Nine Things All Camp Counselors Know To Be True

There's nothing quite like those hot summer days where you get to play with kids and have the time of your life. If you've ever been a counselor, here are nine things that you will inevitably know by the end of the summer.

Your body will be ON POINT.

Who needs a gym membership when you’re a camp counselor? You can eat whatever you want at your campus dining hall because come the end of summer, you will lose at least 20 pounds after all that walking. You can maintain a steady diet of Oreos and Cheez-Its late at night and still lose weight.

There is nothing better than a 15-minute nap.

It doesn’t matter how many kids are outside your cabin screaming -- the second your head hits the pillow, or book bag on the concrete floor, you’ll be in pure nirvana. Some days a 15-minute nap feels better than a full night's sleep.

There is no better food than outside food.

If someone drives all the way to your camp to visit you, they like you. If someone drives all the way to your camp with food, they love you. Midway through the summer you will have forgotten that food has flavor. It doesn’t matter if that tray of chicken nuggets has been sitting out for two hours because those will be the best chicken nuggets you’ve ever had.

The longer you’re at camp, the less modesty you’ll have.

In the beginning of the summer, you and your coworkers will wait patiently to use a stall in the staff cabin bathroom to privately change. Sometimes you only have 10 minutes to be at your next assignment and you're still in a wet bathing suit. By the end of the summer, you won't care who sees you. At least one of your fellow counselors will see you naked.

You’ll need to check your ego at the door.

When you work with kids, there is nothing you’re too cool to do. You will dress up in crazy costumes, sing silly songs, and make an absolute fool out of yourself. It is all worth it when you make the kids smile.

If you’re in it for the money, you’ve probably come to the wrong place.

Even though you get paid to play, being a counselor is hard work. Many camps only pay their counselors minimum wage, or just slightly above. Counselors that live on camp property for the summer often also have room and board fees taken out of their checks. If you’re looking for easy money, you’re better off looking for a part-time job close to home.

Camp Goggles.

Midway through the summer when you haven’t seen any other guys and girls outside of your group of counselors, everyone starts to look good. You start dating and fooling around with counselors you probably wouldn’t be with under normal circumstances. Camp goggles are basically Stockholm Syndrome in dating form.

“You wouldn’t get it, it’s a camp thing.”

If you’re a veteran camp counselor, you’ve said this sentence a lot. Your non-counselor friends will never understand your camp stories and traditions. Try as they might, it just gets exhausting to explain it all so you just call one of your counselor friends. Good luck trying to convince your friends and family that this really is a summer job and not a cult.

You spend the whole year waiting for it to be summer again.

You’ll spend a small fortune throughout the year to upgrade your sandals, water bottles and other outdoor accessories to match camp colors. No matter how exhausted or underpaid you may feel during the summer, you can’t wait to do the whole thing again.