In 1990, coun-
selor Heather
Bell had a dis-
ciplined bunk
at Camp
Tamarack -
Brighton.
Kneeling:
Heather Bell,
Michelle
Adler, Lauren
Cantor, Julie
Zimmerman
and Marissa
Band. Sitting:
Lisa Robinson,
Juliette Adida
and Marley
Grosskind.

Tricks Of The Trade

T H E A P PL E T R E E

I

32

f there's anyone in this world who
can reduce disciplining kids to a sim-
ple science, he or she soon will be a
millionaire.
As any camp counselor can tell you, no matter
how many tricks you know, no matter how kind
or strict or clever your method, at least one kid is
bound to frustrate you to the point where every-
thing breaks down, and all you're left with is a
headache..
Children hate discipline, and counselors soon
dread it It is without a doubt the most taxing
and least rewarding part of the job. But coun-
selors try their best, and there are certain guide-
lines that make disciplining campers easier, if not
more effective.

best view of the valley; so does' the valley pro-
As a former counselor at Camp Tamarack, I'll
vide
the b6t view of the mountain.
pass these secrets for the use of parents at
Rules (especially for young kids)
home, realizing that camp and the real world
We're
all used to breaking the rules. But it
have very little in common.
takes life experience to develop common sense,
I've yet to be a parent, and I'm hardly anx-
and most kids, particularly
ious. A couple of months
young
ones, simply don't yet
as a counselor were
have it.
enough for me to realize
Civility and even self-preser-
that parents have a tough
vation are in many cases ac-
job. I'm uncertain
quired skills, and for this reason
whether parents can ben-
kids need rules.
efit from the advice of a
At Tamarack, on the first day
bunch of teen-agers.
of camp, one of the first activi-
However, to borrow from
DAN
ZIMMERMAN
ties in villages for younger kids
Machiavelli, just as the
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
is a public reading of the norms
mountain provides the

Camp counselors \
give parents
some tips on
discipline.