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Some background: This occurred when during my second year as a counselor, which was my first year in the oldest guy unit. Even though I had only been one unit younger (8 - 11, but I was in the oldest cabin in the unit so mostly 10 & 11) it was a world of difference as I am sure parents/child care professionals would agree.
Disclaimers: There are two things I should preface before I go into this story. The first thing is that I loathe bullies. I have never and will never hit a child, but nothing has brought me closer than to see one or more kids picking on a smaller kid, and yes I see the irony in me hitting those kids as I would be a bully. The second thing is that I have absolutely no problem with homosexuals. I am all for gay marriage, my sister is gay, I have gay friends, etc.
Onto the story!
One week in my cabin I had two mismatched campers. One was a really sweet kid named "Kris"(names changed to protect the guilty and innocent alike). Now Kris was a great really well behaved kid. The problem is he was very effeminate. Kids, especially bullies, can sense a kid like Kris like a shark can sense a drop of blood miles away. Enter the other kid "Cartman". I will post a collection of Cartman stories in another thread, but this one stands apart. This must be a new thing, because when I was growing up it was the fat kids that got picked on, but hey good for them I guess.
Now Kris did have a cousin there "Alex who did not get picked on, because he was very athletic and could whip the shit out of Cartman (oh how I wish he had), so he tried to protect Kris, but Cartman was ruthless. We had to deal with Cartman picking on Kris several times during the one week they were together, and I will post those with Cartman's masterworks, but this one was the last one (not because we got through to him, but it was the last day).
After the morning activities, all the kids go back to the cabin for cabin time. This is one of the very few "unsupervised" times we have at camp, because the counselors have to wait for all the kids to leave the activity to make sure they go back to their cabins and also the counselor has to pack up the activity. That summer I was the riflery director, which was one of the more "pack up" intensive activities, additionally, the oldest guy cabins are on the complete other side of camp from my activity. Therefore I have one of the longest walks back to the cabins. The other counselors know this and try to hustle to compensate.
For some reason, this day I found myself first back to the cabin. I hear yelling inside my cabin so I run inside. What a shock, Cartman and Kris are yelling at each other. I put myself in the middle and get them to start yelling. Cartman has a self satisfied smile on his piggy face, and of course, Kris is in tears. I tell Cartman to go outside with the other kids, and I turn to talk to Kris. He walks out the back door and heads for the woods. I take off after him, but he is so upset that he is running. I chase him and finally catch him.
I tell him that I understand he is upset, but that he needs to tell me what is wrong so I can fix it and not to run away from me, because I want to help. This is where, with the best of intentions I make a mistake. I get down on Kris' level. That means I kneel down in front of him, so we are now face to face. Now the "camp counselor textbook" would say that is the right thing to do. Getting down on their level makes you less intimidating and more accessible. It really can do wonders. The problem is I am face to face with Kris. I ask him what happened, and he replies in his almost stereotypical lisp (also his voice hasn't changed yet which makes it much worse). "Well, Cartman came into the cabin and me and Alex, we was hugging."
My eyes went wide with shock and pain. Shock over what he said, and pain because I had just bit the inside of my mouth hard enough to draw blood to keep from laughing. I mean come on!! Of course Cartman gave you shit for that! Poor kid. Cartman had waited for Alex to go to the bathroom before ripping into Kris calling him a fag and queer and whatever else his simple little mind could come up with while dreaming about lunch.
What could I do? I calmed Kris down, made more idle threats to Cartman, and informed his parents he has a bullying problem when they came to pick him up. Of course there is no way their cute little pookey snookums, baby-waybe could possible be a bully
.
Disclaimers: There are two things I should preface before I go into this story. The first thing is that I loathe bullies. I have never and will never hit a child, but nothing has brought me closer than to see one or more kids picking on a smaller kid, and yes I see the irony in me hitting those kids as I would be a bully. The second thing is that I have absolutely no problem with homosexuals. I am all for gay marriage, my sister is gay, I have gay friends, etc.
Onto the story!
One week in my cabin I had two mismatched campers. One was a really sweet kid named "Kris"(names changed to protect the guilty and innocent alike). Now Kris was a great really well behaved kid. The problem is he was very effeminate. Kids, especially bullies, can sense a kid like Kris like a shark can sense a drop of blood miles away. Enter the other kid "Cartman". I will post a collection of Cartman stories in another thread, but this one stands apart. This must be a new thing, because when I was growing up it was the fat kids that got picked on, but hey good for them I guess.
Now Kris did have a cousin there "Alex who did not get picked on, because he was very athletic and could whip the shit out of Cartman (oh how I wish he had), so he tried to protect Kris, but Cartman was ruthless. We had to deal with Cartman picking on Kris several times during the one week they were together, and I will post those with Cartman's masterworks, but this one was the last one (not because we got through to him, but it was the last day).
After the morning activities, all the kids go back to the cabin for cabin time. This is one of the very few "unsupervised" times we have at camp, because the counselors have to wait for all the kids to leave the activity to make sure they go back to their cabins and also the counselor has to pack up the activity. That summer I was the riflery director, which was one of the more "pack up" intensive activities, additionally, the oldest guy cabins are on the complete other side of camp from my activity. Therefore I have one of the longest walks back to the cabins. The other counselors know this and try to hustle to compensate.
For some reason, this day I found myself first back to the cabin. I hear yelling inside my cabin so I run inside. What a shock, Cartman and Kris are yelling at each other. I put myself in the middle and get them to start yelling. Cartman has a self satisfied smile on his piggy face, and of course, Kris is in tears. I tell Cartman to go outside with the other kids, and I turn to talk to Kris. He walks out the back door and heads for the woods. I take off after him, but he is so upset that he is running. I chase him and finally catch him.
I tell him that I understand he is upset, but that he needs to tell me what is wrong so I can fix it and not to run away from me, because I want to help. This is where, with the best of intentions I make a mistake. I get down on Kris' level. That means I kneel down in front of him, so we are now face to face. Now the "camp counselor textbook" would say that is the right thing to do. Getting down on their level makes you less intimidating and more accessible. It really can do wonders. The problem is I am face to face with Kris. I ask him what happened, and he replies in his almost stereotypical lisp (also his voice hasn't changed yet which makes it much worse). "Well, Cartman came into the cabin and me and Alex, we was hugging."
My eyes went wide with shock and pain. Shock over what he said, and pain because I had just bit the inside of my mouth hard enough to draw blood to keep from laughing. I mean come on!! Of course Cartman gave you shit for that! Poor kid. Cartman had waited for Alex to go to the bathroom before ripping into Kris calling him a fag and queer and whatever else his simple little mind could come up with while dreaming about lunch.
What could I do? I calmed Kris down, made more idle threats to Cartman, and informed his parents he has a bullying problem when they came to pick him up. Of course there is no way their cute little pookey snookums, baby-waybe could possible be a bully
.
I write, my friend Red draws. Comments welcome. Leave them on their, or on my profile here. 
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