School Camp Safety a guide for parents

School Camps can be both amazingly exciting and nerve wracking in equal measure.

For some kids, camp will be an amazing opportunity to spread their wings, find new talents and spend hours upon hours with their friends.

For other children, it can be anxiety inducing, scary and lonely mixed in with some brief moments of fun.

As parents, sending our babies off on their first camp (or any camp) can be a stressful, fear inducing and a heart-breaking time for the few days or week whilst they are gone.

In my experience, having a plan and some empowered conversations can be the difference in a good camp experience or making the decision to abstain from going.

Camp is NOT for every child. Although it is often a very exciting experience, it’s not the be all and end all of school experiences. In fact, I wonder if school camp is as important and necessary in today’s world as it used to be, especially for primary school aged students?

Just because our experiences in school were positive or we have fond memories of camp, doesn’t mean our children will have those same experiences or memories. Even more so if they aren’t ready nor prepared for some of the potential issues that could arise whilst they are on camp and away from you.

My daughter is currently on camp. She is 16 years old and in Year 11 and is visiting a remote community, learning culture, providing assistance to the school and kids and giving back to the community.

She was nervous about going, regardless that she is confident, strong willed and knowledgeable. It’s a long way from home, her safety network and her comfort zone and if something was to happen, her mum wasn’t there to make it better.

In true form of my policing background, we prepared for camp by going through the following checklist, to help alleviate any concerns and worries, as well as empowering her with ‘knowing’ that she had the tools to know when and how to get help if she needed it.

Here is my School Camp Safety checklist:

1. Prior to giving your consent for your child to attend camp: discuss with the school and/or organisers the following - their safety protocols and process, reporting of incidents, first aid provisions, supervision and chaperone numbers, sleeping arrangements. You want to know they have procedures and protocols in place for the camp, are confident and competent to safely care and supervise the amount of children attending camp.
2. Before your child leaves on camp: Speak with camp organisers to discuss your child’s individual needs eg. Medical conditions, medication and any dietary requirements, mental health concerns and to obtain an emergency contact number for the duration of the camp. You want to know that they have made provisions and that your child will have adequate access to communicate your child if necessary.
3. Discuss with the camp organiser, how your child may contact you if they need/want to during the time away? Can they use their own phone or an emergency phone that is available? (Teachers/organisers generally dissuade students to not contact family/parents, however, if a child NEEDS to due to whatever reason, the teacher/organiser should allow this as is the child’s right).
4. Before camp, discuss and identify a safety network within the camp supervision and teaching team. Does your child feel safe with the teacher/organiser group? Do they have more than one safe adult on the camp they can talk to if necessary (2 more is ideal)? Is your child confident enough to approach any of these adults and ask for help if they need it?
5. Discuss and refresh their Body Safety rights and consent. ie. My body is my body, no one else is allowed to touch my body and especially my private parts. If someone tries or does touch my privates, I can yell, scream, kick and do whatever I need to get away. I will not get in trouble and I will tell a safe adult/teacher straight away. If they don’t listen and help to make me feel safe, I will find the next safe adult and also call home straight away. NOTE: Discuss which friends/students they could approach to help support them whilst they get help. 
6. Discuss Tricky Behaviours and what they are. Safe adults will never do any of the following behaviours - ask them to keep secrets from parents/safe adults, ask them personal or private questions about puberty or relationships, want to close doors when they spend time with them, want to be alone with them without others around, frequently touch them and leave their hands on their body, show them inappropriate photos or videos. 
7. Discuss specific scenarios that might be relevant relating to personal safety and safety in general. ie. If going on an outdoor camping trip, you could ask them what they should do in the instance that they see a snake, or if someone is bitten by an spider/snake and general first aid questions about wound care.
   
   In the case of co-ed and mixed sleeping/bathing arrangements, ‘what could you do if someone isn’t being respectful of our private space or boundaries?’, ‘what could you do if someone is making you feel unsafe?’ etc.

Here are some solutions you could discuss with them before camp:-

If someone approached you that you feel uncomfortable with?

'If you feel uncomfortable around someone, move away from that person, get support from friends and find an adult/teacher you feel safe with and let them know you were feeling unsettled.'

What could you do if someone was taking photos or videos of you that you didn’t want them to take?

'If you feel comfortable you can ask them to stop. If they don’t stop, go and find a safe adult/teacher and let them know that you asked them to stop but they wouldn’t and you didn’t give them consent.'

What could you do if someone was following you?

'Immediately seek out friends or other people and then find a safe adult/teacher you feel comfortable with and let them know what is happening.'

What can you do if you need to get out of a situation where you’re being forced by someone, or someone is harming you?

'If you feel safe and confident to do so, tell them loudly to STOP, YOU ARE HURTING ME (you have permission to scream, yell, get angry) and then move away if and when you can. As soon as possible, seek support, find a safe adult/teacher you feel safe with and tell them what happened.'

Ultimately, we want our children to feel confident, safe and empowered and by reminding them of their safety rights, their options and providing them the tools to feel confident and safe when away from us in a camp environment, they should hopefully have a good camp experience.

All of these tools, are in fact life skills which we must teach our kids to help them thrive regardless of where they are and what they do in life.

We can’t wrap our kids up in cotton wool, so we have to ensure they have the tools to go out into the world and be prepared for it. We can’t always be there to shelter them, but we can give them a proper education around abuse that will help them through it should it happen.  

It is not our kid’s job to prevent abuse but they still need to know when something isn’t ok and how to get help. That is how we can keep them safe and give them the tools to stay safe whilst they learn and experience the world.

It is NOT as scary for our kids if we are always talking about safety in different levels of caution. Just like learning to swim, road safety and first aid, knowing what to do if you feel unsafe and what tricky behaviours to watch out for just add another layer of awareness. Don't be scared of these topics. The alternative is worse! 

Does talking to your kids about this stuff freak you out? Maybe you are struggling with how to talk with them or how to start the conversation? Not sure how to answer their questions?

Check out my book, Operation KidSafe – a detective’s guide to child abuse prevention at www.cape-au.com/book for help on talking about body safety lessons, sex, sexting, consent, protective behaviours, online safety, healthy relationships and much more. 

Kristi xx