Originally posted by zippy_tippy:
I honestly think that's the best policy because no matter what most underage people will try to drink regardless of the rules. This way our camp has boundaries and it's very clear you will get fired if you break them. Since it's so cut and dry we never had a problem and everyone abided by the rules.
I don't fully agree with this. I have worked at one camp where there was hardly any drinking problem at all. Some of the over 21s would go out at night but since they only had 2 hours off and had to drive themselves no one ever got drunk. The underagers had very little access to alcohol on their time off (well maybe on their days off, but not on the nights when they had kids).
The last camp I worked at gave counselors 5 nights off per week and like your camp, had a van that took counselors into town. Unevitably all the counselors (even the 17 year olds) went to the bar. The camp also had a no "drunk" policy, but they actually knew that everyone drank every night. Even if you've only had a couple and don't think you are drunk, you may not be capable of taking care of campers. And, if you are drunk, you may be able to sneak past the head counselors, since all you had to do was sign your name on the sign-in board.
In response to your post, I do not think that underage drinking is going to happen regardless of the rules. If the time off rules of your camp do not allow staff to go out for 5 hours at night, like if their time off is from 9-11 am, then there's a much less chance they will be drinking. In the 4 years I worked at the first camp, only the last year did I ever even have access to alcohol. In the first 2 days of my second camp, alcohol was abundant (of course at the bar, not at camp). I found the fact that everyone went to the bar every night ridiculous, as this was the part of camp most counselors enjoyed the most. They were not their for the campers, and I think that drinking could be minimized.
