Oddest Camper I have met

[Captain Card]

I worked as a intern in a specialized field for a camp over the Summer. So I was in charge of kids but I didn't have access (before hand) to any childerns issues.

So we meet Sugar Lad.

ME- Intern Card
SL- Sugar Lad
CB- Cool Boss

This camp was set up so kids were in two rooms and went between them often. We had someone in the halls at most times so they were allowed to go between the rooms without telling the people in the room they were leaving. Most of the campers were fine or easy to handle but one kid was different.

I was standing at one of the doorways to watch kids walking down the hall and keep an eye on some of the unruly kids near the door. I watch a kid go in and out a few times in the morning but didnt't think much of it. But he kept walking in with poptarts and I told him not to. He just kept on doing it.

I talked to CB at lunch about it and he said to have him cut it out.

I come back and about an hour later, I see him sneaking out again. I catch him and tell him he can't do so.
-gist of converstion, not every word is the same"
SL- "But I need Sugar"
ME- "YOu don't need sugar you just ate"
SL-"I need it"
By this point, I think he's a crack addict, he's shaking and he's really not that big of a kid.
ME- "No,you can't get any"

He goes back and works in his group for about 10 minutes.

He walks out the door and I catch him at the machine
ME- "SL get back in the room you can't be out here"
SL- "But I'm hungry, I NEED sugar"
He's acting wonky now shaking
ME- "You got some medical condition that requies sugar?"
SL- Wide Eyed Stare "People actually need sugar to live?"
ME- Taking that as a no "Come on back to the room man"
SL fighting me now "I need it, you always get soda" (I get there at 8 n the morning and I live 45-90 minutes away due to traffic, and my sleep patterns were bonked from travel.
ME- " I need that sugar to stay aawake, you're already alive and awake"
Sl- Tries to push me out of the way to the coin slot
ME- Catches him "NO"
SL- "I NEEEEEEED SUGAR"
-snip 5 minutes of this- The kid was agile
SL- "People who require sugar to live are so lucky"
ME- "No thy're not"

After that I talk him into no sugar till 4:00

CB asks where I was. I tell him the problem with SL. CB talks to him and convinces him to not do that anymore.


Sugar Lad was perfect from then on, (other then bringing a pure sugar lunch) I wish the rest of the kids learned from him.

[protege]

Damn. I've worked at camp, I know what it's like. Quite a few kids would think nothing of spending their money on a *box* of candy...rather than on things they needed to earn various badges. Gotta get that sugar high, I guess. Anyway, that situation annoyed the hell out of me. If I sold the box of candy to a kid, his troop leaders would bitch to my boss, since the kid would be bouncing off walls. If I didn't sell it, my boss would bitch about the loss in sales. Either way, I'd get bitched at

[gaspode]

"SUGAR"
MIB did you check he wasn't a giant cockroach in disguise

[Captain Card]

Damn. I've worked at camp, I know what it's like. Quite a few kids would think nothing of spending their money on a *box* of candy...rather than on things they needed to earn various badges. Gotta get that sugar high, I guess. Anyway, that situation annoyed the hell out of me. If I sold the box of candy to a kid, his troop leaders would bitch to my boss, since the kid would be bouncing off walls. If I didn't sell it, my boss would bitch about the loss in sales. Either way, I'd get bitched at

The worst thing is I can see from this story it wasn't a normal sugar rush, the closest thing I have ever seen was a crack user detoxing. He was shaking bad.

[Geek King]

The worst thing is I can see from this story it wasn't a normal sugar rush, the closest thing I have ever seen was a crack user detoxing. He was shaking bad.

You know, that reminds me of a guy I knew when I was in Boy Scouts who had a really wierd reaction to sugar. He would get really hyper and sometimes violent over even a very small amount. He got ahold of a Twix bar at camp one year by buying it from another camper (camp store had been warned not to sell to him), and we spent the evening chasing him through the woods (thorn bushes in the dark hurt!), then restraining him in the medical building. Not fun. We were more than a little irritated with him since he knew how he reacted to it.

[Evil Queen]

Geek King, did that guy you knew have a bizaar allergy to sugar in certain quantities, ya think?

[Geek King]

Geek King, did that guy you knew have a bizaar allergy to sugar in certain quantities, ya think?

I'm not sure that it was an allergy, as I don't remember him having any of the usual reactions to it for an allergy. If anything, he acted like he'd taken LSD or maybe meth, now that I know how someone acts under those influences. He'd be really agitated and on edge. Like he had too much energy. I've dealt with hyper kids before, but nothing like this guy. And he'd get violent sometimes. He pulled a pocketknife on someone once, while in one of his sugar-fits. That's why we had to restrain him until it got out of his system.

He was finally asked to leave the troop because he would keep doing crap like that, or stealing other guys snacks to get his sugar buzz. Then we would have to deal with it. It really was like dealing with a junkie, and we couldn't babysit him 24/7 on camping trips. I wonder if he really was getting a chemical 'high' off of it.

[Applerod]

Fortunately, kids can always be weened off sugar with methadone.

[Geek King]

Fortunately, kids can always be weened off sugar with methadone.

Actually, last I heard, he and his dad were in Jail. Seems they were growing wakky tabbaky on the family pharm in the basement. That was about ten years ago, though.

[Kheldarson]

We had similiar issues at a camp I worked at. We used to sell Fun Dip, aka "Kiddy Crack". I'm not a fan of it myself, but if that's what you like sure. But...when you're coming up for the 10th time in 3 hours and there's a ring around not only your mouth and nose and you're getting another 5+packs...there's a problem.

God, I hate that stuff so much....

[Evil Queen]

Thank you Kheldarson. I know my gag reflex works. Blech!

[Hotfoot]

I have to wonder how much of this is psychological. Kids can work themselves up into believing something is true so much that they take pains to make it true.

For example: Parent says, "No, you can't have sugar, it will make you hyper."

Child thinks, "Hmm, that must mean that if I have sugar, I will go hyper, and am thus not responsible for when I act out."

And so the reasoning goes. This goes double for kids who have parents or close relatives who are hooked on really nasty drugs, and are often told that it's not the addicted person who is acting that way, it's the drug.

So sugar becomes the drug. They get to act out and not get yelled at as a result.

When I was a kid, I had a similar situation, wherein I believed that Vitamin C would let me do anything, be healthy, and be active. Once I snuck a bottle of Vitamin C chewables out of my parent's medicine cabinet, took it to school, and passed it around to my friends and myself. I think I had like, seven or eight that day, with each one being something like 80% of your daily suggested Vitamin C intake.

When my parents found out, they were of course, not amused. On the upside, I never got scurvy!

[protege]

We had similiar issues at a camp I worked at. We used to sell Fun Dip, aka "Kiddy Crack".

Oh God. I'd forgotten about that crap. It was available at all 3 camp stores long before I worked there. Then, apparently, kids started snorting that stuff so the camp quit selling it. You think that's bad? I knew one guy who insisted on snorting hot chocolate mix. Yes, I know that he was messed up