Outdoor Ed

I found one of my fifth grade girls crying her eyes out yesterday when she was supposed to be w/ the rest of the rugrats on stage singing "Mommy loves me this I know" and "Who is on the mom's side?" At first, I thought perhaps she had stage fright or was sensitive to the clique-e-ness of the other girls... only to find out later that those tears were derived from anxiety driven by fear of the upcoming week. My little munchkin would be taking off to Santa Cruz w/ her fifth grade class Monday morning to spend a week away from home and in the woods, Outdoor Ed. She was not emotionally ready to be away from her parents for the length of an entire week, and she was leery about staying in a cabin with only a high school counselor protecting her. I remember my first Outdoor Ed experience back in the fifth grade: Petaluma Adobe. I learned how the Pilgrims made candles and to build trust and team unity. I remember it being a time full of learning, laughter, and creativity. So I had to shift gears to try and understand from where my little fifth grader is coming... she is one who enjoys the solitary therapy of writing... one with few good friends... one slow to trust and allows few in... one creative and extremely organized... one who tolerates nothing less than perfect, of others and especially of herself... one who often drowns in her own one-sided perspective on life. Sometimes as adults, or maybe just a semi-bigger kid in my case, we forget the tremendous stress a child can and often have in her young life, what we conceive to be simple(r) than our own busy life. Expectations, cliques, friends, fitting in... Ah, poor kid. All I could do to comfort her was tell her silly stories from my first experience w/ Outdoor Ed and make sure she packed her backpack well. I hope she has a blast. I promised her I would pray for her every morning when I woke up... I wonder how much that helped/will help. She is a good kid.