Summer Camp Successes

[SagerScout]

OK, so I only convinced one other parent about summer camp and ended up going with my son and the neighbor kid. My husband was our second adult (couldn't get the scoutmaster) and off we went.

 

Tally between two boys: 7 merit badges and two nearly done. The "Best Shot" award for archery and "Most improved" for shotgun. Campsite imspection award and camp achievement award. Neighbor boy met almost all his requirements for 2cd class, his next rank. A total of 17 ticks, about 70 mosquito bites, and two very proud and pumped up Scouts. My husband took Fast Strt and YPP. We both added Safety afloat/safe swim.

 

The week was not problem-free, we had several thunderstorms, my son's nightmare scenario, and spiders in the tent were the nightmare for the other boy. Tired, scared and cranky boys turned on each other briefly after the spider thing. They got over it, worked it out. My son got into trouble in one class for refusing to write some answers down (I looked it up, the requirement was "tell ....") Hand writing is a terrible problem for him, to the point of this being the big issue that had him in Special Ed for emotional disturbance back when he was in school. He's fluent on a computer, a very fast typist with nearly perfect grammar and spelling. He survived, the counselor survived. A rock in the road of life.

 

Bonus points: my husband, till now very reluctant to get into this whole Scouting thing, had so much fun he's talking about hanging out at the meetings more...turns out he can and will sing silly camp songs... and I caught him reading the Wood Badge materials....

 

julia

[sctmom]

Glad to hear you, your husband and the boys had a good week. Maybe the other boys will be a bit jealous and beg to go next time.

 

My son had a great time. Not sure if he earned his merit badges or how many requirements he met in the new scout program (the scoutmasters are still sorting that out). He accomplished what I wanted him to -- "HAVE FUN".

 

He had an "episode" after I got to the camp Friday evening, he was tired and realized he had missed mom and wanted to go home right that minute! I made him stick it out through the night, after some time alone with me talking he felt better. By Sunday he was talking about "next year at summer camp".

 

He said he had no ticks and few mosquito bites (he tends to wear long pants most of the time). His theory is that no shower, dirty socks and dirty underwear keep the ticks away! (I have been trying to explain the nasties that you get from doing such.)

 

[SagerScout]

Wow, does dirty underwear really run off the ticks? How did MY son get them then? LOL.

 

In our climate, the boys didn't fight the showering much because it was so blasted hot and humid. We did have an emergency town run for cornstarch and a pair of shoes that didn't hurt MY feet (don't ask me how I bought the wrong size shoes but I did). Other than that, we were oversupplied and no one forgot anything of consequence.

 

One of our boys got a whopping heat rash in a sensitive area from walking around in a wet swimsuit. It's a mistake that is self-correcting - once experienced, they learn fast to avoid at all costs in the future....

 

 

[sctmom]

The boys also had a new appreciation for the scoutmaster's way of waking them up. He walks around saying "GOOD MORNING TROOP" and then starts singing "oh what a beautiful morning". They decided that wasn't so bad when they could hear the troop that was being woke up by someone banging on a pot! This troop was too far away to see but you could hear that pot banging in the morning. One of the boys said "we feel sorry for that troop".

 

A couple of the boys had a very hard time of it. Very, very homesick. Wanted to call home but the cell phones didn't work (or did they?). Scoutmasters said they were determined no one was going home but had to work hard at keeping these boys from crying.

 

My son didn't have any ticks so many the dirty underwear works on him! LOL

He and I lucky in that we don't attract the bugs like some people do. We've seen people with DEET on them get more ticks than we did with no repellent. He did admit to using his bug repellant some. Knowing him, he probably sprayed it directly on spiders.

 

[Quixote]

No homesick scouters here - just kidsick parents...

 

Had a call on Wednesday before i went up to camp from a new mom...could i have him call her so she can make sure he's ok? - sure.

 

 

I waited until the boys were active in a project and mentioned to the boy that his mommy wanted him to call her...his response "ok" - he never called and his mom survived the week.

 

I couldn't wait to get to camp last week to see what a great time the boys were having - took climb on safely, safe swim defense, safety afloat and belay certification.

 

YIS

Quixote

[Mike Long]

We took 31 scouts and 4 adults to camp this summer. Yikes, what an adult to scout ratio.

 

Two immediately choose to be on staff for the rest of the summer. Put those leadership skills to work!

 

All scouters attending completed Safe Swim Defense and Safety afloat.

 

One scout who was never able to complete any of the swimming requirements (and failed the swim test on arriving at camp) completed Swimming merit badge with a little extra attention from the aquatics staff.

 

Lots of hard work (for me), lots of fun (for them) and lots of achievement (for all of us). What more could you ask for?

 

Homesickness really wasn't a problem with the Scouts however Scoutsickness was a big problem with one parent who decided to make a very public spectacle of herself while we were away. What a mess that is.

[sctmom]

My son spent last week at BSA summer camp. This week he is at 4-H camp. He must think he is living in luxury with real toilets and getting to sleep inside a building. Well, yesterday I got a call from the camp. YIKES! Is he hurt or did he do something terrible? Everyone's nightmare is to have the camp call.

 

Well, he got hurt because he was doing something he shouldn't have been. Luckily he is okay but chipped a couple of teeth. He has chipped teeth in the past. Got to talk to the dentist about that. He and another kid were playing around in the dorm with no adults (big no-no) and he got hit in the mouth. I talked to him and he sounded more upset about getting in trouble than about his teeth. Even with this little trauma he wanted to stay the 2 more nights and that he was having fun.

 

This was the same kid who last Friday night was crying "I want to go home and NEVER leave." Amazing what some good sleep, a shower and a hug will do for you!

 

Took me hours to calm down from the camp calling, even knowing he was okay.