Rest Hour Etiquette

Rest Hour Etiquette
By Catherine McPhillips
** How to manage your campers during the most important hour of the day. **

It’s true. Rest Hour will become your most indispensable asset at Nakanawa. During this hour, you can read, sleep, catch up on letters, prepare for your activities, and most importantly, recharge your energy and spirit for the rest of the day. Camp is a very communal experience, and Rest Hour is that one sacred time each day that is all your own. No one can expect you to work on anything, discuss or plan, or be anywhere except on your very own bed.

By the end of the first week, you will come to regard Rest Hour as one of the very best features of Camp Nakanawa! This time is just as important for your campers. Whether they believe it or not, they NEED this time to rest and regroup before their afternoon activities. Here are a few simple ways to make sure you and your bunkies enjoy maximum benefit from this hour:

On the first night, when you are laying out the ground rules and goals for the cabin, Rest Hour should be at the top of your list.

MY RECOMMENDED REST HOUR RULES:

1. Rest Hour bell: Everyone has to be in the cabin before the bell. After lunch is not the time for hanging out in other cabins, at Egypt, etc. Stragglers will make it very hard for you and the other girls to start your rest hour properly.
2. All girls MUST go to Egypt (the bath house) before the rest hour bell rings. Tell your bunkies to go straight from the Dining Hall to Egypt, and verify that they have in fact done that. (This is extremely important in Junior Camp, as those little bladders do not hold as much.)
3. Stay on your bed: Even if the girls want to share markers or paper or headphones it is important to stay firm to this. Let them know that they can divide up supplies before the bell rings, or borrow something of your to tide them over. No bed sharing, no walking around the cabin.
4. No talking: If you are not firm on this from the beginning, it will be very easy for Rest Hour to turn into “cabin hang-out.” We have PLENTY of time to bond as a cabin, but Rest Hour has a different purpose. So, keep the girls quiet from the start, and they will quickly respect and appreciate the environment you have created.

These seem like very simple rules, and they are. However, letting one girl sit on another’s bed, or one whispering conversation persist in a corner will soon turn your Rest Hour into an after-lunch circus. It is also unfair to the other cabins to disturb their Rest Hour. Be firm on these rules and reassure the girls’ time and again that this is for their health and well being, as well as yours!