gillashy

Just wanted to add a couple of bad experiences to having cell phones at camp.... 1. A girl scout (age 14) once got a call from her mother on a weekend camp, on the Saturday night, completely hysterical and rather drunk, saying that her Grandad had been rushed to hospital and she needed her home to 'help her cope'. This resulted in the girl in question also being completely hysterical, packing her stuff and being driven home by one of the scout leaders (a good 2 hour's drive away) to find, once home that her mother had stopped being hysterical, was more drunk that she was before, and the girl having to deal with the Grandad situation herself (as it turns out was ok in the end), as her mother was useless - so having to deal with/look after her mother. Surely in this situation, the girl would've been better at camp, enjoying herself and finding out what had happened when she got back the next day? 2. A boy scout (about 13) texted his girlfriend so much while he was on camp, that he ran up a massive bill (of which led him to having his phone confiscated by his parents) but of which was blamed on the scout leaders for 'letting him' text his girlfriend so much.... the problem was he usually did this out of the sight of leaders, so we weren't aware of this problem. 3. One boy scout (age 12) broke his v.expensive IPHONE on camp (by dropping it in the river) - Scout leaders got blamed by parents and were asked to use scout funds to replace it! (thankfully, eventually after a leader/parent chat the parents finally admitted they shouldn't have let him take it on camp - well DOH!) So, due to the instances that happened (all within 2-3 years) we ban mobiles from camp - unless with parental permission slip - signed - that any damage is not our responsibility. and on camp we ask that all boys hand their phones in (we have to trust that they do this) and keep in a lock box (then given out on a limited basis - say 1 hour a day before bedtime) - hopefully most problems are then solved.

Hi All.. I'm a scout leader of about 6 years (although I have been involved in Scouts all my life from being a baby!). All my family are mega Scouting-orientated and its led me to do a lot of things I wouldn't have done otherwise if I wasnt a Brownie/Guide (would have been a scout, but girls weren't allowed in scouts when I was the right age) then Venture Scout (now Explorers) I don't think I would be me. My name's Gillian I'm 33 and currently expecting my first child, due in June... :-)