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View Full Version : Technique 3 (The intervention w/ witnesses)


speedx5xracer
10-29-2005, 10:43 PM
Situation 2 or more campers fighting
Effectiveness from experience *****

Say that you are with your campers and two of them start fighting. Once you were able to stop them from fighting now you are stuck with the dilemma which camper to believe since you did not witness the start of the fight. Get all the campers that were present aside from the two involved parties send them with another councilor for now. You sit the campers down and you join them on the same level. Don’t be afraid to lay down the ground rules before starting. Rules should cover topics such as no raising your voices, no directly addressing each other during the process, speaking during your turn only and the ruling is final . You ask each of the witnesses to explain their account in turn. When you have established enough of an idea to start hearing the accounts from the involved invite them back to sit among the group. And again you ask the entire group in turn to go over their story. Just watch out for some campers changing their stories at this point to either support their friend or attack their rival. By the end of a few rounds both before and after you reintegrate the involved parties you should have a deep enough understanding to start asking questions. Like in technique 2 rather than give the group the answer all you want to do is ask them questions to lead them towards a resolution that you are content with. Ask involved questions and do not try to point blame at any party but more or less questions like Why do you think this happened, or How could this be resolved with out fighting? This will take time to do but it is effective.

camper
10-30-2005, 03:13 AM
i don't like this technique. i don't think you should ever involve kids that aren't involved in the conflict in the first place for the reasons that kids will feel like they have to take sides and they tend to exaggerate. plus, what goes on between other kids is really not their business unless the kids involved choose to talk about it.

CAMPFRIEND
10-30-2005, 09:32 AM
We don't have much fighting at our camp!!! We have to set a lot og ground rules with our campers. I think it is hard to get other campers in somthing that might not effect them. TGhe might also take sides... I guess you need to do what ever works!
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speedx5xracer
10-30-2005, 12:27 PM
That is why you initially remove the involved parties they are less likely to take sides when they are not in the company of the involved parties. Its not a flawless technique... none are but it works very well at a sleepaway camp.

camper
10-30-2005, 01:09 PM
i guess whatever works for you b/c all camps are different haha i didn't mean to sound rude or anything. but i'm at a sleepaway camp too and we're specifically trained to not involve kids that aren't involved.

speedx5xracer
10-30-2005, 02:21 PM
well its not taht were involving kids that werent involved cause they did witness it and you have to be very carefull when doing it for that reason. I prefer technique 2 but this seems to work just as well with my age group

collissimon
10-31-2005, 06:49 AM
Hmmm... I'm not too sure I like this one either, well it wouldn't work with the campers I work with.

I would probably listen to a third party (the 'witness') but just to gratify them that it had been fair.

I would consequence the two kids fighting, and if the majority of the group were involved I would lay down a bit of a 'smackdown' (a group talk to lay down the law again), but I wouldn't involve the group as a whole becuase it would become a popularity contest.

speedx5xracer
10-31-2005, 11:18 AM
The popularity contest is the biggest threat to this technique but we try to minimize it by talking to the witnesses first. Ive gotten this one to work but i do know people who have failed w. it. I prefer technique 2 over this one where ever possible for that reason.

collissimon
11-01-2005, 03:33 PM
Is there a situation that where you couldn't choose Technique 2, and had to resort to this one?

speedx5xracer
11-01-2005, 03:45 PM
If you feel that the two kids involved would not give you the whole story and you think you could use more background info. The times i used this were with two campers who I knew wouldnt give me the truth or anything resembling the truth and I knew 5 other kids witnessed it.

who_stole_my_loofa
11-11-2005, 03:55 AM
I am definitely not a fan of this method... I would never get kids involved that aren't involved- that makes the situation bigger and more dramatic. Usually when there are 2 stories you can tell which is true and which is not-

speedx5xracer
11-11-2005, 03:19 PM
in response to that Loofa some times both kids are lying. This is not my prefered one but if there are witnesses I find it usefull to get an outside opinion. But its mainly to clearify the stories since many younger kids will constantly change their story when confronted by an authority figure.