Do you have volunteer (sessionals)?

[c3divers]

Does your camp have volunteers (moms, aunts etc) staff that come up for a session or 2?

If yes, how well do you like or dislike the idea?

We have had sessionals come to camp for as long as I can remember. It has evolved from having 1 unit (4-5) sessionals to now we have over 50 coming to camp this year. It is a great opportunity for the moms to see what their daughters do and to participate in camp activities.

[Angel_Jenny]

We get volunteers in all the time to help counsell and It's usually not a problem though one that was also a mum did anooy me a little one week as she always had to check her son was ok!!! grrrr of course he was LOL

[Smudge]

At my last camp the Me and My Gal weekend porgram was run by volunteers.

[Trees]

We don't, but we sometimes have moms ask about it. They've been surprised and sometimes offended that we don't need their help--probably because the rest of Girl Scouts is so volunteer-oriented.

I haven't experienced sessionals, so I don't really know, but personally I think it would change the camp experience too much.

Once my mom came to fill in for a week when we were short-staffed, but I was a CIT. It WAS a lot of fun to have her there, so she could see what we do, but I wouldn't have liked it if I was younger. And I'm sure it wasn't as much fun for the kids as if they'd had a "regular" counselor.

At your camp, do the moms come the same session as their daughters? If so, are they placed in the same unit? How do they interact with the (presumably) younger paid staff?

[Smudge]

I just remembered that at the second camp I worked at, a christian camp, the maintainance manager was a volunteer and he was there for the whole summer.

[c3divers]

Our sessionals are NEVER in the same unit as their daughter. We make that very clear when they apply to be a sessional. If their daughter is a brownie then we try to place them in a Jr unit or vice versa. When we interview the prospective sessional we ask them if it is going to be a prob for them or their daughter is they are not tegother. Sessionals are an integral part of our camp. They are a breath of fresh air later in the summer when the reg staff are getting drained.

We also let the sessionals know that they will be working with 18 - 24 yr olds and if they will have a problem with that. The usual response is that We can prob learn alot from the seasonals since they are the ones that have been here year after year.

[prettysocks]

We usually have one or two in the summer. They come for about a week or so, and are assigned to a cabin, like a paid staff would be. They help out where needed, but cannot do a lot of things (such as dressing, bathing, feeding, lifting campers - special needs camp). They are a huge help to have in the cabin though! It's wonderful when you get a volunteer!

[Trees]

Sounds like a good idea that you don't have the sessional in the same unit with the daughter... not only do you not have that "issue" in the unit, but it probably turns off some of those moms who would have the clingy issue in the first place, so they don't end up doing it.

I still have a hard time imagining moms in our staff house--I think they'd be sort of horrified at how immature the staff really are when they're not with the kids--but on the other hand, maybe they'd be a civilizing influence on them, which would be a wonderful thing...

[Smudge]

Or they may turn out to be just as crazy and fun loving as everyone else!

[KiwiCRB]

We had two nurses last year and they both had their daughters with them and it really was two extremes of the situation. The first nurse checked on her daughter in the unit every night and the daughter would throw a fit if she didn't. They also sat together at every meal. The second nurse basically told her daughter that while we're out here I'm not your mom, I'm the nurse. It wasn't in a mean way and they did sit together sometimes but really which daughter got more out of the camp experience?

Back on topic... we do have some volunteers come out sometimes because we really do need them and sometimes just because they like to do it. They sometimes stay in the unit and they sometimes don't depending on how comfortable they are with it.

[Trees]

Oh, sure, crazy and fun-loving is great, and not immature at all... I mean more like how much the staff gossips and talks about how drunk they're going to get on their breaks, that kind of thing.

[Smudge]

Ahhhhhhh - that might shock them - but then again it may shock some of the paid staff. I think that it depends on the person.

[happy_camper]

We do have volunteers, but we don't go out to recruit them. THey kind of come to us. We have a volunteer counselor who has three kids -- one is another staff member, and the other two are campers. She didn't come to camp to be a volunteer, but they live about 2 hours away, so instead of coming back and forth, he decided to volunteer.

One of our cooks last year had two girls that were campers. She came to the unit every night to tuck them into bed... It was horrible because the other girls can't have their mom come and tuck them in, so it induced homesickness and just plain wan't fair to the other campers.

We also offer positions such as camp nurse that are volunteer, but have the benefit of allowing one child to attend camp for free.

We have LOTS of staff kids and family connections in our staff, and almost all of them tell their kids that they are not MOM at camp!

[c3divers]

Our sessionals follow the same rules as the seasonal staff. They understand that they are not allowed to tuck their girls into bed. The girls also are not to call them mom. My daughter calls me by my camp name and even when we are not at camp to get my attention she call me by my camp name.
If they are in the dining hall during the same meal they can sit together, however the mom needs to make sure she does not treat her daughter any differently than any of the other campers.