Yahoo Lifestyle 21 Camp Counselors Who Will Never Forget What Wild Things Their Campers Said To Them
Recently, we asked the camp counselors of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about some of the most memorable things one of their campers ever said. Here are some of the best responses:
1."I’m from the UK and I did a summer abroad working at a camp in Pennsylvania. I had one camper say to me 'So, in England, are you a peasant or do you live with the queen?' The same camper said not long after that, 'So, in England, do you still have beheadings?'"
2."I once had a child yell out 'Hey, Megamind!' Confused, I said, 'Why did you call me Megamind?' He replied, 'Because you have a massive forehead, dude.' I've been insecure about my forehead since."
—19, North Carolina
3."When I was 16, I worked at a popular summer camp. I was talking with twin girls (around eight years old), and they were very excited to tell me that I looked like their grandmother... who was around 70."
—Anonymous, Norway
4."I work with kids with special needs and they are VERY honest. We are at a mostly outdoor camp, so obviously, I’m going to be sweating. I had a camper come up to me and sniff twice, then say, 'Miss Olivia, you’re a little stinky today. Did you put on your deodorant?' On MULTIPLE occasions."
—Olivia, Pennsylvania
5."I have so many stories, but probably the most random was when a kid asked me what my 'Heaven' name is. I have no idea what that is, and it’s mildly terrifying to me."
—27, Canada
6."I was an overnight camp counselor for two years in the Sierras. A 10-year-old boy who was with us for two weeks one summer had lost his eye to cancer treatment years before. He was in a group talking with 15 other kids at one point and chose that moment to smack the back of his head so that his glass eye popped into his hand. So much screaming (from kids and counselors) commenced from his little party trick. The best part was he got to repeat the trick again the next week when a brand new group of kids came to camp!"
7."Sleep away camp counselor here. At the beginning of every session, you play little icebreakers so the counselors and girls get to know each other. So my co-counselor was introducing herself, and upon saying where she was from, an 11-year-old girl blurted out, 'Oh, that’s where my dad’s in jail!' We were 18-year-old girls fresh out of high school, and had zero idea how to address this…so we never did. I just started introducing myself and we never spoke of it again."
8."We were listening to music, and a boy asked to play Michael Jackson. One girl asked who Michael Jackson was and what he sang. The first song I thought of was 'ABC'...which she interpreted as the alphabet song."
—17, United States
9."A 4-year-old camper told us once that his favorite song was 'S&M' by Rihanna. We then asked him his favorite part, and he told us that it was the part about the 'chains and whips.'"
10."When he was a teenager, my husband was in charge of 6-year-old boys for a week. At dinner one night, one of the campers said, 'I didn’t know chicken was crunchy!' My husband realized the camper had been eating chicken bones because he had only eaten boneless chicken and didn’t know to avoid the bones."
—25, Washington
11."A camper said, 'If this were the Hunger Games, I would’ve beaten all of you.'"
—27, Florida
12."We had an outdoor celebration that had an inflatable water slide along with other outdoor games. The campers had the option to change into their swimsuits, and one of my 8-year-old girls took off her shirt. When I asked her why she did that, she said, 'If boys can take off their shirts, so can girls!'"
—20, Minnesota
13."I had one camper who was my absolute favorite because everything he said was certifiably wild and also kind of adorable. I still think about him popping up from the swimming pool every few minutes to share random facts or ask questions. Some of my favorite quotes from him were, 'Do you want to know what my favorite color is? Wisteria!' And, 'I hope when I die, god makes me an owl.' He would be in his early twenties now, and I hope he's thriving and continuing to be his weird little self."
—34, Maryland
14."I worked in a day camp preschool with a 3-year-old from a very Christian family. She was singing under her breath one day and I asked her to sing a little louder so I could hear. Oops. She had written her own song with the lyrics 'Shit is a very bad word, Fuck is a very bad word.' I managed not to laugh too hard and tried to quiet her pretty quickly. Still makes me laugh, 30 years later."
—Jen, Canada
15."I was directing a children's theater day camp in a fairly affluent area. We wrote our own play to perform for the parents, and I made sure that each kid had a scene where they got the spotlight. We purposefully balanced the show so no one would be left out. Unfortunately, though, all of my girl campers wanted one specific part even though they all had the same amount of stage time. Well, I couldn't cast five different girls in one part, so I went with the girl who was the strongest reader (and could easily learn the lines) and had the kindest attitude. One of the other girls was super mad she didn't get that part and told me, 'I'll just tell my mom to pay you to switch our parts. That always works.' Her mom did actually try to bribe me with a couple hundred dollars. I stood my ground, and the supervisor of the whole camp told her mom not to pull anything like that ever again.'"
—24, Virginia
16."A 6-year-old girl palmed my boobs in the middle of a conversation with my bosses and went, 'Mama!' Everyone went so silent so quickly."
—16, North Carolina
17."One little girl asked if I was married. I was 15 at the time."
—17, United States
18."A camper once told me that my towel looked too childish and that I should have an 'IPA-themed towel' because 'I look like the type to have bad taste in beer.' He was 5."
—20, Minnesota
19."Boy Scout camp medical officer, here. A teenager ate a poisonous plant, and his reasoning for why he ate it was, 'because it was there.'"
20."The campers went to sleep and I was cleaning the cabin and getting ready for bed. One of the girls sat up and shouted, 'I am going to throw up!' I began running around the cabin, looking for a trash can to hold up to her mouth. She then laid down and started singing, 'You are my sunshine.' I stood there for a moment and realized she was totally asleep. She did not vomit, which was good, since the trash receptacle was attached to the wall."
—50, Texas
21."One year I had a kindergartner bring a sex position book to camp and share it with other kids. She said it was a book her parents had given her to learn how to read. When it was brought to her parents' attention, they were mortified and said she must have stolen it from their nightstand."
—35, California
Are you a former camp counselor with some wild stories? Tell us about them in the comments!
Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
