Day Camp 1: Horsing Around

Sofia has been going to the preschool age Day camps at Thanksgiving Point this summer. She really enjoys going (despite some behaviour that might make you think otherwise) and anticipates each one with much enthusiasm.

They are three hours long and highly unorganized, but she hasn't been kidnapped yet and there's only one more left so I think we're almost in the clear.

For the first one, Horsing Around, I stayed for about the first two hours keeping surveillance. I only thought she'd been lost for about 45 minutes. I wasn't sure if she would have fun on her own and I wanted to make sure I hadn't traumatized her when I spent fifteen minutes chewing out the camp lady for:
1) not being clear about the meeting place,
2) not having a sign of any kind at the actual meeting place,
3) not identifying themselves as the camp people at the meeting place (not even by a t-shirt or name plate,
4) not greeting the parents walking around in circles asking strangers where the camp was while they sat on a table waiting to be approached
5) not having any way to identify my child as being with the camp except for a white sticker with a name which they happened not to have for Sofia
6) not taking the initiative to make her a label out of something after discovering they didn't have hers
7) having other children watching the preschoolers
8) having the preschool-aged kids walk down the middle of the street to the camp location,
etc.
etc.
etc.

After telling her not to go with strangers except for the strangers she'd just met, sort of, none of them told us their NAMES! ... and giving her the rundown on how not to be kidnapped I told her I would come back to check on her and to have fun. She got to do a coloring activity, have some snacks, meet lots of horses and ponys. She got to brush them and of course ride the pony. She loved it.

Then I sent Ray to pick her up, and they gave her to HIM!