So today was better. Last night I emailed the camp director and told her about the rough transitions. I asked her to ask the counselor to check in with my son a few times during the day.

This morning I told my son stories about all the times I had been the new person in a new place (in kindergarten, moving to New York City from a small town, new jobs, etc.) I explained how hard it is for anybody to get through those first couple of days. That seemed to really comfort him and put things into perspective a bit.

When we arrived at camp, the counselors were all very warm and greeted my son by name. They also enthusiastically told my son that they would be working on chants today and asked him for high fives. My son just glared at them. I walked my son to his group and waited for a few minutes while he settled in. His main counselor came over and greeted him and admired some washers that my son had found on the ground. I told him that we were leaving and he waved goodbye and headed off without hesitating.

When I picked my son up, he was a bit off because he didn't really eat all day (he played with and smashed his food and only ate the treat). He wasn't thrilled but he wasn't completely negative, either. He told me about one project he made. He was proud that he got points for stumping the counselors with a question (why does copper conduct electricity well?) He also was annoyed that counselors in a circuit/tinkering camp didn't know the answer to his question (but he did). I asked if he learned anything and he said he learned the chant, "Liar! Liar! Your pants are on fire!" He also learned a camp song. Nothing about tinkering. While the website promised work on parallel circuits, instead they made simple sculptures with LEDs attached to a battery.

My son's friend continued to ignore him most of the day. He even ignored me when I greeted him. My son said the boy played with him a bit but mostly played by himself. I usually think of the kid as being very social so I'm surprised. I thought about emailing his mom but I'm not sure how to approach it or if it would help. Maybe I should check in and see if he's enjoying camp or has mentioned anything?

This evening it's not clear if my son will be going to camp tomorrow. He said that if his friend played with him that camp would be okay but it's not fun when his only friend is ignoring him and the projects aren't interesting. I agree but I'm also amazed by how much better the second day went. I think we will see how he feels in the morning.

Thanks again for all the great insight and advice!