Technique 8 (the long awaited next installment)

[speedx5xracer]

Cleaning up after a camper has an accident is one of the most difficult subjects to cover.
Situation 1: Camper wets the bed at night
Step 1. Get all the campers ready for breakfast and out the door like normal. If necessay cover up the smell with febrezze.
Step 2: Stay in the bunk after the other staff have gone with the kids.
step 3: when the coast is clear of all campers take the linen to where it must go for special laundry.


Situation 2: Camper has an accident during the day?
This is not a step by step solution. If you are near a water source splash all the kids if possible to cover up the proof. then take the bunk back to change rinse all the cloths and hang them out side to dry till laundry day.


Ill add more later im kinda tired now.

[collissimon]

I would make sure this is as low-key as possible, I would remove the kid from the group (I don't think you'd have to make up a reason, because the kid will know why) and get them sorted out. I would then bring them back into the group, not explaining why they were away. Usually, the kids won't ask either. If it's urine, you can wash it in warm soapy water, and hang it out to dry. If it's... not, we throw the clothes away, because our laundry won't clean fecal matter.

I had one kid during mini camp last year, who was having fecal accidents, because his medication changed and it affected him. Unfortunately, he didn't tell us what was happening, and just put his dirty clothes in his laundry bag, which we found a couple of days before the end of camp: it wasn't very nice!

[CAMPFRIEND]

The one thing to think about is this is part of the job no matter what age group you work with! It's not that much fun to take care of but do it and move on... The campers might not thank you for it but you know that it will mean a lot to them if you don't make it a big deal.

[camper]

i like speed's solution to the wetting the bed at night thing, but i think you also need to add that you remake the bed as the camper left it so the rest of the bunk doesn't notice...like if the bed was made make it w/the new sheets...and if she didn't leave it like it looks like she just got out of it.

[Pooka]

If the bedding isn't done being washed by the time the campers get back up to the unit, we tell them that the staff were checking the tents to make sure they were clean and safe and accidentally spilled something on the bedding. Since our tent flaps tie open and if it's a wet day, we might say that we tied them open for light and the bedding got rained on. This seems to be less embarassing to the camper and works fairly well.

[Campy Measius]

Ooohh!! Good call Pooka!! What a great idea... I'm not that fast on my toes so I wouldn't think of that!! I'll def pass that along to my staff! :)

I think it's really important at the beginning of the week (session) when you have your 'talk' with your cabin that you tell mention that it's ok and it happens to everyone and that they shouldn't be embarressed to come to you if it happens.

[who_stole_my_loofa]

on occasion we will wash like 3 sets of campers sheets that were all close to eachother and say that there were (insert some kind of bug here) eggs and we wanted to make sure that there wernt any in the sheets. it kind of freaks the kids out a little but they can all suffer together lol

you just have too consistently come up with new ideas to cover it. you can be like 'i spilled gatorade on her bed' every time.

[Pooka]

That's a good one, loofa. I'll have to remember that for this summer. Yeah, getting water or rain on the sleeping bags can wear pretty thin-- campers probably think after a while that we're really clumsy and that all the tents leak!

[collissimon]

They're are all good ideas, but do you need to go to all the effort, will the kids notice if you don't?

I suppose it depends on the age group, and what bedding you have. We have grey blankets and sheets, so the kids won't notice if we take bedding to the laundry and replace it with different bedding.

[Sparkes]

Our kids bring their own bedding, so its always noticable if bedding is changed. One of the boy campers inmy age group suffered from bed wetting, but he was on medication to stop it from happening. Isn't somwhat extreme - medication for something that just happens to some while their young? Or is medication for something like that common?

We've done impromptu laundry day - where we'll claim a trip day or something has thrown off the laundry schedule, so all the bedding has to be washed.

[lifer]

Kids will notice, so you always have to be careful. They notice everything.

A bit of a sick side story: During one of our medical camps, there was a camper on the top bunk, sleeping above one of the medical volunteers. She wet the bed in the middle of the night, and it actually leaked thru and was dripping on the volunteer !!!! SICK ! :eek:

Moral of the story: Never sleep below a camper.

[CAMPFRIEND]

That happend one year to another campers in my cabin. The funny thing was that it was his twin brother on the top bunk and he knew that he wet the bed! Kid just don't think sometimes!

[collissimon]

I would never sleep below a camper either!! Eww!

[who_stole_my_loofa]

lucky me we have to sleep on the top bunk!

on camper profile/medical forms specifically ask if the camper is a bed wetter and those kids are put on bottom bunks. most parents are honest about it thankfully!

[camper]

wow i'm SO GLAD we don't have bunk beds at my camp. i know at least 3 kids that it might be a problem for.

[KiwiCRB]

If my group is sleeping in bunk beds there are always enough of them so that i can have the entire thing, top and bottom, to myself. I always keep my shoes up there so no mice or scorpions crawl into them during the night.

[collissimon]

Kiwi,
It's so weird to think that there might be scorpions at a camp... I suppose that's because mine is in PA!

[CAMPFRIEND]

If my group is sleeping in bunk beds there are always enough of them so that i can have the entire thing, top and bottom, to myself. I always keep my shoes up there so no mice or scorpions crawl into them during the night.

I can't wait!!

[KiwiCRB]

Oh, it's fun. Campfriend, be sure to warn your campers and staff about leaving wet towels and swimsuits laying on the ground or anywhere scoprions can get. They like the water in them and will hide in there until something, or someone disturbs them and then they are not happy at all! One of my campers got stung like that this summer... it wasn't too fun.

[who_stole_my_loofa]

eep going off of what kiwi said... NOTHING should be left on a cabin floor!!! At my camp even shoes have to find their way into a cubbie!

Leaving things on the floor creates a risk for any kind of bug. Spiders especially are attracted to dark places (like the sleeve of your shirt or in the middle of a towel - my brother once got bit by a fiddle back and almost died because he put on pants that had been on the floor). Also don't leave anything wet on the floor because of gross little things we like to call mold and mildew! If it's wet - hang it up!! Also as a note- don't leave standing water (like in a mop bucket or in the sink or where ever) because it's a goldmine for mosquito breeding!

Just FYI :-D

[muchaprin]

we have someone that checks on all of the units three times a night so if we have a bed wetter they wake them up once or twice to take them to the bathroom this cuts way back on the bed wetting. if they do wet the bed we just take there stuff and wash it we give them new stuff if it happened in the middle of the night. there are at most four girls to a tent so not many notice if someone has different sheets.

[EeyoreStalbans]

These are all good suggestions, but I think the best way is the as-low-key-as-you-can-get way. No explanations, just a quick removal of the kids, a redirection or two, and a bedding cleanup or switch. Most kids won't notice if nothing is said. And if another kid notices, then making up an excuse won't help things but make you look dishonest.

[collissimon]

I couldn't agree more Eeyore!

[CAMPFRIEND]

I think that you are right as well. I think that we all hope that the campers are to crazy to take the time to see things like stuff missing of a campers bed. Good call!

[rock-it]

The nice thing about having campers for only a week at a time is that they all just sleep in sleeping bags. The best tactic I have found is the "Broken Zipper" (BZ) method. If a camper wets the bed, the counselor places a shoe on the wet sleeping bag on the way out of the cabin and discretely lets the nurse know you have a BZ at breakfast. She'll go to the cabin during AM activities, take the sleeping bag, wash it, and have it back in the cabin before lunch. In the meantime, a spare sleeping bag is left on the bed. If any campers notice there is a different bag on the bed, the counselor just tells them the cabin inspectors (whomever is checking the cabins for clean cabin awards) noticed the zipper was broken, so they took it to get it fixed and left a spare just in case it wasn't fixed by rest hour. It actually works really well.

[collissimon]

That's a really good idea! I try not to use sleeping bags, because some kids have them and some don't, because of bedwetting but also because they'd probably be a bit stinky after 4-8 weeks!

[Mainer]

Quickly here, I think kids are great as long as there is prep done on the first day of arrival. I have always explained to the campers in my cabin that they are a team and that they stick together through good times and bad times. That making fun of someone is not acceptable, that everyone has had accidents in their life at some point or another.

Whenever we had a camper who had a bedwetting situation we'd always have extra linen available. We would talk to the campers with the known issues beforehand and let them know it's okay and if they wake up and realize they have wet the bed to wake a counselor, we'd get them into the shower, make a new bed for him and presto everythings good to go. The dirty laundry would go up with a counselor to the laundry area and a counselor would bring it back before lunch.
Now is it perfect? no. Did I ever have kids make fun of anyone? Not in my presence, and no one was ever reported to us or the directors of making inappropriate comments about another camper.

I suggest in the beginning of the camp session you educate your campers on empathy and treating everyone with respect. That the more they have confidence in you and your respect the more they'll help each other out.

Bedwetting at my camp happens with the 7yr olds and with the 14 yr olds. It is not a problem or a concern. It is dealt with respect and dignity. Yes it is as discreet as possible yet our campers do understand that everyone is human and they do know and understand empathy.

[Campy Measius]

Once, at a camp I voulenteered at, a camper had an accident and before he had a chance to tell the counselor, another camper noticed and told the rest of the bunk. The counselors tried their best to fix the situation as quickly as they could, but the kids wouldn't let up.... sooo.... the counselors told the kids that they sometimes peed the bed too... the campers respected them so much and thought their counselors were SO cool that some of them stopped picking on the other kid right away, cause if they picked on that kid then they'd be picking on the counselors too.... but some of the kids didn't beleive the counselors... so they continued to be mean. So the counselors got completely ridiculous and one day... right before swim (they sometimes swim in the ocean) the two male counselors stood ankle deep in the water in their swim trunks and peed in their pants!!!!
LOL gross I know... but it actually worked! The saying for the rest of the summer became... "peein in your pants is the cooolist!"

[collissimon]

Wow Campy, that's pretty extreme! I don't think I'd go to those lengths myself, but I can understand with the whole infighting thing. With my campers, because they often get picked on at school, they come into a situation where some of them can be top dogs for the first time, and try to exhibit the same behaviour that they have learnt elsewhere, which gets stamped on from a great height!

It is also the hardest thing to control though, as I really like way you pre-empt these kind of situations Mainer: we try to set up an atmosphere of mutual respect with a code the campers create (and thus have ownership of) on the first day. However, they do find it difficult to put these abstracts into practise sometimes.

I had one situation a couple of years ago, that I think I've said already, but I'll say again, because I love it :) I had one camper who used night pants, because he was prone to wetting the bed. He'd do this in utmost secrecy, with them under my bed and I'd get one for him when he was changing. One day, another kid was rustling round and found them. He began to make fun of the camper, which was what I was most scared of. When he told the other kids though, they just turned round to him and said 'so what?' and went back to their activities. I was soo proud of them that day :)