Really it's my attempt at being witty with my title. C'mon, smile with me....
At the beginning of summer we talked with the kids about doing day camps. We had briefly thought about overnight camp but realized that though they thought it was a good idea, our kids weren't ready to say yes to that. With moving and not having a stable friend base established in our new neighbourhood, it was a lot of change in a short while.
The girls were keen right away about day camp, but Joel politely declined. He said he just wanted to stay home and relax, ride his bike, and play lego. Well, fine. But part of me wanted to break up the potential to have "three's a crowd" issues that were bound to crop up over summer. Yes, the kids like each other, but catch them on an off day and the fights are unbelievable and the mama is going nuts. Maybe the camp idea was more for me than for them......
Well, Kezia did art and gymnastics camp and loved it.
Asha did dance camp and had a blast.
And after Joel saw her dance camp program, he was excited and wanted to go himself.
I quickly paid that day before he could change his mind for camp at the end of August. I knew there would be a majority of girls, but the instructors assured me there would be at least one more boy. I wasn't really concerned for Joel, since some of his best friends in Bolivia were girls, but a guy friend is always nice at this age.
So the night before, we get home from the lake and I check my email. There's a note from the dance instructor saying the other boy has backed out and Joel will now be the only boy in a group of 9-12 year old girls. Eeek! What do I do? Tell Joel? Not tell him? I couldn't remember if I actually said anything about the camp being mostly girls.....oh boy.
Carl said in his fatherly wisdom, "Just leave it and see what he says at the end of the day,". But at breakfast on the morning of, Joel announced numerous times, "I'm so glad to go to dance camp and get a break from all my sisters,". Was he meaning just them, or females in general? I kind of panicked, yet quickly told myself there wasn't any reason to.
I dropped him off and saw there was my friends' daughter also in attendance. It's not like Joel and Bella know each other well, but I just jumped at any chance to connect him to someone there. I left praying that he would have a good day. At the end of the afternoon, I quickly picked him up and tried to read his expression as we got into the van.
"So, how was it?"
"Oh, it was pretty good, but there's a lot of girls,"
Silence. Mind racing. What to say?
"Are they nice girls?"
"Oh yes, Bella is funny and I had a good day,"
The next day, he had an even better time. And on the third day he said he was really enjoying himself but was wondering why no boys were coming. I mumbled something like, 'Well, maybe they didn't sign up'. Because I think he was hoping each day there would be a boy there. I gently told him that most likely there wouldn't be this week and he would be the only boy at dance camp.
There.
I said it.
And Joel responded,
"Oh....okay. Well, it's still fun,".
I was so relieved. Part of me didn't want him to be stressed out with being the only boy. We do that as parents. But on the other hand, parenting is also letting them be in situations that help them to grow. Who is to say he can't be best buds with a girl? I also wanted him to learn about following through on his commitments. He said he wanted to go and I paid and so he should go. Plus, if I were to remind him of the cost he probably would have bucked up and went because he wouldn't want to have had to pay me back!
He went through the week, he had an amazing time, and he made me really proud. I was proud because, yeah, that kid does know how to dance. He kept right up on the hip hop moves with those 12 year old experienced dancers and even added his own creative flare. He got up there and danced in front of all the parents and even more, in front of all those girls. But he chose to have a good time. He could have complained loudly and insisted that I pull him out. He didn't. In fact, at the end of the week, I took him home and he got teary eyed because it was all over.
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