I don't think Meazi would have even mentioned it to me as she had big stories to share about feeding two large turtles and an exotic lizard.
I asked her if the boy was vanilla or chocolate. "Vanilla," she said. The camp counselor had assured me the boy's parents would be notified. I read a behavior agreement that Meazi and I both had to sign on the first day. The rules state that spitting is an immediate suspension.
This morning I dropped Meazi off and asked the counselor if we could talk again about what happened. Here is our conversation:
Me: So I am wondering about the spitting incident yesterday, were the boy's parents notified? The rules we signed Monday call for a suspension for the boy.
Camp Counselor: Yes, they were notified and he was sent home yesterday.
Me: Meazi said he was here all day.
CC: He was sent home at the end of the day. We called his mom to pick him up at 3:00.
Me: Camp ends at 3:00.
CC: Well he is not allowed to come today.
Me: Oh, he was suspended?
CC: Yes, his little brother was allowed to come today, but he was not. His little brother has been dropped off.
Me: Ok. Thanks.
I walked over to Meazi to say goodbye. I said to her, "So Meazi, that boy was suspended today for spitting in your face. He will not be allowed to come today."
Meazi: Mom, he's sitting right there, next to the counselor you were just talking to.
Me: Are you sure? He has a little brother, are you sure that is not his little brother?
Meazi: Mom, I am sure. That is Tony, the boy who spit in my face.
I saw Tony get up from the table and I walked over to the camp counselor.
Me: Meazi says that he is the boy who spit on her. What is his name?
CC: Tony.
Me: Yes. That is him.
CC: Uh, yeah, uhm I sent him to the office.
Me: You just told me he was not here today.
CC: I've just sent him to the office, and we are going to call his mom and tell her he can't be here today.
Me: So what you just told me five minutes ago was untrue?
CC: Well, uh, his little brother is here.
Me: ???
CC: He will be sent home.
Me: I'm sorry. I don't understand? Has his mom been told of the incident?
CC: Yeah, uhm, he is in the office now, I am on my way there too.
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Yeah. Um. Uh. I call BS!!!
ReplyDeleteincompetence. obviously the counselor doesn't care, just wanted you to shut up and not make anything of it. how irritating!
ReplyDeleteOk, this makes me angry. I am disgusted that the counselor just lied to your face about him. I hope things go better for Meazi at camp after this kid is sent home (hopefully he WAS sent home.)
ReplyDeleteOoo... that made me grit my teeth just reading it. Nice how we are teaching young people to lie and that it really isn't a big deal to do something like that to someone else.
ReplyDeleteI would be such a bad pacifist. The urge to throttle is overwhelming.....
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me?! I'm sure Meazi likes the camp, but I would so be tempted to complain and ask for your money back! This makes me so upset.
ReplyDeleteThen Justice arrived in the form of a big burly woman with titanium biceps, hairy armpits and halitosis. And Justice grabbed the camp counselor's face and slammed it into the nearest wall....
ReplyDeleteWhat an asshole.
I hope that you also made a trip to the office to describe the counselor's behavior to the camp director. My guess is that the counselor never said a word to the director. And her or his brains are going to explode when he or she hears it for the first time at this point(speaking as a former camp director). Here's hoping that the camp director does the right thing and stands by your child and not the obviously immature camp counselor.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you have managed to go home and type this out. I am so infuriated I can hardly function. If the camp sets up rules that says a child will be immediately suspended for spitting, they need to follow them.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the counselor lied to your face repeatedly and in front of the camper, means the counselor needs to be fired, immediately. Although that probably can't happen because of employment laws, however, immediate suspension is simple to achieve. Of course we know that they define immediately a little different than you and I do.
What happened in the office? Did you talk to management? I assume this place is a not-for-profit and is short-staffed... tough. They rely on donations and good-will. Their goal is to teach compassion. Allowing a kid to spit on another kid with no consequences is the opposite of compassion.
I think I am happy I live half way across the country... otherwise I would either be babysitting for you this afternoon while you talked to their management and or their board of directors OR I would be talking to their management and board of directors.
The spitting was awful but that was the kid's doing, the lying is inexcusable.
I imagine Meazi will learn how to let other's bad behavior belong to them, and let's hope the boy grows out of spitting. The lying counselor, however, doesn't seem to be growing up.
ReplyDeleteYou have an advantage with your DD. Mine would never tell me about that. And if I asked her to tell me the name of the child who did it she wouldn't say.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, this story is so very hard to read. How can one child do that to another? Where does that instinct come from?
I want to cry.
Girrrrrrrl, see? This is why I direct Carter to handle his business when necessary. You just can't trust the adults to do the right thing. You can't. Meazi's situation speaks to the incompetence of the grown-ups in charge and to the fact that they don't believe in their own rules. After going back the next day and seeing the kid there, I can't even say how I might have reacted. (Yes, I probably would have told my child to deal with it later that day.)
ReplyDeleteAgain, all of you parents are being very PC and diplomatic. I would have told my kid to surreptitiously find a way to give that kid a swift kick or a black eye. I do not believe people, whether kids or grown-ups, should go through life without being called on their shit. When I was little, a kid at my daycare used to always take my toys. The woman who ran the daycare discussed this with my parents. My parents then had a talk with me, telling me to stand up for myself and not let this kid get away with taking toys from me. Apparently, the message got through to me at some point and it was said I socked the mess out of that kid. He never took a toy from me again.
ReplyDeleteYou know, when you let kids get away with stuff like spitting in another kid's face, you encourage bullying. Obviously there were no consequences for his actions. So, if the grownups won't handle it, the victimized kid has to (or, at least, must try). I know people want to have a world where people don't hit each other. Such a world doesn't exist. This is why I've told my son that he can always defend himself. He will not be punished for that. If he doesn't learn to do it, he will be walked on his entire life.
That's just my two cents. I would have told Carter to just kick that kid's ass since no adult was willing to do the right thing.
I cannot wait to read part 2!
ReplyDeleteAs if the spitting isn't sad and infuriating enough, the cover up (and that is EXACTLY what it was) is worse. People like this CC are the very reason bullying exists so terribly in our kids' schools. This person should be fired. Let's not only teach kids that you can get away with acting like a heartless animal, let's also teach them that it's okay to lie and cover up wrong doing!!!! Grrrrrr...
ReplyDeleteWHAT SEMI-FERAL MAMA SAID! Holy crap, I'm livid reading this!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat??? Oh my gosh. I'm speechless. Seriously. Kid needs to be suspended, counselor needs to be fired.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this, Camp Idiot? Jeezus. Send me their number.
ReplyDeleteUNACCEPTABLE
ReplyDeleteno matter which ways you look at it.
It is now not a matter of a child's unacceptable action
rather it is this camp person's outrageous apathy
or indifference or..
(is there worse?)
Apologies for rant..but really..