The Cove: Week 1 Pokémon is Ubiquitous

Insane drop off with 8000 other local kids and moms.

I feel lucky to see a good friend in the parking lot, but 20 minutes into the check in line and 20 people deep ABJ has buried his face in my back and is pouting, "I don't want to go here." I don't give an inch, but insist, you'll love it here. Just give it a chance.

Thirty seconds later he darts from around me and taps the kid in front of me on the shoulder. I gasp and hold my breath. 

"What's your most powerful?"

Ahhh Pokémon. The great equalizer. 

Just after noon my mom picks him up from a teenager corralling a sea of tiny children in black t-shirts. Unfortunately, she learns that he'd used some ugly language ("I hate you") and decked a kid just prior to sitting on him. I'm guessing that particular kid won't be sharing his Pokèmon cards anytime soon. 

The rest of the week goes as follows: phone call from a teacher day two. He was upset because he lost while playing a water balloon toss. Full on meltdown. I met with the director, and discussing placing him with another adolescent boy, close to his age, but older. I told her the peer pressure seemed to work well. It worked! 

Matthew was a seventh grader leading a kindergarten group and told Austin he needed his help with his group. It worked like a charm. I told the director she was my hero. 

I asked her for advice for the following week's camp: 

My lesson for Austin:

It's ok to LOSE! In this case losing was the fun part! It meant you would get wet!! You're going to play a lot of games this summer and you're going to lose sometimes. How will you handle it the next time you lose?

Lesson for Myself:

This won't go as simply as I'd hoped, but I can build on what we learn each week to hopefully make the next week easier. All along I've wanted opportunities for Austin to learn to adapt to other people in real world situations. This is like summer school for social skills. Compact, intense, and not a lot of help from the instructor. Either you adapt or you fail the class. My role is to provide the Mommy Cliff's notes.