"You're making Aaron Kaye cry"

So there are several conclusions I've come to during my first couple weeks as CILT trainer. First of all, I had grand ambitions for what I wanted the program to be about, and the ideals I wanted to convey to the campers. I think I've run up against a challenge that I'd guess many individuals in a leadership position face; that it's one thing to come up with a plan, but it's quite another to actually implement it. I've found that while I had all sorts of big ideas for the program, I've not been able to put them into play as much as I would have liked.

Secondly, I've found that I'm a horrible disciplinarian. I'm not very good at keeping my kids strictly adhering to all the rules. The fact is that most of the time they fall into line out of respect for me. For example, they started quieting down the other night because one of them pointed out, "guys we need to quiet down or Aaron's going to get in trouble." It's not really that they're bad kids and want to flaunt all the rules. But I definitely feel like they behave as a favor to me. Another example came when another counselor was trying to get all twenty-five of them to be quiet. Nothing worked until the counselor told them "Guys, you're making Aaron Kaye cry."

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I have a problem with my kids being into me. It's just that I'm fully aware that's the only thing that's making this all work.