Top Ten Tuesday ~ Reasons Chaperoning Teens is NOT a vacation

 

Many thanks to Amanda of www.ohamanda.com for hosting the Top Ten Tuesday every week.  Visit her site to see all of the top tens for the week.  They usually cover a variety of subjects and are very fun!  My Top Ten Tuesday is the top ten Reasons Chaperoning Teens is NOT a vacation.  I have spent the last twenty years working with young people and I love them.  I love every minute I spend with them but trips really cannot be called vacations!

When I go on vacation,

1. I have two children, not fifteen.
2. I do not do plumbing repairs
3. I sleep
4. I do not have to worry about who is crushing on who
5. I am able to make my own schedule
6. I am not a wardrobe mistress, able to make repairs and supervise choices
7. I am not a walking drug store, dispensing everything from advil to feminine products
8. I get more than 10 minutes to shower
9. I don't get to know a group of young people and be reminded again how intelligent and thoughtful this generation is
10. I don't have my heart moved by watching their faith, their care for each other, and for our world.

This list is made for the number of people who ask me upon returning from a youth trip, "How was your vacation?"  I LOVE chaperoning young people but it cannot be mistaken for a vacation.  With great thanks to the lovely Wasatch Presbyterian Church youth group from Salt Lake City, Utah for allowing me to spend time with them this week!