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  • in reply to: Wetting beds #965390
    bentor
    Participant

    I went to camp when I was quite young. I still remember the kavana I had at ten years old when I davened shema koleinu and said a personal tefila that I should not have an accident that night. It was probably the most sincere tefila i have davened. I had plenty of accidents kids did eventually find out and the were sometimes quite mean. I remember an incident when i was 12. We were playing baseball and my team was up. There was a bat lying right next to me. The boy who was up next walked over in front of everyone holding his nose while he picked up the bat If I had a choice there is no way I would send a kid especially if it is every night. The camp experience is great but it is not worth the trauma that I went through when kids decided to tease me. This is coming from someone who was good at sports and popular too. I am not saying that it will always be terrible but there is definitely a risk. There are plenty if kids that don’t go to overnight camp. If medication can take care if the problem that is great but it doesn’t work for everyone. If the child is old enough to want to help themselves you should definitely try the alarm method during the year.

    in reply to: Wetting beds #965374
    bentor
    Participant

    did you discuss with his doctor? there is medication that may help a bit. not sure why you are sending him two sleep away camp – sounds like the decision is already made.

    as someone who experienced going to sleep away camp as a bedwetter i can offer some advice. Some years it was fine and some years were miserable. most camps have experience with this, be sure that you are in touch with the camp mother and the counselor to make sure it is dealt with every day in a sensitive way .- usually someone will change the sheets while the kids are out at davening or some other time when no one will be in the room. don’t rely on your son to communicate with his counselor he may be embaressed and there is nothing worse then laying in a cold wet bed in camp.

    if there is any way possible it would be better if he slept in a private room, like in the infirmary or in a staff room so that he doesn’t have to worry about his bunkmates finding out, but it is not likely that the camp will allow this.

    more importantly, make sure that your son knows thoroughly that this is not at all his fault and that this will go away as his body matures. He should be prepared with how to deal with it if some of the other boys find out. A large percentage of boys have “accidents” up till about age 11. Your son should not be ashamed.

    There are effective methods of training they body to wake up, specifically with alarms. These can be expensive but they do work especially with older boys. However, this is not an option for camp.

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