Dear Parents,

Now that I am out of school and finished with my finals, I am home for the summer. And that means throwing myself into the tiring role of your child's caretaker for yet another three months. Don't get me wrong, I love working and playing with your children, and all of them bring a smile to my face. There's more to this job than the money. But from my experience last summer, I just want to remind all parents out there who send their children to summer camp that we are humans as well, and we are already exhausted as is. Truly, our life as college students never stop: although our academics may be put on hold for a few months, we still have applications to complete, summer classes to participate in, and our social life outside of camp to live. The fact that we choose to be camp counselors even through all the other tasks we have to complete shows how passionate and dedicated we are. But being a camp counselor myself, there are a few things that not just me, but all camp counselors wish you would know.

1. Please don't feed your children sugary, unhealthy breakfasts every single day.

I totally understand if you're in a hurry and just resort to pouring your kid a bowl of Cocoa Puffs or feeding them a Pop Tart once in a while. But please please please, don't make it an everyday habit. You have no idea how hyper and crazy these kids can get. You may not be dealing with them all day, but we are. Sugar makes them bounce off the walls (literally), considering how young they are. There's nothing worse than coming to camp and having one child tell you that their dad let them have a giant cookie the size of their face for breakfast. I may be able to handle one, two, or even three children who are hyped up on sugar, but when a group of twelve 7-year olds are riding the sugar train to heaven, it makes our job that much more tedious. Trying to handle a large group of children alone can be extremely tough when you have a day full of activities planned. It's a whole other story when they are all on a sugar high. Please, just pour them some more nutritious cereal or feed them a bagel and cream cheese instead (same goes for lunch as well! Kids love anything sweet and covered in chocolate, but counselors absolutely despise it). I promise, it's not time consuming at all and you will still get to work on time.

2. We are not responsible for your child's necessities.

At camp, we are outside 95% of the time and on our feet all day. Which means we're under the hot sun. Which means possible sunburn. Your children run out of sunscreen very fast, further exposing them to the possibility of sunburn. I am aware of the fact that it's our job to remind you when they run out, but it gets old after about three times. It won't take long at all to stop by your local Walgreens to pick up extra sunscreen. This also applies to other items, such as water, swimsuits, and lunches. You made the decision to send your children to camp, which means it is your responsibility to keep them well prepared for the summer. We are not to blame. Please, send them food as well. We don't have extra food just lying around in the open. I don't need to deal with their begging and their sad little puppy eyes because they are hungry. And if you don't send them water? They become overheated and dehydrated. That puts us in an awkward, nervewracking situation. And for our sake, pack their swimsuits. If you don't, that is your own fault because you are responsible for your child missing out on the fun. If there is a meltdown, that is not our fault. It can be very distracting, let alone stressful having to run around trying to find extras when we have other children that we have to be on top of for the whole day. I understand that you are human, and you make mistakes, so it's totally fine if you forget once or twice because of a stressful day. But don't purposely hold back on slipping an extra bottle of sunscreen into little Johnny's bag. We can't leave and buy necessities for your children. So don't be yelling at us if your child comes home looking like a tomato.

3. Don't purposely be late to drop off or pick up.

Yes, a late start in the morning or traffic jam on the way back from work happens. It's part of life. But don't be that one parent that all the camp counselors despise because you are late to drop off your child on purpose (true story, this happened last summer). You may be angry at the camp director, but that doesn't mean you have to purposely take it out on the whole camp. Be an adult, like you are, and talk to the director in person if you have a problem. Don't be passive-aggressive. By purposely being late, you are affecting the whole camp. It sets back our whole schedule, leaving us having to face endless meltdowns and chaos when we have to tell our campers that we won't be able to play in the sprinklers. You may not know it, but children like structure during the camp day and really look forward to these activities, and it puts a damper on their day when we are not able to do as planned. So not only does it apply to the director, but us counselors and the campers as well. Your decision can mess up our whole day. On the other hand, it can be bad when you are purposely late for pick up. We don't expect you to be there the exact minute camp ends, but please be there at a reasonable time. Don't decide to be lazy and wait it out. We know you want as much time as possible without your children constantly tugging at your sleeve, but we feel the same way. Your children don't belong to us for the whole day. We have lives outside of camp as well. Many college students take online courses over the summer. Many have a second job. We also have social lives. All in all, we are just plain busy. All of us are in desperate need of a break, and we want to be able to make time for our friends and family. We would really appreciate it if you would let us be able to get out on time. We desperately need that break before the next day, and some of us don't even get that break because we have other commitments.

So parents, thank you. I, as well as every counselor, would appreciate it from the bottom of my heart if you could cooperate with us. It will make our days that much easier. And who knows? Maybe the smallest change can make a significantly huge difference in one of our days.