Summer Camp: Part 1

A bit of history here - Jack's been in day-care since he was 6 weeks old and it was a great thing. He was social, confident and happy with his lot. A year ago, his day-care closed and he went into home care with just him & Danny, which is great and I know he's loved, but his confidence has took a dive and he's missing out on friends. SO, he's going to pre-school this fall and in the meantime I signed him up for a summer camp at the same school and took him this morning.

It's only a week-long camp from 9 am-12 noon but I was ready for him being upset. We told him ahead of time, trying to ease him into it, but last night he got a bit nervous. This morning he said "I'm going to hold on to your arm mummy and not let go" and I thought Ohhhh, here we go.

When we got there he was ok. We signed in and went to his room and he was ok. I sat with him while all the other kids arrived. Ok. Then I watched around me saw that every single kid (about 20 of them) in there had been there before, either as a student or from a previous summer camp. Jack was the only newbie.

One of his teachers sat with me as the clock approached 9am and I mouthed to her, over his head - "he's probably going to be upset". She nodded. I told him I was leaving but I'd be back in a couple of hours and I played up how much fun he'd have. He grabbed onto my arm and looked at me, pleading no mama. I stood up, he grabbed me and Danny's legs (I was holding him on my hip). The teacher, also sat down on a kiddie chair, grabbed Jack from behind in a bear-hug around his waist. So I'm stood up and his teacher, still sat down, has him around the waist and he's crying full-pelt, face red and big tears running down his cheeks and he's trying to escape from her to get to me and crying out Mama! I look at her, and mouth "Shall I go?" and she nods and I walk away and he's traumetized. The last image I have of him is him bent double, trying to get away from her and just screaming for me.

Outside the room I listen for about 30 seconds and he's screaming bloody murder at this point, the center director gets me and takes me to a room next door, settles me in and tells me to wait. She says if he is too upset I'll let you know & you can take him home. We'll put the money you paid into his fall tuition. I sit there for 10 minutes as Danny tries to engage me but my stomach is in knots and I feel sick. Then she come back in and says "He seems to be doing okay, I have your cell phone number if I need to call you". Me and Danny left and I took him to work with me and spent 3 hours feeling sick.

I couldn't wait for 12 noon. Neither could Craig, who was updated constantly. When I parked up I saw him in the playground, looking okay - not laughing but not sad. Then they got shuffled inside. When I got to his room, the teachers were bringing them out one-by-one to their parents and he came out, clutching a carrier bag and ran to me, all excited. We sat outside on a bench in the sunshine and he showed me the crafts he'd made. He said "I cried for you a long time but then I was okay." then he showed me his crafts and talked about a new friend Noah, and his teacher and on the way home he said "when you drop me off next time I'm going to say Go Home Mama! because it's alright".

Tonight he tells me he can't wait to go and I hope so, because I don't think I can take another morning like this morning. I'm feeling optimistic for the little fella.