Leveraging Routine at Bedtimes

Nov 18, 2022

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Leveraging Routine at Bedtimes

When considering bedtime, we need to understand the importance of routine in the lives of young people. Children and youth are individuals of habit and thrive within boundaries and rules.

Although an essential theme of the camp is children and youth experiencing autonomy and responsibility away from their parents, this needs to be done within wise and safe constructs. Boundaries, rules, and routines often help create the feeling of safety; safety then leads to the ability and welcoming of risk-taking and self-exploration.

When it comes to bedtime, the routines or habits that children are accustomed to are often fundamentally ingrained within their adolescence. They have been repeating these routines for most of their lives, probably 300 or more days per year for every year they have been alive; even your youngest overnight campers have repeated these routines over 2000 times.

My understanding is this, the more cabin leaders pick a routine on the first night of camp and stick with it, the more familiar, predictable, and smooth bedtime will become. This will then help trigger a natural and comforting response from the body and mind of the camper rather than one of anxiety or fear when facing the unknown.

Bedtime, in my opinion, is an essential time spent with campers. Intentional cabin leaders who take time to make campers feel cared for will glean the rewards of campers who feel inherently safe.

Start easy, get ready every night as close to the same time as you can perhaps create an order the campers know to follow.
Settle the campers by creating ways to stay in their bunks, my favorite was to share a made-up story using a person, place, and thing that the children would suggest at the beginning of the week. Each night the story built a little on itself and took us further down the trail. The rules were that the campers had to be in their bunks with their heads on the pillow before any story started.
Lights out are important. Giving the children a dark palace to settle the body and mind is imperative to sleep.
White noise or fans. I would often bring fans into cabins as a white noise machine and cool the cabin. I also create a slow rhythmic noise as I share the story each night. I would pace slowly and talk more and more monotone and subtly as time passed, often, I would repeat lines or whole subplots simply to make the story less exciting.

There is no specific way to implement these ideas. Use your creativity and make them fit you and your unique personality. I encourage the evening or before bed to be on the low energy side of the spectrum, allow the children to reflect on the day, and share the good things.