ACA Home Forums Discipline... for lack of a better term...

Hey guys,

I just got back from a leadership weekend at camp. We were preparing for the summer, especially staff week. We got a lot accomplished and I'm ready for the summer to begin.

One topic that came up was that of camper behavior in program areas. In the past we've had a few occasions where campers do not act like little angels, whether it be bullying, coming late to activities, refusing to do something, etc. Program directors have struggled with how to react to this kind of behavior because they are constantly told that, "camp isn't school." While, the PDs and myself agree with that statement, we still struggle with what to do when that behavior happens. Is there a form of "discipline?" or positive action we can take so that the camper learns that certain types of behavior are not acceptable?

We had a guest speaker come to camp and speak about these things, though most of her advice went the school route, and I'm not sure if that's what our camp would like to do. I enjoyed the guest speaker and will use much of what she said in her classroom.

So, I'm wondering how other camps handle camper discipline, specifically in program areas and not in the bunks or units. Thanks.

- Teenster

Well, I'm not really sure how it is handled with our juniors because I don't work with that age group but with our teens, on the first day of camp they sign a camper behavior contract. There are a lot of things addressed in this contract (zero tolerance for bullying, behavior in and out of the cabin, being on time, and so on) and the contract has to be signed by every kid within the first 24 hours. So at this point, they all understand our expectations of them and when they don't hold up to their part of the agreement, there's a consequence. Is that too much of the school route?

How is daily programming set up for your camp? Do kids get to select a different schedule every day or every couple of days? Our kids sign up for new activities every morning, so they get the opportunity to completely select their own schedule every day. I think this may be one of the reasons we rarely have to deal with kids refusing to do activities or showing up late to activities because they have control of their daily schedule.

We have a 5 step discipline program that I implemented at my camp several years ago that we run for ages 7-16. The program is utilized all over camp so its not designated to one particular area. First and foremost, I hire a counselor that deals solely with Discipline issues. I do this so none of my admins/direct line staff have to be pulled away. As the Camp Director I play a key component as well especially during the later steps.

Our 5 steps has a progression of one on one work that consist of redirecting/reflecting/reminding. This means during steps 1/2 they spend 1 to 2 hours with our behavior coordinator and during the 2 hours we redirect the campers by removing from the said area and take them to a quieter area, we then help them reflect on what they need to do different, and then we remind them about our behavior policy and what happens when they reach the third/fourth step of our program. The third and fourth step is when we involve a community service aspect and teach the campers the importance of giving back to the camp. We also use this time to get them to work with the hands so it can help them clear their mind and be more open to advice on what they need to change. Usually the third/fourth step last about 3 to 4 hours and is the time when the behavior coordinator bonds the most witht he camper. During the 5th step is when the camper are placed in our "last chance housing" which means they need to be one on one with our behavior coordinator for two days. Majority of our campers that reach the 5th step usually do well and are retunrned to their cabin after the two days.

Our program has decrease our behavior issues tremendously and also has helped many campers realize that we give them a fair amount of time to "get it right" or as our campers say time to "figure it out".

If you would like to talk about the finer details of this program. Please feel free to call me at 269 424-5272 or email at aperez@cyccamprosenthal.org

All the best,
Mr. Adam

DTP:
Our younger campers go to assigned program areas. These are required, and the campers come as a bunk. The older campers choose electives, so they each have their own schedule (on an A day/B day rotation). The electives are chosen during the "off" season through a campminder form. The older campers do have a chance to change their schedule twice during the summer.

I am a big fan of the behavior contract. We use them in the bunks, and have tried to use them in the program areas before. I was thinking about bringing a version of it back to the program areas this summer. The problem is the consequence part, in addition the behavior in the moment is also difficult. What are some of your camp's consequences if a camper breaks the behavior contract?

Mr. Adam:
Your program sounds like it works best for your camp. I know that it may not work for us because it is a lot like school. We do not want to pull campers out of a program area completely. In addition, we cannot hire one staff member just to be in charge of camper discipline. I do like the five step idea.

- Teenster

It all depends on the specific situation in how we deal with it for the most part. If a kid is constantly being late to activities or skipping activities, we may take time off their curfew (they hate this) and start giving them personal senior staff escorts to activities. Rarely do we have this problem because they pick their own activities everyday, but if there is a case when kids don't want to participate in their activity they're usually sent to the office for senior staff to handle. There we may give them chores around the office to do, have them help with a senior staff for a couple of hours, or may even be as small as making them just choose another activity....but all get the point across. Anything big dealing with safety or like disrespecting our staff, our equipment, or other campers are handled different with more serious type consequences.

Doesn't seem like anything big but as I said before, it definitely gets the point across. At the end of the day it's summer camp, not boot camp.

I don't have a whole bunch of experience with this area because I work at camps with week long sessions and the kids all go together as a group to activities. At the beginning of the week we do camper planning, which in the younger ages looks a lot like their counselor asking them if they want to do an activity and most of them saying "YEAH!!!!!!!!" When some don't want to do an activity we remind them that we decided as a group and later we'll be doing an activity you want to do that someone else might not have wanted to. There aren't as many activities that we sign up for that the little kids are able to do (for instance, high ropes is only for like high school or so) so there is a lot of flexibility outside of those activities to really do anything and everything within reason.

That being said, I rarely work with the older groups so I can't offer much advice on that. I think that community contracts (creating the rules with the group and having the kids sign the paper and posting it) can help a lot with reminders, but if a kid is going to do something, they're just gonna do it anyway or they have some impulse control needs.

I like natural or logical consequences, so it's not like having to go to the principal's office. Clearly natural consequences just are what they are like throwing your camera on the ground will break it and then you have no camera. However, logical consequences are awesome! If they are coming late to a non-preferred activity from a preferred, maybe that "must mean they don't have time to get from one to the next," wink wink so leaving preferred a little earlier with a junior staff or some other person if you believe they would cause trouble in between.

Bullying is a little more serious and thus a little trickier. Most of what I've done (keep in mind I rarely work with kids older than 10) is working to teach the kids to be nice to each other. I've learned though, that directors typically like to be aware of small bullying problems because big problems can arise and lawsuits can happen. So even if it's small, report it up and absolutely document. Monitor areas where campers have more alone time or privacy. Our new cabins have stall doors but just a doorway between the sink area and cabin so the counselor can hear. Watch me time activities closely. Perhaps if they can't be respectful to their peers their peers won't want to play with them and maybe they spend some time with the unit coordinator doing paperwork and such (keeping in mind that you NEVER want to be alone with a camper and also that you don't want to sour them on the very chores you're asking them to participate in daily as part of their responsibility to their group and camp. I don't like making kids sweep and clean sinks as a method of discipline because then it's not easy to convince them the very next morning that it's just what needs to get done)

It's entirely likely I'm just telling you things you already know, so I don't know if I have much more thought on the matter. Have counselors document and report any serious infractions and if they aren't having success with their ideas, ask their supervisors... umm yeah.

Perhaps have them have conversations about what the problems are in a very camper oriented fashion with the supervisor. the unit or program coordinator coming in to the conversation asking them if they are having any sort of problems and what we can do to fix them. Then if it doesn't change maybe go the behavior contract route of if this behavior continues then these consequences will happen. In both conversations and contracts include a brainstormed list of what the camper can do when the problem happens or when they might be tempted to do that behavior or a signal from the program staff that they just said something mean to their groupmate so the kid recognizes what they've done and they need to fix it without it being called out.

Sometimes just eliminating or reducing words can help too. If this kid is constantly being told to do or not do something then it just seems like nagging, and it could have been a continued problem from home, so finding ways to not use words or to use fewer words to get the point across.

At my last camp, they did an great job screening campers, and we did not have much problems at all. I hate to say it, but they were perfect angels... we did have a few campers with small issues but nothing major.... a few younger campers did have homesickness even with family members who were older campers and some of the homesick kid had older sisters who were on staff.

Yeah, when you have a camp like the one you were volunteering with, or within special needs groups at camps the screening process is to make sure camp and the person are a good fit so we can make sure we can meet all the camper's needs and all. Most camps don't do that, and we get the campers we get based on first come first serve.

There has been some great points here so I will just add this.

What ever you do make it clear what the rules are and what will happen. After you do that stick to what you said.

Every year at my camp after everyone had dinner we would break into the younger kids 12 and under, older boys, and older girls. Each area head would give very clear rules on what is expected.

The teen girls and boys directors would switch after a bit and talk about the PDA rules and how boys are not allowed in the teen girls area of camp. We really found having a motherly figure lay out the PDA rules and the restrictions on the girls area worked really well.

Kids need rules to make them feel safe and to keep them safe. You have to establish up top what is expected of them and what will not fly at your camp.

Time-outs, taking away activities, writing letters to think about what they did wrong, can all be helpful.

The real secret is that you pick one discipline method and STICK WITH IT. Kids hate when you are not consistent with discipline standards- they quickly lose their trust in you. Pick a method you like and use it. Don't be afraid of establishing it.

I wrote a book called the Summer Camp Counselor Handbook that has a whole chapter regarding Discipline at camp. It includes different methods you can use, and why kids respond to rules. I also have some articles about rules on my website at nahpublishing.com