“What do you do the rest of the year?”

Feb 6

“What do you do the rest of the year?”

As a camp professional, this might be the most triggering question. The Summer Camp Pros Facebook group is full of vent sessions on this topic, and at every conference we laugh about it. Some people laugh it off. Some people get mad. Some try to explain what it takes to recruit campers, staff, do paperwork, get accredited, make sure the finances work, and the million other jobs camp professionals do.

I wonder if this question is our fault.

Let’s get real: the 2 to 3 months from May-ish to August tend to be grueling for us. A lot of us work essentially 24 hours a day for 6 or 7 days a week. By the time September hits we are crushed. For me, I love it. The sprint of the summer is something I live for and missed in 2020 more than I think even I realized.

But it is just that. It is a sprint. After the sprint I do slow down. Don’t get me wrong: I still think I work hard. I run a small not for profit camp with my best friends, and we work our asses off to make it accessible and amazing for all kids. It is a ton of work.

This week, I met with our accountant about the PPP loan, redid our summer budget for the 12th time, changed out light fixtures at camp, built some storage, answered what seemed like a million emails, helped launch a course on restorative justice, and a million other little tasks. I like to think I work hard, but it’s also true that I work a lot less hard in January than I do in July.

The Work Changes - I like that.

That is one of my favorite parts about working year-round for camp. The nature of the work changes. I have the freedom in January to play a game of Madden with our facilities director over lunch or get my haircut in the middle of the work day. I can design my own schedule to fit the needs of what needs to be done for camp and build a sustainable life.

Josh Allen signing off with the “Go Bills” is everything #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/LIHKMkRW9i
— MereKat (@MereKatKat) December 14, 2020

I am writing this at 6pm and not claiming to have great work life balance. People ask me all the time what my hobbies are, and I deflect and say something silly about drinking too many beers and watching the Bills. Go Bills!

The reality is that camp is my life, like it is for so many of you. It is awesome and it can be the best job in the world.

We are experiencing a talent drain in the camp world like nothing I could have imagined. Covid has pushed camps to cut costs and cut staff. I know some camp directors have moved on from camp because without kids in 2020 the hustle of it all just hasn’t been worth it for them.

This sucks. So many great camp professionals have left our industry probably for good.

What do you do the rest of the year?

How we explained the last few months at Stomping Ground

What if we could reframe that question for people like our bosses and boards? How do you prepare yourself for the summer? What do you do the rest of the year to be ready for the shit storm that is the summer?

Think about professional athletes. They work their asses off during their “off season” to get their minds and bodies right to be ready for the grind of the season. They work out, they train, but they also spend extra time with family, go on vacation, and just take some time for themselves.

This is the sentiment we need to be driving at our organizations. Let’s not let the “What do you do the rest of the year?” crowd push us into some quest to prove that we are busy all year round. Let’s push ourselves to answer,

“The summer is f-ing hard. I am not in the job to make a million dollars. I do a lot of work to get ready for the summer, but I also take care of myself so I can take care of these kids.”

NOTE FROM KURTZ

“This is interesting because there is also the martyr syndrome thing where people are like "UGH I WORK SO HARD ALL YEAR!" -- race to the bottom kinda thing. So maybe this is an aspirational answer, or the goal answer. Which is what I think you're saying but I had to read it twice to figure out that was what you were saying”

Yelling From the Roof Tops

This isn’t just important for the folks out there that we run into at the grocery store but for the decision-makers at our organization. We need boards and owners to push year round staff to take breaks. To take advantage of the extra freedom the non-summer months provide and to yell from the roof tops about how hard the summer is, and that people need to recover.

We need this because camps mostly don’t pay enough for the enormous disruption the summer is on our year round staff’s lives. We need this because people are the heart of camp and there is way too much turn over of awesome camp professionals who burn out. We need this because the reality is for most of us we do better work when we get some breaks. Plus, let’s get real. If you are awesome and you have the choice to work someplace that gives you more freedom or some place that doesn’t, all things being equal, most of us will choose the freedom.

Let’s not get caught defending what we do the rest of the year. Let’s celebrate our summers and fight like hell to work smarter not harder.

Camp Mavericks

A big part of this is building real relationships with other camp directors. I am not affiliated with this and this isn’t an ad. I am a member and supporter of the idea, and have loved the more thoughtful conversations happening in Camp Mavericks.

It’s like 5 bucks a month & no one asks what the best camp management software is.

Go join right now. It is 100% worth it.

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