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I went to camp thinking that the job of a counselor was mostly fun: cheering on sports teams, encouraging color war excitement etc. but I found out that the work involved was much more than I expected.
Waking up kids and getting them to go to shacharis
Keeping them quiet during davening
Getting them to do bunk clean-up (especially the ones that have maids at home and are aghast at the idea of doing work)
Getting them to go to breakfast instead of eating the junk food their parents gave them.
Keeping them inside the dining room until bentching
Convincing a kid to take his meds
Getting kids to go to activities instead of playing DS or whatever else they do.
Acting simultaneously as counselor, coach and umpire/ref (cheering on your team and remaining unbiased)
Dealing with complaints about everything
etc. etc.
Try putting 13 ten year olds to bed every night!!!
you are right, it is a lot of work. but it is very rewarding and can be fun if you can keep from getting too stressed out. it isn’t possible to be successful at all those things all the time, just to put in the best effort. when i think of the pasuk, “lo alecha hamelacha ligmor” i always think it fits best with raising/working with kids. you can only do your best to maintain a controlled chaos, the rest is in Gds hands.
Welcome to the life of an adult, work is sometimes unpleasant and hard but it has to be done. Many coworkers of mine bemoan their jobs i feel blessed to have this job and treat it as a gift is it always a bowl of cherries? of course not but you take the good with the bad and muddle through the hard parts and when that is over you say wow that was a rough stretch but i did it.
i’ve been a counselor for years and loved it1 it was never about the money, it started off as something to keep myself busy in the long summer months, and turned into something so important in life. to me counselors are a mixture of psychologist, parent, and energizer bunny all in one. There are difficult children ,yes, but if you are focused on the good parts of it and not the negative you will notice how much of it was fun. the cute remarks from children who seem way to smart for their age , the way some kids with challenges deal with adversity ( and the satisfaction that you helped them deal with those challenges), the friend you meet and keep up with etc. there is some weird sense of nachas that i feel when i see my campers names in the newsletter as best in bunk, davening, and learning. i would not trade the experiences i’ve had as a counselor for anything
Thats the problem. its not your vacation. your job is to ensure the kids who pay to go to camp enjoy their vacation. it is why the camp (supposedly) pays you and parents are expected to tip you. if you want a paid vacation, ask your parents to pay for you to go to camp.
When I was a counselor Rav Belsky told us that in the times of Chazal, Hashem would test manhigim if they were able to lead Klal Yisroel by first having them shepherd sheep. Nowadays Hashem tests furure leaders by seeing how they deal with young children as counselors.
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