Real life was crazy!

So, I'm back at school.  I've been really busy while I was on my summer break.  I had work most of the summer, being a camp counselor, so that took most of my time and energy.  I had a few times where things got crazy at work: had to give one girl the heimlich, I had a bunch of kids get stung by bees, three boys had to be sent home.  1 was violent, cursing, and tried to walk out of camp, the second threw an epic tantrum, was violent and cursing, and the thrid was violent, cursed, and didn't listen to anyone.  The first two were 9, the thrid boy was 6.  And his mom called the cops on us, but more on that later.  I had two 5-year olds follow some of the volunteers/workers/older campers down to put up some horses on the 'powerlines' which are several pastures out under the long-distance power-line thingies.  So when one girl's mother showed up no one knew where she had gone.  So that was stressful.  I had horses stepping on my feet, one co-counselor(older than me) who was inept and acted/dressed like a child, another who finished work and went back to school a week before me, and I came very close to passing out under the pinball machine in the camper barn one day.  Close enough I could feel my eyes trying to roll back in my head.  So that was exciting, and I got hosed down before they put me on the steps into the pool, and everyone was asking me how i was feeling after that.

So, the police incident:

There was this one kid, we'll call him Al.  Al was a bit of a weird kid.  He was happier playing by himself than joining the other kids to play.  So Monday he had to go home early because he got stung.  OK, mom came and got him, fine.  The next day, he was quite unhappy that he hadn't had a chance to ride the previous day, and so he started hitting, kicking, and being violent with the other campers.  He even spat on one girl.  So, I get his mom's phone number and call her and let her know what is happening, and that if it happens again I'll have to ask her to come pick Al up and not come back.  So, things are good for a while, Al goes on his ride, things are fine, no problems, the second ride goes out, I do the wagon ride, things are cool.  Then, Al starts getting violent again.  I tell one of the volunteers to get Momma Sarah to talk to Al, because Momma Sarah don't take no shit from no one.  I pull out my phone to call Al's mother, and she tells me that she is already on her way, because she isn't satisfied with the services.  WELL.  So, then, Dan(basically, the farmhand/mechanic/guide/all-around-fixer) comes over and he's carrying Al like a sack of potatoes.  At this point the mom drives up and gets all upset because Dan is restraining and holding her kid.  The mom tells us that she isn't satisfied with the services, and she's asking about a refund, and telling us that she "works in a daycare, and they think communication is very important, so they use the 'sandwich method' to talk to parents."  So, Dan, Alex(another volunteer) and I all go "WTF?" and so she explains that when you talk to parents you start with a positive, then the negative, and end on a positive.  My thoughts?  "Lady, I have 40-some kids, and there are 30-some horses over there.  I don't have time to spend 30 minutes talking about one kid.  That ain't my job.  My job is to make sure that my campers are safe."  So mom grabs Al by the wrist and drags him a ways away, then, to talk to him, she grabs both wrists and holds his hands out so he can't hit her.  Now, every time I talked to her I got the "This is unusual behavior for Al.  He's never done this before."  And now my thoughts are "Lady, when you are restraining your kid just to talk to him, this ain't abnormal behavior."  So she leaves, things are good for a while, and then she drives back up, and behind her is a police cruiser!  So she and the officer get out and talk for a moment, the officer comes over(a couple of my older campers help by getting the younger kids into the camper barn for a while) and asks who is in charge and for me to get them.  So I go and get Momma Sarah and she goes and talks with the officer and the mom for a while.  I keep an eye on them and the few campers who are still outside.  At one point, the mom starts crying over something.  So after a while the mom gets back in her car and leaves, and Momma Sarah comes and tells me that we were in the right to restrain the kid if he was being violent.  So I tell all the parents and such, and when I have like, 6 kids left I go to check on one who is hanging out with the volunteers and workers and get told that I have to write an incident report of what happened.  So after all my campers get checked out I go and write up my report.  Come to find out, the mom and the owner had a phone conversation, and the mom threatened to sue for a refund, and for child abuse on Dan's part.  The owner said that "apparently you had to restrain your own kid just to talk to him!"  And the mom's response?  Denial.  "I never laid a HAND on him!"   I call your bull, and raise you a shit.  Oh, and no refunds, and we have the right to rescind your kids invitation to camp.  It's on the back of the damn camp registration form.  And the NO REFUNDS policy, too.  SO that was....yeah.  Exciting.

Oh, and I changed all the names here to protect my co-workers.