Hi everyone! I am an after-school and summer camp program instructor for a sizeable group of kiddos ages 6-12. The vast majority of them are K-2. I firmly believe that every single one of the kid's conflicts that escalates to staff intervention deserves our time and undivided attention. This season has been rough with staffing shortages, COVID and cold season, and now national economic issues - the sheer volume of conflicts, heated arguments, disrespectful moments, and other behavioral issues are beyond what our program can handle. If we suspend everyone our program will go under and our kids and leave many appreciative families stranded without our care and left with broken hearted children (and STAFF 🤧)

I am looking for advice on how to handle the type of defiance that never ceases! So many of them refuse to comply with directions no matter how assertive or soft we are. I contrast with my fellow staff in that some of us are VERY assertive and often scary to them - while myself and another staff member start calm and gentle and adjust our assertiveness, essentially by levels or degrees of defiance and severity of situation/behavior.

Our program is working as hard as we can on the staffing problem but in the meantime we are stretched as thin as we can be stretched and the majority of these kids are having a difficult time getting along, following rules, and following directions. We individualize issues that arise as much as possible.

Anyone with a similar issue? What solutions can you think of for us? I can respond with what I've tried and I know different approaches will work with different kids but controlling the group as a whole when they're always behaving like this is extremely challenging. We do a variety of activities and make their environment as comfortable as possible. They're amazing kids and we love them very much. Should we "crack the whip" so to speak and start going harder on them? Do we ease up on them even more than we have now inadvertently?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts from out there!

- H