That's what camp is about, right? Being on your own, learning how to stand up for yourself and do things independently.
And anyway, you'll have a whole cabin full of Muskrats to take care of. You can't spend all your time with this one kid.
"Come on," you say, firmly but not harshly. "You've got to be strong. You're going to be on your own this summer, and you're starting fifth grade in the fall. You need to be a big, grown-up kid and learn how to take care of yourself."
As you speak, you wriggle out from Cody's tight clutch, and hold him at arm's length with your hands on his shoulders. Tears still stream from his eyes, but he's too surprised at your tough-love approach to do anything but stare. "You're going to go make friends now. Okay?"
Cody nods wordlessly. He stands there for a moment after you turn away, staring in confusion at the crowd of other kids in front of him. Your instructions were pretty clear, but it's equally clear that he doesn't have the faintest clue how to carry them out.
"Poor kid," Graham sighs as he passes by on the way to retrieve one of his own campers. "He's going to have a hard time this summer."
Maybe so, but he'll have an even harder time later on if he doesn't learn how to be independent.
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