Getting Up in the Morning

[Chippewa29]

Several years ago, my troop had an older group of Scouts (10 of 13 Scouts in the troop were fourteen or older) that were night owls and liked to stay up half the night and sleep in in the morning. It was not unusual for people not to get up until almost ten and not have breakfast until 10:30-11. The adults didn't think it was important for the troop to follow a schedule (we were great at "winging" things), so they allowed it to happen. We've gotten back to getting up fairly early (7am or so), a side consequence was that the adults were always the first to rise and had to wake up the Scouts (this occured while I was in grad school and only making a couple of campouts a year), practically dragging them out of bed. If the adults don't get up and get the Scouts up and going, things don't get done. Back when I was a Scout, we were expected to get ourselves up and get the fire and breakfast going in the morning. I've thought about buying an alarm clock to take on campouts for the cooks to use in the morning. Does anyone have any ideas for the Scouts to get going on their own in the morning without myself and the other adults having to use a cattle prod or very cold water?

[OldGreyEagle]

Lets try to kill two birds with one stone. You also said your parents dont want to stop doing for their kids. Try this, next campout get all the parents together and tell them that when they wake up, to only get their food going. Let the kids sleep. Let them sleep to noon if they want. But DO NOT do anything for them. Be sure to let them know what they missed by sleeping late. Stick to this routine, its particularly effective if your at a Camporee and they miss events. Dont use cold water or a cattle prod, let them learn the consequence of their actions (WHAT A CONCEPT)

[andrews]

A "lights out" and quiet time could also help some.

 

Since some people do want/need to get to sleep at a reasonable time (10pm?), requiring those being up later to be quiet and dark doesn't seem bad to me. They may be a little less of night owls if they follow this. Even if not, they might get to see some of the night they would otherwise miss while making bunches of noise.

 

Brad

[Mike Long]

Are you kidding me? My scouts wake me up in the morning at first light.

 

On backpacking trips the last one up is the garbage man. Garbage man carries ALL garbage for the troop. It becomes quite a show on a week long hike.

 

[Rooster7]

How seriously does your SPL take his job? Or doesn't he know better? Either way, I would start with him.

[eisely]

Dealing with this depends partly on the circumstances. On backpacking and canoe treks everyone I have gone with is too tired to stay up late. This makes it easier to roust people in the morning. On a bona fide trek you cannot simply let people sleep in because that affects the entire group.

 

In a car camping situation where a camp site may be occupied for more than one night, enforcing lights out and quiet becomes more important. The SPL should be able and willing to do this. I like the idea of not feeding late risers breakfast.

[eisely]

Oh yes. I like Mike's solution too.

[Chippewa29]

The Scouts are usually in bed by 11pm at the latest, if not a little bit earlier. Unfortunately, we have several Scouts who still rely completely on their parents to get up for school each morning. My thought after I posted was to buy a loud, obnoxious alarm clock (one of the old fashioned kind) and give it to the cooks for the next morning. As soon as they can prove they can get up on time without it, they can stop using it. I think, after reading everyone's suggestions, that with time, they will take more responsibility.

[Mike Long]

If you have someone musicly inclined a bugler does wonders at 7:30 am.

 

I do believe that if the boys are up real late at night it's because we didn't keep them busy enough during the day.

 

Oh yeah, the garbage man thing applies to the adults too.

[FScouter]

We agree on a reasonable up time the night before. At that time in the morning, I get out my portable tape player and bugle tape and play Reville at full volume. There are one or two that refuse to get up, but we don't wait for them. They miss breakfast. It's not fair to the rest of the troop to let one or two set the schedule for the day based on their lazy habits.

[sctmom]

Here's my two cents worth...

There should be a lights out policy that is strictly adhered to. The getting up time should be agreed to and known by all. And at least one boy should have an alarm clock.

 

Also, in defense of the boys, they are not necessarily being "lazy". Some people require more sleep than others. To me, 8 hours is a MINIMUM amount of sleep. Growing boys need more than 8 hours of sleep.

 

My son can sleep through ANYTHING, including falling off the cot and out of the tent (I heard a THUNK, found him outside of the tent in his sleeping bag, still sound asleep). He sleeps 9 or 10 hours every night, and will sleep more if I let him.

 

I think if the boys are woken up and then refuse to get out of the tent, no breakfast is reasonable (but don't tell them this option exists). But to expect them to wake up on their own without even an alarm clock is way too much.

 

 

[eisely]

sctmom is right about the need for sleep. All the more reason for enforcing lights out. Few people will wake up without the assistance of an outside agent. Scouters and youth leadership have to assume the responsbility for waking people. How you enforce getting them up is yet another matter.

[sst3rd]

A tradition passed down from a long time prior Scoutmaster (Navy)has worked for me. I (the SM) have the alarm clock. I get up in time to call a general reveille at 7:00AM for the entire campsite, I then visit the SPL's tent to personally make sure he's getting up. He knows the program and takes it from there. I go start a pot of coffee. We just lost our most recent bugler to the University of Maryland, so we're looking for another........

[bobsb]

guys guys....

It's simple. Our troop rule #3 is "NO CURFEW".

i.e. They can stay up as late as they wish, even not sleep, as long as they stay onsite and don't keep anyone who wants to sleep awake.

 

When 7:00am comes duty leader gets a pot and stick and bangs it LOUDLY near the sleeping heads of scouts untill they are fully dressed and fallin with their patrol. It is quite disorintating.

 

The deal is that they must be ready to perform for a full day at 7am.

 

Every scout does it at least once. Finds their limits, and goes by that. We also find it gives them a great thing to try and be up before the leader so they don't get the pot banged. A wet cloth does treats if the pot dosn't work.

 

See more of our crazy 'methods' www.mafikeng.ontheweb.com

also find out rules #1 and #2!!

 

-Bobs

[red feather]

Remember the Parol method! Adults take care of their business, cooking, repacking, cleaning, etc. The adult patrol sets the example and lets the boys learn on their own (maybe with a little encouragement). Waking up is learned fairly easily when the cook oversleeps and no food is ready. Last one up cleans and repacks the kitchen along with their own gear.