This a picture of the Beach at Tigh Na Mara and some of our kids playing in the tide pools. It's a tough job but someone's got to do it. More pics to come!

Week Four

Well I had to send my first little boy home Friday. Not for anything serious but he was just completely unwilling to listen to any of the leaders. Also his mom lied to us about him being potty trained, a three year old in diapers!! good work parents. He was just a quiet little boy for most of the morning, until somehow he got a scrape on his elbow. Which was funny cause he didn't play with any of the toys or playground equipment so we had no idea how he got it. After we found out about his scrape we tried to get it cleaned up and covered with a bandaid, but even mention the word bandaid he would lose it. Screaming, running away, crying, the works. Then look the other way and he'd stop. So after about an hour of fighting with him about the bandaid, cleaning up the scrape and his refusal to go to the washroom, we called his mom at home to come get him. We had to explain the rules about being potty trained again to her, because we don't do diapers, and ask her that she doesn't bring him to Kids Club any more. He was just too much of a hand full and taking too much attention away from the twenty other kids we were looking after.

But on a happier note, I get to take a group of guests to the Horn Lake Caves in the next few weeks, and play mini golf twice!! Love my job.

Week Three

Third week into my co-op and things are starting to get a lot busier. For a few days this week we had thirty kids at Kids Camp. Extra staff working and lots of toys and games were needed for this week. That was one of the highlights of the weeks was getting the box of new toys for the kids and getting to open them all up and "test" them. Giant bubble wands, strange little flying planes, and even more shovels and buckets for the beach. I think we have as much fun with them as the kids do.

But one frustrating part of my job is some of the helpers that are working with us. They're usually young, early high school, and they just kinda hang out instead of entertaining the kids or cleaning. Three of them painting with one little girl while I'm supervising twelve kids either in the bouncy castle or waiting in line for their turn isn't very fair. I just seem to get the majority of the workload because I'm the oldest guy working for rec.

ALSO FIRST PAY DAY!! Yahoo!

Week Two- Rainy Days and Sunny Days

So another week finished, it was a really up and down week with the weather. Rainy days seem so long when your stuck inside with 12 kids. And I have to say the Beverly HIlls Chihuahua is a terrible movie the first time and even worse the next two, that was a very long day :( Keeping the kids occupied and happy with out any physical activity is very hard. After a while they get stir crazy and start acting up. It was a real test to get them all in line and calm, but for the most part all of the kids have been very well behaved.

The rest of the week was a breeze. Playing on the beach, slip and slide, and the bouncy castle are the obvious favorites, but I managed to start a paper airplane competition, and a giant game of freeze tag that were hits with the kids. Finding activities that all the different age groups can participate in is difficult, but the kids find a game and they tend to stick with it for a few days. Also there was lots of kids signed up for Friday and Saturday, which helps. A large corporate group was staying at the resort so 20 kids were signed up, plus the normal ten to fifteen kids from the Kids Club. Very busy but lots of fun!!

On a side note I want to express my thoughts on the fees involved with co-op. I understand the need for the fees, there are administration that needs to be paid and we are getting credits for this, but I feel that the cost of $600 is too high. I don't know about other students but I'm trying to save money to pay for the next year of school and this fee plus the deposit on tuition basically takes away one and a third pay check from me (my job only pays $10/hr). Looking ahead to the cost of tuition and books plus living expenses (phone, car insurance, gas, and some fun), I'm not sure now if I will be able to afford the upcoming school year. I was trying to remain debt free for the first two years of my education but that is now up in the air. Also with my co-op starting so late my first full paycheck hasn't even come yet (the first paycheck was $35 for orientation), so having to pay by the 30th of June wasn't going to happen. I am glad that I am able to have a credit card to pay VIU but I'm not sure if I'm going to have the money by the end of my bill period.

So whats $600 plus 14%?

Saturday

Saturday was a really different scenario. We only had five kids sign up and at one point there was only two kids, of very different ages. Keeping small numbers of kids occupied is much harder than big groups. With the big groups you can just get them started playing a game and they can be busy for hours so you just have to look after the kids not wanting to play with the others, but the leaders are the only ones around for the two kids. We had a scavenger hunt, which tired me out more than my partner, and tried to keep them busy with crafts. Having more kids around makes the job so much easier.

Mid Week play time!!

So finally I get to the actual job. Tuesday I had no idea what to expect when I showed up. The program is called the Kids Club, which runs from 9 till 5 every day, and basically we just do what the kids want to do. We've set up the bouncy castle, which is madness and I got mugged by ten little kids one day after they faked an injury to get me to go in. The kids are too smart for there own good!! Took me almost fifteen minutes to wrestle my way out again, but I made it out in one piece.

A few of the kids are locals that have their parents put them in the program because it's cheaper, only $10 a day!!, so it's nice to see some kids over the span of the week. Others you wish they would end their vacation early, like the nine year old girl that thought it's funny to try to nut the guys who are working. That was a very long night! She got a time out and we almost had to call her parents but she calmed down. This job really requires patience

Staff BBQ

First day on the job and we're building games for the staff's children. We started off at Tigh Na Mara gathering up all the game supplies and getting ourselves organized, then drove over to Rathtrevor beach to set up. We were at the same hut as the play day with Aggie!! There was a carnival theme to the games, Plinko, Balloon Popping, Chicken Catapault, Beanbag toss and Sumo suits for the adults by donation. Of course I got the Chicken catapault, basically the kids got a rubber mallet and hit a little square target that shot the little fabric beany chicken into the air and hopefully into a bucket for a prize. It was lots of fun, lots of kids, and lots of sun. Got a nice sunburn that day.

After the games were put away the recreation staff got to go take part in the BBQ. Burgers and salads, drinks and lots of people to meet. I don't remember half the names but everyone has name tags at work so it should work out.