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Summer Camp or Bust
Your Bedwetting Child Can Do It! By Lyn Mettler
To make your child's camp experience as successful as possible, most camp directors prefer that you let them know about bedwetters ahead of time. "If the staff are armed and know about it ahead of time, they can be more proactive in helping," Huff says. He suggests including it on the camper information form that you fill out before camp or discreetly handing your child's counselor a note when you drop him off. He also asks that you include any instructions that may help such as limiting fluid intake before bed. Some camps ask that you send disposable absorbent undergarments to wear at night.
At most camps, bedwetting is no big deal and they will make every attempt to avoid embarrassing your child. "We always try to encourage the kids that we will deal with it quietly," Huff says.
At his camp, the staff encourages the children to tell them when they've had an accident. The counselors then remove the bedding when the kids are at an activity and replace it with clean bedding. They will often place children who wet the beds closer to the door so they can wake them up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom less noticeably and so they can remove the bedding more easily, if needed.
If any questions come up about why someone has a "new" sleeping bag, counselors explain that it had a jammed zipper or some other problem and is out to be fixed.
But sometimes the inevitable happens and other children find out. In that case, Huff says they explain that everyone has wet the bed at some time in their life, even as a baby. Two of the core values of their camp are respect and caring, so teasing is never accepted.
"It's just one more thing that can be turned into a life lesson that kids can take away from camp," he says.