How To Become a Bus Counselor

When summer begins it is usually time for most children to join a summer camp. They will be away from home for some time and parents are typically nervous as their children go off to camp. But the bus ride to summer camp is the initial cause for stress. As the bus counselor your duty is to pick up the children from their homes and meet each parent. The children on the bus are your responsibility until the children reach camp.  

1. Know how to build relationships with people. As a bus counselor you will be communicating with parents or guardians and assuring them that their children are in good hands. The children will be away for several days depending on the program they are enlisted on and the parents will want to know if their children will be alright while they are in your care. Parents are usually tense until the children get to the camp and they know they are safe in the confines of the camp and safely off the road. You will be representing the camp and your face will be the first and last person they'll see with their kids until they get back from camp. So a pleasing personality will ease the tension when you meet the parents to pick up the children. Know how to assure the parents by showing them that you understand their concern without actually being told about it. Know how to show sincerity and assurance to ease the parent's tension.
   
2. Be patient. You may be the type who can or can't handle one unruly child but when you have a couple dozen then that's when your patience will be tested. Patience will be your best defense and it may make you a better person for it too. Having patience will show the children you are unaffected if they are trying push you to your limits. You can patiently tell the children to settle down and find ways to keep them busy and keep them from disturbing the other children who are quietly sitting in their seats. If you treat them with respect you will get some back. Implement rules on the bus and clearly state them when all the kids are on the bus so they know that there are rules in place.
   
3. Know how to mediate fights and resolve differences. There will always be a few differences that could lead to fights between children so knowing how to calmly resolve them will ease the tension between them and save you some stress. Better understanding of children will give you a better idea of how to resolve differences and issues on the bus ride to the camp. The bus does not have much space so you can't really separate the children too far from each other. The best you could is to resolve the issues right away before it escalates any further.

Depending on how far the camp is the bus ride may take several hours and it is your duty as bus counselor to ease tensions and keep the children from getting bored.