Yesterday, a trusted, anonymous source, (rhymes with: Shmy ShMom) was part of a psychology experiment involving a group of day campers.
The experiment was to put on some crazy behaviour and watch how onlookers might react.
Okay, that part’s a lie but here’s what happened. My Mom (damn, I gave away her identity) watched a teenaged camp counsellor with a 2 L jug of diet Coke, crack open the bottle after placing a Mento candy in his mouth and take a big swig. There was some sort of chemical reaction, an explosion ensued where coke went flying and everyone thought it was hilarious.
The part that has me shaking my head is the counsellor then passed the bottle onto the next in command and he popped a Mento, took a swig and garnered a similar reaction.
Onto the campers who were also encouraged to drink from the shared bottle, eat the pill and see if maybe someone could take out an eye or end up in the emergency room with a broken tooth or torn stomach lining.
At the risk of sounding really, really old, What in the Sam Hill were they thinking?
Don’t get me wrong. I grew up in the 70’s/80’s when Ozzy Osbourne was celebrated for chewing the head off of a live bat in concert, but times have changed.
My kids now have to wear helmets at school during chess tournaments. And no, I’m not suggesting (necessarily) the pendulum has swung too far the other way but here’s why I strongly disagree with the above behaviour.
- If my kids were enrolled in this camp, I would have had a lot to say about someone offering them a communal bottle of anything.
- We don’t drink pop unless it’s mixed with delicious Absolut Vodka and freshly squeezed lime juice. My kids suffer with water and milk (boo, hiss) and drink pop at their friend’s houses or on their birthdays or in the vans of strangers like we had to.
- The Mentos/coke experiment is just that—a science experiment. It was set up with guys wearing protective eye wear and lab coats while using empty bottles as receptacles, NOT the empty stomachs of unsuspecting 10 year olds.
- Have I mentioned how much I hate the sharing of the bottle? Do you know how many kids these days have strep, cold sores and Zika? Yuck!
It struck me as such an irresponsible move by the camp counsellors and yet maybe camp culture just isn’t something I know enough about to judge.
Maybe today is: Biting the heads off bats day!
