Pleasant surprises

Jordan had to get a shot yesterday, and while no one enjoys that, the anticipation was the worst part. Afterwards, we had a treat at a café and talked about what might have made it go more smoothly. A friend of his was with us.

Rachel: I noticed you started to get more upset when the doctor said that the shot makes some people faint. Would you rather she had not told you that?
Jordan: Yes. I did not want to hear that. She could have just given me the shot and it would not have been so bad.
Friend: I would want to hear it. I want to know the truth ahead of time.
Jordan: I don't want to know. I prefer to be surprised.

Ain't that the way? Some people are anxious if they don't know what's going to happen -- probably because they imagine something bad possibly happening, and find it reassuring to be able to prepare. (Myself, I always want to know what the plan is for lunch, because I worry about lunch being late or insufficient.) Other people, like Jordan, are not anxious about the future, so hearing about negative possibilities tends to add stress.

Later that same day, there was a middle school information session, and the friend definitely wanted to go. Jordan did not, saying again that he prefers to be surprised. He said, "Usually when we do something new it's great with me. I don't need to know about it ahead of time. In fact I kind of like to just discover it right then and there. I think at Billings they're going to say, 'Today we are trying this sport,' and even if I never heard of it before, I'm going to say, 'Cool! Let's do it!' " He likes novelty, and his experience is that most of life's surprises are pleasant.

Summer camp reflections

Summer is coming to an end, and as usual there have been a lot of camps to keep the kids entertained and supervised while we're at work. Here is their summer calendar:

Week	Jordan	Aaron
1	Day hiking (Evergreen)	Puget Sound Sea Life/Sports Medley (Evergreen)
2	Jedi Academy/Fencing (Evergreen)	Nature Intelligence/Ukulele (Evergreen)
3	Boychoir tour camp	Rockets and Astronauts (Villa)
4	Boychoir tour	Family trip to SF
5	Boychoir tour	Art with Morah Bibi (SJCS)
6	Boychoir tour	Camp Leatt
7	Grandma camp	Grandma camp
8	Boychoir camp (SPU)	Boychoir camp (SPU)
9	Aunt Kari camp	Aunt Kari camp
10-11	Zoo camp	Zoo camp

I asked them to rate each of their summer camps on a scale of 1 to 10. They had fun with this task, and it was fun to find out that they were fantastically happy with almost everything they did this summer and would eagerly do it again. (I'm happy to share specifics if other parents are interested.) I also learned about their values; Jordan especially loves to have a lot of excitement and challenge and novelty, whereas Aaron especially loves to be with family.

All of this is good to know, because I think we have a couple more years of summer camps before the next era. What is that next era -- summer jobs? Yowza. I guess that's what it was for me. My elementary school was year-round so it wasn't an issue, but starting in middle school I volunteered at the zoo and worked as a receptionist at the JCC. Or was that high school? I think I was 14 before I was a summer nanny. I did not have summer childhoods full of camps - I only remember a week here and there in the basement of the California Academy of Sciences, some fun and some boring. Our kids have it pretty good. And we both work all summer, which I think my mom did not. My memories are surprisingly vague.