Rules, rules, rules

[pen_grunt]

I understand WHY they are in effect, but the following girl scout camp rules seem very stupid and inefficient to me:

• Adults cannot help kids put on sunscreen or bug spray or anything. Kids aren't technically supposed to help other kids either, but that is largely overlooked. The kids ask for help ALL the time and I feel totally stupid going: "Sorry, [camper] I can't help you even out the sunscreen on the part in your hair on your head, because I'm not allowed to touch you." (Again, I understand WHY they do this, but it's also very silly.)


• Kids cannot share sunscreen at all. If a kid forgets sunscreen they have to go without. They cannot use someone else's sunscreen.

So kids forget stuff. They get burned. They realize they forgot the sunscreen early and we can't do anything about it. It's frustrating.

The biggest "event" today was sending a diabetic girl home. She has type 1, and has an insulin pump. We had been warned to watch for low blood sugar events--her getting pale or dizzy or acting weird. My mom is pretty experienced at recognizing this so I wasn't worried. Plus, this girl is 10. She's been dealing with this her whole life. She knows what it feels like. We had snacks on hand.

What we didn't know until the MOMENT she remembered to test herself during the day is that she forgot her insulin. Her blood sugar was over 600. (Normal range is below 100-140.) Holy shit. I felt awful and irresponsible, but she hadn't exhibited any signs of, well, anything whatsoever. Nothing outside of normal-girl-energetic-at-camp-behavior, anyway.

She's fine. Her mom was fine (with us...she was very annoyed with her daughter). It gave my mom and I an opportunity to explain how diabetes works to totally riveted 4th graders.

Comments

[silverpoet01.livejournal.com]

I understand why they have rules like that, but I don't agree that they should. Teaching Kids that they can't be touched in a harmless positive way isn't helpful either - it's breeding a society of children that question and stress about their every move and motion. Touch is an OKAY and HEALTHY thing in the vast majority of cases - I don't know that it's a good thing to not teach that.

Also, we wonder why common sense is dying when you have rules like this in place. Can't share some sunscreen with a friend? Can't help your friend put some sunscreen in their hair? Teacher can't help me when I ask something totally innocent? Teachers and trusted adults would rather let me burn than let me borrow their sunscreen? All of the ACTIONS go against the common sense they should be learning.

I mean, this isn't a personal affront, you have to follow the rules - it totally makes sense. It's just so annoying to me that we can't let kids be kids and we can't interact with kids in a natural way without being worried of getting 'the sued' it's ridiculous. Then we wonder why, if we were getting attacked, you're supposed to yell 'FIRE' instead of 'RAPE', because people run away or avoid the latter and will run to help in the case of the former. ::head desk::

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

I agree with you completely. I understand the "why" behind the rules (in their minds), but agree that it's not justified or necessary.

It creates situations like this: I was at a picnic with friends and a friend's 9 year old son was talking to me. He said something sweet or cute or funny and I--without thinking about it and struck by a feeling of affection and pride toward the kid--ruffled his hair. He smiled and continued on with his story. I immediately felt like: Oh! I shouldn't be touching my friends' kid! What am I thinking? Because the "Don't touch a kid that isn't yours!" rule has been so drummed into adults.

And that is a RIDICULOUS thought for someone to have in that situation. I want my futurekids' hair to be ruffled by my friends in normal social interaction.

Another friend used to be a kindergarten teacher. Kids would ask him for hugs ALL the time and he wasn't allowed to reciprocate--school policy--so he would have to stick his arms out in a clear "no touching" pose when they hugged HIM. So a very little kid would get the message that, when they went to their teacher for comfort or normal social physical affection, they were being rejected. It's totally stupid.

I picture a bunch of emotionally gun-shy bots in the future who have lost all sense of how good it feels to just hug a friend or touch someone because no adults apart from their parents were ever allowed to touch them in any way for any reason.

[grenacia.livejournal.com]

It's so messed up. Instead of no-touching rules, we need rules about consent and body autonomy - if two people want to touch, it's okay, if either of them doesn't, it's not okay. You still might need rules that specific kinds of inappropriate touching are prohibited, but banning all body contact is dumb and lazy.