Right now I’m sitting on a bus about to pick up a heap of kids for what we like to call “indies”. When the summer holidays begin PGL starts running programs for individuals. Basically this means parents send their kids to us and they are our responsibility for their entire stay, down to making sure they have brushed their teeth. Since they are sent as 'individuals' who don’t know their peers, we shorten it to “indies”.
I am lucky enough to be an indies group leader for 8-10s (I call them squidgies). I was trained as a group leader a few weeks ago now and got placed on my first group pretty much immediately after. The group I had was a Primary School visiting for their grade 6 graduation celebration and were the most lovely kids who I bonded with dearly. They loved their time at PGL and apparently gave me a great review because I have been chosen for indies. Just to put it into perspective I am the only indies group leader with little to no experience. Maybe a coincidence, but I’m hoping I just made a good impression and the managers liked the way I ran my group.
Obviously I've been a group leader once before, but indies group leading is a whole other ball park. Compared to having teachers to aid you, when indies arrive we are responsible for them 24/7 and cannot leave their side. This includes night support as well. We are responsible for their wellbeing and behaviour. As a squidgies groupie I am going to be dealing with a lot of babying and strange questions. This could include “why do we brush our teeth miss” or “why can’t I wear crocs for climbing”, and so on. However, I love the young kids and I am happy to deal with all their tears, tantrums and questions.
The reason I enjoy having the younger kids over the older ones is because they are so easily amused by everything you say. From the get go most of them will want to play games, sing songs and be entertained if I act silly. I also feel more confident being crazy infront of the 8-10s. Even if I might have to braid their hair, be their shoulder to cry on or even pull them off the dining hall floor because they thought it felt nice on the carpet (I actually saw this happen once).
I am loving this job so far and I am excited to see how being an indies groupie goes. I will keep you all updated and hopefully have some quality stories for next week.
Thank you, love Amy ♡
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