When I was a kid, I went to Baptist Camp. I went by myself, and it was the longest week of my life. Everyone else in my cabin was a lot older than I was, and all of them came with a friend.
Before the first day was over, most of the girls in my cabin also had a boyfriend. I was in the sixth grade, and as far as I was concerned, boys still had cooties.
Every activity was done with partners, or groups. The friends all clustered together, and a counselor always had to “assign” someone to play or work with me. I was such a nerdy little kid, dangerously naive and socially inept, and when it came to approaching these girls, I was at a complete and total loss.
I also knew practically nothing about the birds and the bees, but at the end of the week, I knew a lot more. Church camp is where I got most of my information, in fact. Surprisingly, a lot of the information I got was correct.
In one week, I went from the kid who didn’t even know what a “period” was, to a kid who not only knew where babies came from, but also how they got in there in the first place. I didn’t believe it, of course. I mean, who were they trying to kid?
Not MY mom and dad. Ewww.
The church camp sex vocabulary was interesting, too. “The man puts his THING into the girl’s THING, and THINGS come out of it and touch her THINGS, and makes a baby grow in the THING, and when it’s big enough, her THING pushes it out, like poop.”
The funny THING is, we understood what that meant. Sort of. Well, I knew how to poop, so I figured I would know how to have a baby when the time came.
And I did. Pushed ’em right out of my THING.
The next summer, I went back to Baptist Camp with friends, and I had a BLAST. Seriously, it was really fun. We had vespers about forty times a day, but other than that, it was great. Lanyards and wallets and swimming in the filthy lake water, goofy camp songs that I still remember, and boys.
Oh yes, there are always boys. And THINGS.
Flash forward, and there I am with my friend, and we’re taking our daughters to this same Baptist Camp. They were assigned the same cabin I’d been in. I walked inside, and the smell of the cabin hit my memory. . . it was the SAME SMELL. I looked at the graffiti all over the rafters. . . I recognized some of it.
It was difficult for me to leave her there, but I smiled as we drove away. I had a feeling that THINGS would be fine with my baby. And they were.
She learned to dive there.
I didn’t ask her about other THINGS.
Baptist camps must be the same the world over, because a PK at Baptist told me stuff I KNEW had to be bull.
Then I found out she was right.
I sat on the curb of my elementary school and kept repeating, “No way, no way, now waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!”
I was nine.
Baptist camps must be the same the world over, because a PK at Baptist told me stuff I KNEW had to be bull.
Then I found out she was right.
I sat on the curb of my elementary school and kept repeating, “No way, no way, now waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!”
I was nine.
*snort How is it that Baptist Camp for mme taught me the same Things?!
*snort How is it that Baptist Camp for mme taught me the same Things?!
When my daughter took her kids to the same camp that she and her siblings had gone to, the first thing she mentioned is that it still smelled the same it had 20 years ago.
I was told by a classmate at one of my reunions that I had taught her all about sex in jr. high school, as we walked home from school. I had no memory of it…..LOL
When my daughter took her kids to the same camp that she and her siblings had gone to, the first thing she mentioned is that it still smelled the same it had 20 years ago.
I was told by a classmate at one of my reunions that I had taught her all about sex in jr. high school, as we walked home from school. I had no memory of it…..LOL
In my experience, this happens a lot–at venues that are supposed to be strict and especially “moralistic.” My daughters’ parochial school friends are WAY ahead of the curve when it comes to almost anything, including sex and drugs. Pretty eye-opening! BTW, don’t forget it’s Sunday, and you know what THAT means–S4 is underway today!
In my experience, this happens a lot–at venues that are supposed to be strict and especially “moralistic.” My daughters’ parochial school friends are WAY ahead of the curve when it comes to almost anything, including sex and drugs. Pretty eye-opening! BTW, don’t forget it’s Sunday, and you know what THAT means–S4 is underway today!
I laughed out loud when I saw your blog title.
I learned everything on the bus ride home from a Baptist youth group “encounter” (that alone should have been a red flag) in the mountains when I was in the 7th grade. There were more horny teens on that bus than in all the Porky’s movies combined.
Years later, I married a nice Catholic boy and converted. My mother still prays for my soul.
I laughed out loud when I saw your blog title.
I learned everything on the bus ride home from a Baptist youth group “encounter” (that alone should have been a red flag) in the mountains when I was in the 7th grade. There were more horny teens on that bus than in all the Porky’s movies combined.
Years later, I married a nice Catholic boy and converted. My mother still prays for my soul.
My older daughter went to Baptist camp with a friend in junior high and wanted NOTHING to do with organized religion after that. To this day, she talks about how appalled she was by people’s remarks and attitudes. She would have been interested by the sex talk though. I guess she went to the wrong Baptist camp.
My older daughter went to Baptist camp with a friend in junior high and wanted NOTHING to do with organized religion after that. To this day, she talks about how appalled she was by people’s remarks and attitudes. She would have been interested by the sex talk though. I guess she went to the wrong Baptist camp.