Dealing with Bedwetting on campouts
George Codina
I can imagine the frsutration. If the boys problem is medical then he
really can't help it. You may want to meet with him and his parent a a
meeting and plan how you're going to deal with this problem. You can tell
the boy that you will wake him up at designated time so he is prepared for
you to wake him up and minimize the embarassment. You might make this an
opprtunity to instruct the troop in tolerance of other people with medical
problems. As far as YGP. You have to do what makes sence.
You can have another adult leader help you wake up the boy.
In addituion to the above you may make this an opprtunity to show
responsibility on the part of the boy. For instance you can tell the scout
he needs to bring an wrist watch with an alarm that is set for say 1 am or 3
am and in this way he can get up himself reinforcing his responsibility.
Naturally the consequence for lack of responsibility is a wet sleeping bag
and criticism from other scouts.
Scouts provide all of our boys the opprtunity to learn and eal with their
issues.
George
"John Bry" <jb...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:cdcdf$40355494$d841b24d$22...@allthenewsgroups.com...
> This is a new one on me. I hope someone has advice from experience...
>
> The father of a newly crossed-over Scout advises me that his son has a bed
> wetting problem that is not 100% controlled by medication. The boy is
> anxious about this. The father cannot attend all camp outs (as he did
when
> his son was a visiting Webelos) to get him up for a predawn watering.
>
> Under Youth Protection, I'm not sure that I should rouse the boy by
myself.
> With TWO adults getting him up at 3am, the poor kid probably would feel
> really bad! And he would be in a tent with another boy or two to begin
> with.
>
> Any help would be appreciated. His first camp out is mid-March.
>
> YIS
> John
George Codina
God Bless you. Thanks for all the fine suggestions. Go have some fun
scouting.
"Karl Pollak" <gu...@nospam.org> wrote in message
news:404534da....@news.pacificcoast.net...
> x-no-archive: yes
> "George Codina" <jorg...@cox.net> wrote:
>
> >I can imagine the frsutration. If the boys problem is medical then he
> >really can't help it.
>
> George, I would suggest to you that there is no boy who wets his bed just
> for the hell of it. If he wets his bed, it is because he really can't
help
> it, no matter what you believe the root cause is.
>
> >You can tell the boy that you will wake him up at
> >designated time so he is prepared for you to wake
> >him up and minimize the embarassment.
>
> Why? Not only you are liable to disturb his tent mate, you are accepting
> responsibility for something you should not. If you happen not to wake up
> on time (presumably at least 2x a night) and the boy wets his bed, you are
> the one at fault, but he is the one who is very embarassed. If you do
> manage to wake several times a night to get him up, you are not going to
> get the proper rest you need in order to fullfill your obligations to the
> rest of the Pack/Troop during the day. (That's ignoring the 1 child/1
> adult, in the middle of the night, with no other witness, problem already
> mentioned here)
>
> > You might make this an opprtunity to instruct the troop
> >in tolerance of other people with medical problems.
>
> ABSOLUTELY NOT !!!
>
> You will not even breathe a word of the boy's difficulties to anyone.
> PERIOD.
>
> Are you completely out of your mind? To betray a young boy's confidence
in
> this way? After he's trusted you? How the hell would you ever expect any
> of the boys come to you and confide in your with anything if they see how
> you have blabbered out what you know to the whole camp ???
>
> Geez, man why not take out an advert in the Times "Johnny pisses in his
> bed, but it is alright and we should all tolerate that because we're a
> bunch of nice understanding guys."
>
> My gawd.
>
> >You can have another adult leader help you wake up the boy.
>
> OK, so instead of one tired leader you will have in the morning two tired
> leaders. Sorry, not a winner.
>
> > In addituion to the above you may make this an opprtunity to show
> >responsibility on the part of the boy. For instance you can tell the
scout
> >he needs to bring an wrist watch with an alarm that is set for say 1 am
or 3
> >am and in this way he can get up himself reinforcing his responsibility.
> >Naturally the consequence for lack of responsibility is a wet sleeping
bag
> >and criticism from other scouts.
>
> You make it sound as if the boy is pissing in his bed for a lark. Just to
> make himself look interesting to the other boys.
>
> That's like taking an epileptic boy to camp and making it his
> responsibility not to have a fit.
>
> Can you get it in your head that the bedwetting boy has a problem that you
> are quite clearly not equipped to deal with ?? Nor is it your
> responsibility to deal with it. So don't try to deal with it. Your
> resonsibility is to the Pack/Troop as a whole. You do not need to exclude
> anyone because he needs special care or assistance, but that assistance
> must come from the boy's family. Not from you.
>
> Have his dad or another close relative of his parents choosing to
accompany
> him as a parent helper and make it his responsibility to spare the boy the
> enmbarassment.
>
> >Scouts provide all of our boys the opprtunity to learn and eal with their
> >issues.
>
> Yeah right and hell with the wimp's emotional scars, if he can;t take it,
> right?
>
> --
> Karl Pollak, Richmond, British Columbia
> Sea Scouting in Canada at http://www.seascouts.ca/
Ian N ford
the kid might work - but it might also wake his tent-mates and draw
attention to the problem.
You might have another young person who has / had a similar problem with
whom he could share a two-person tent. The decision about whether or not to
tell the buddy is for the kid to decide, but the Leader could say that he
thinks that X would be sympathetic without saying why. In the past I have
obtained a Scout's permission to share information with a Patrol Leader or
buddy, and provided you know your Scouts you should have an idea as to who
is reliable.
Practical precautions include a sleping bag liner that can be pulled out and
dried. Discrete checking of all the Scouts' bedding during tent
inspections can identify wet bags, and ALL the Scouts can be told to air
their bedding and open up the tents during good weather to air - this
should be standard practice in any case.
Make sure that the kid showers or on backwoods trips get him to bring the
disposable wipes (available from pharmacies) designed to deal with
incontinence.
The use of incontinence pads / pullups needs to be discussed sensitively
with the parents. Again there needs to be a method for discrete disposal,
e.g. taking wash kit to the bathroom in two plastic carrier bags, leave pad
tied up in one bag. Check local laws regarding disposal as pads may be
defined as " clinical waste ".
I usually address medical problems at the pre-camp briefing with the boys. I
say that bed-wetting is a common problem, and that like any other medical
problem or disability we can deal with it. If the Scouts are taught to be
accepting and understanding of special needs it should not be a problem. Any
teasing should be dealt with by referring to the unit's policy on verbal
bullying / hazing and to the relevant bit in the Scout Law.
Ian Ford
Special Needs Adviser
Greenwich District, London UK
>
>
br549
Wal-Mart)
No one ever was ever the wiser.
RobertVB
<pgod...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Pull-ups, Gallon Zip-Lock bags, and a personal sized tent (< $30 at
> Wal-Mart)
> No one ever was ever the wiser.
Oh and if its a motor-in campout it just doesn't hurt for him to have
an extra sleeping bag he can ask for.
Also meddle and be sure that his parents really have taken him to a
doctor (preferably a urologist) for a complete exam.
In the army we treated several cases with lifelong problems with
bedwetting and they all had urethral stricture that were causing
chronic mild infections too small to pick up on routine urinalysis, in
a couple the infections had scarred the urethra down to a pinpoint.
One had a kidney enlarged due to the lifelong backpressure.
Bedwetting is not always a behavioral thing.
>
>
Tom Shelly, White God
>Pull-ups, Gallon Zip-Lock bags, and a personal sized tent (< $30 at
>Wal-Mart)
>No one ever was ever the wiser.
Why don't you Scout Leader faggots just suck the piss out of him?
You're not fooling anyone with this nonsense.
Tom Shelly, White God
Gerry Boire
idea yet.
Maybe I'm a little bit more in tune with the problem, since I experienced it
first hand. Talking from experience (the bedwetter), it was a living
nightmare going to camp. It was a combination of both physiological and
psychological.
NO, I did not want to wed the bed
NO, I did not feel good about wetting the bed
NO, I did not wet on purpose
I would be willing to lay odds that any youth you have in your group will
tell you the same thing.
I have had several cubs, and scouts, with this problem, and I can tell you
that if you play it properly, there is no embarrassment to you, or the
youth. And no-one needs to be the wiser.
Luckily we have Depends, and other incontinence products now that we didn't
have in the 60's and 70's. They shield a plethora of embarrassment.
Now, some 30+ years later, I am able to help the youth that experiences this
problem. Whenever a parent comes to me to tell me that little Johnny has a
"problem", I let them know that they have options. I also let them know that
I will do everything in my power to ensure that whatever option they chose
will remain as secret as they want it to be.
If you think outside the box, you'll not only have a great program, happy
scouts, and less stressed leaders. You'll also find that you'll all have
more fun.
Gerry "Chil" Boire
"br549" <pgod...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:104mc3n...@corp.supernews.com...