EagleScout316

Realize that before you throw a frisbee off of Mt. Phillips, your Scoutmaster will tell you to retrieve it. Grumping in the woods isprobably the most comfortable thing known to man...until you realize you left your toilet paper back at the camp, and are forced to use pine cones. Doing jumping jacks atop Mt. Baldy is a quick way to a heart attack or stroke. Walking off by yourself affords you many interesting things...like getting yelled at. Those Toughman contests have nothing to do with how tough you are; merely, how loud and obnoxious your group can scream in approval of your story. If you are with Order of the Arrow, you get alot of benefits...namely non-powdered food. If you've got something valuable, scout camp or not, stay close to it. Foot Tag will take up a majority of your day. Running down Mt. Baldy in loose-fitting hiking boots leads to painful pocket blisters on your heels. There is pretty much no way to win at Mountain Ball. On the train ride back, it's completely socially acceptable to sleep in the overhead racks in your sleeping bags. Don't listen to Rangers, as they don't even know what they, themselves, are talking about most of the time.

Whoopety doo, I am new! Well, I'm an Eagle Scout from the north side of Chicago, but since I'm attending Bradley University, I've recently become an Assistant Scoutmaster for a troop out here. -ES3:16

Well, I must say that I really don't allign something the likes of corporal punishment with something like that of calisthenics; I've always seen it as spanking or whipping and such. Corporal punishment has been generally defined as: the infliction of pain by a teacher or other official upon the body of a youth as a penalty for doing something which has been disapproved by the punisher. I really don't see calisthenics as a type of shame; I do the workouts right along with them, so that they don't feel out of place. In the sense of pain, doing pushups or squats is similar to walking a mile; it is completely legal for a SM to lengthen the amount of miles we go on a hike. Some might see that as inflicting pain, but in a sense, it is teaching them pain tolerance by building their endurance. Also, I feel that I should have not used the word 'punishment' earlier; rather, I should have used discipline. Discipline and punishment are not the same thing. The goal of discipline is to teach. The goal of punishment is to inflict a penalty in retaliation for a wrongdoing. My purpose was to teach them some self-discipline (I didn't have them doing situps until they couldn't move, for instance, but had them doing more sets at lighter repetitions). If they ever had any problems with the workouts, they were sure to tell me, and I gave them ample time to rest or go play some games for a bit. It made sense to use physical workouts, since some of the boys would be attending Philmont in a few months. One of them who was planning on going had some sort of knee problem (it sounded like a german brand beer name); I worked with him on special stretches to strengthen his knees, and then moved on to squats for general leg strength. The discipline I use is similar to that of the martial arts; while it might be used as a type of reprimand, it also builds self-esteem and and self-regulation. Now, corporal punishment has been outlawed in my high school for awhile, but teachers are still allowed to make students do some sort of calisthenics as a discipline (wall squats, serving detention by working out with the wrestlers, or throwing a medicine ball up in the air). I've received no complaints, not from the scouts, their parents, or the SM. The other adults on the trip were in plain view, and did not object to my actions. In the end, I really don't see something like pushups and the like as a corporal punishment.

I've done Trail Crew 2 years ago, and I was planning to do both OAVoyage and OASeaBase this summer; however, Sea Base is completely filled, so I'll just be doing Voyage. They are all great trips, and really make a man out of you. -Bragging rights: we hiked over Mt. Baldy in full packs!

I gotta say, from experience growing up around Chicago, that banning a kid from ever coming back to something is not the cure to a problem; the kid becomes vindictive, and may very well end up joining a street gang (now he's become more of a problem than he was). Just recently, I've become an Assistant Scoutmaster of a troop out here in Peoria, Il, while attending Bradley University; they are a great bunch of kids, but not without their disputes, of course. On a campout we went on last weekend, problems ranged from kicking each other while hiking in a straight line, tapping each other with sticks, purposely trying to annoy myself, and even coming close to getting physical with me. The best way I could have punished them was to simply reward them: physical workouts. I figured that since I'd be doing Personal Fitness with them in about a month, now was a good time to get them started. Everytime they did something that I clearly told them not to do (or that was against common sense, like hitting another kid in the head with a water bottle), click, click, click, they got some sort of calisthenics to do after we finished our hike. Now, some retorted that they didn't have to, so I made it simple for them; either they served their punishments, or they didn't participate in the games I would teach them. From a personal perspective, I must say that doing workouts like pushups, sit ups, jumping jacks, squats and such, it really gave them some discipline. For two of them that were having issues, I had them push a log up a hill. What was really beneficial to me was that after they had done everything that was expected of them, and before we had yet to play any games, one of them told me that this was the best campout he had been on in awhile (must've been all those endorphins, lol). Now, with the kids in your troop, spider, I'd just assign them physical workouts to do together (moving logs/ equipment/etc., doing calisthenics, and even running together). Now after they finish those things, it's important to reward their good behavior right away (kids are like puppies, in that if you don't reprimand them or reward them within 10 seconds or so of their actions, they really don't make the connections). Hope all of this helps, -ES316