minutes to make sure my daughter transitioned OK into the camp experience. However, I never felt comfortable leaving, so I stayed and observed the remainder of the day that she stayed (she ended up wanting to leave early).
It started badly, in that not one counselor approached my kid as she entered the gym room for the first time. No one said, “Hello.” No one said, “Hi, I am the counselor and my name is ___. (“…and these are the other counselors”)” No one said, “Welcome! Let me know if you need any help.” Nothing.
She did find the trampoline and started playing. Good. Eventually, however, she found the high balance beam and the high bars. She is four and has never been to a gym before. She saw other, bigger girls doing things on these elements, so she decided to try it out for herself. At no point did one of the 4-5 counselors who were huddled in a corner talking to each other, offer to help or give safety tips for what she was doing. Bad. In fact, at no point did the counselors actively engage the kids at all, except for the point at which they started a pool noodle fight. This activity, of course, quickly devolved into hurt feelings and crying. This did not seem to phase the counselors nor deter them from continuing this aggressive play (which my kid wanted none of and did not participate in).
After an hour and a half of total free-play with no direction or structure, the kids were rounded up and separated by age. My kid was taken to a small room for crafts. It has been a while since I have seen such an uninspired craft: pasta on a string. The kids were kept on this boring task for an hour (something that should have entertained them for 15-20 minutes at the most).
The kids were then taken to a different gym room. I thought, OK maybe now they will engage with the kids, play games, something. Nope. My kid did love the bouncy house and worked her way through that about ten times. But, after that, she wandered around the room playing with other non-engaged kids. Inevitably, the un-structured play devolved into bullying behavior (which was, again, not checked by the counselors). At this point my kid approached the window to the hallway crying and asked to go home. I didn’t blame her. As I was buckling her up in her car seat I mentioned that this camp wasn’t what I expected, she burst into tears saying. “I felt so left out!” My thought was, “Well, yeah, I could see how you might feel that!”
Needless to say, we will not be back. Which is a disappointment. Your tagline on your website is not true: “Summer camp is chalk-full of gymnastics, dance and all-sports activities!” This was not summer camp, this was uninspired daycare.