Camp Pranks

[eagle-pete]

BrentAlen

 

I am not sure I understand your point. Are you saying that pranks and dealing with boys who "go too far with a prank" is part of the Aims and Methods of Scouting? Are you inferring that we as leaders should promote pranks as a means to "...have a keen respect for the basic rights of all people; and are prepared to participate in and give leadership to American society."? -- www.scouting.org, Aims and Methods of Scouting

 

There has got to be better ways to convey this message to our youth.

 

Anyway, I am not going to continue to quote BSA.. you are capable of looking up the quotes yourself.

 

I will capitulate the value of learning from mistakes, however I have to side with FScouter on this...

"It's a sad state of affairs when Boy Scouts can't have fun unless they're hammering on their fellow Scouts."

 

Eagle Pete

[FScouter]

Thanks be to Goodness that OGE got hammered as the target of fun summer camp pranks. Else wise he would not have turned out to be the man of such fine character he is today. Maybe BSA needs to add a 9th method of Scouting: the Prank Method. Target the meek with pranks so as to toughen them up and build their character.

[eagle-pete]

Here, Here!

 

Eagle Pete

[BrentAllen]

This sounds like a good time for some perspective, from an Eagle Scout who faced some real difficulties - not some simple pranks.

 

Percy Sutton grew up during segregation. His black troop was forced to go to their own black camps; they couldn't intermingle with whites. Quoting from "Legacy of Honor":

 

"After suffering for so long - as a Scout in a segragated troop, as a serviceman in a segragated army, and as a black citizen in the civil rights struggle at home - I thought he surely must hold some grudge. He doesn't.

'To be an Eagle Scout means to me that in spite of everything I went through in that period, except for that Scouting experience, I might have been a very angry, bitter person," he said. "That's what the badge means to me.'

...He saw an America beyond the segregation that affected every facet of his daily life, and he willingly fought for his country's true ideals at home and abroad. So when he faced the demons of our society later in life, he never considered an option other than confronting his challenges head on, persevering, and making right that which was wrong."

 

I haven't even scratched the surface of the humiliation he faced as a black man during segregation. Read the book to see how he was kicked off a train because he, a decorated Airman from WWII, dared to sit with his new wife at a table with a Major who had never served overseas. What he dealt with as a Freedom Rider in Montgomery.

That is one mentally strong Eagle Scout. Are we building men who could deal with that sort of humiliation today? When they can't even deal with a simple prank? B-P must be rolling in his grave.

[packsaddle]

Thanks for that example, Brent. It goes way beyond simple pranks. I suspect that Sutton's character was going to be strong with or without scouting. He was certainly a big (in the sense of character) man. I'll read the book.

[ASM915]

Eagle Pete and FScout,

What's with "HAMMERING ON THEM" comeback. We're talking jokes here, hopefully not hands on abuse. Send the Gauntlet Patrol back to their tents.

 

By rthe way, FScout, what's the "F" stand for?

[Beavah]

By rthe way, FScout, what's the "F" stand for?

 

Yah, that really leaves the imagination open in all kinds of bad ways.

 

 

I remember a boy named Josh, when I was a young SM, back before Oklahoma was a state . Josh was "hefty". Not particularly well coordinated. He went out on a troop ski trip to a small local hill. It was cold. He had difficulty. The PL & TG who was working with him and other younger boys was doin' his best, but he missed the "warning signals" that Josh was gettin' too stressed, and kept pushin'/encouraging him to keep tryin'.

 

We lost Josh to scouting. I expect maybe he'd report that he felt "hammered on" or "humiliated" or maybe just a bit frustrated and embarrassed on the bunny hill that day.

 

Could the PL have done better? Sure. Did the SM work even harder with PLs on strategies for recognizin' and helping different kids in the future? You bet.

 

Should we stop skiing, or ski instruction, even if Josh comes back and relates the awful tale 30 years from now, still recalled through 11-year-old eyes? Nah. Do we have lots of kids who stay in scouting because of things like skiing, and the friendships and tales that come from that? You bet.

 

Pranks are no different, eh? Yet another activity that can be used to develop understanding, leadership, and character. And yet another place where a youth leader or an adult can blow a call for a particular kid. And learn from that, too.

(This message has been edited by Beavah)

[eagle-pete]

Ah, I see... we are only talking about nice pranks. Please enlighten me... are we just talking about those types listed here by grampye, Eamonn, cajuncody, Texas Scouter, BrentAllen, wingnut, AwHeck, SSScout, packsaddle, evmori, C-BOLT, ASM915, FScouter, OldGreyEagle, anarchist? Which of these would qualify for a nice prank and which would you say are more of a malicious nature? And who makes these decisions? When would you say a 16 year old might know the nuances of when a nice prank turns bad and would he know what to do about it? And when? And with whom? Could he stop his friends and say, "Wait a minute... This is starting to get mean."

 

I am just saying let us, as adults, stop for a moment and think before the prank begins. I am neither condemning nor am I condoning the prank. Let's think about it though, as rational adults, and weigh it against the scouting values we claim to uphold.

 

Eagle Pete

[BrentAllen]

Yes, only nice pranks. And make sure you only take the boys camping during nice weather.

[packsaddle]

Gunther Toody says, "Ooooo, Ooooo" its a riddle, I know, I know. The answer is that a nice prank is any prank that DOESN'T involve a deception. Did it get it? Did I?

 

Sorry, my wife often says my mother should have pinched my head off. She's right of course, but now it's too late. Your point is taken.

[anarchist]

Yeah, I guess we just need FScouter, OGE, Hunt and eagle pete need to set up the BSA prank police to clear the jokes...if it is funny we must STOP IT! I don't think any of us mentioned hammering on any one...and did not deserve the inference...

So, I guess its pure science that we scar someones psyche by sending him for a left hand smoke shifter...(which is pure fluffernutter...)I sense a full circle here ... so I think we have beaten this old horse to death...

 

Us bad people neanderthals will never please the more evolved empathethics...we are wrong and terrible they are right and virtuous...I'm ready for a Jackie Gleason tape...and maybe a jackie daniels...

 

grins

Anarchist...think I'll short sheet the SM...next week!

[Beavah]

And who makes these decisions?

 

The Patrol Leader.

 

When would you say a 16 year old might know the nuances of when a nice prank turns bad and would he know what to do about it?

 

Yah, the same way we expect him to know the nuances of when and how workin' on a campfire is safe and when it isn't - and what to do about it. Or knowin' how to get his guys to do KP without being too "mean."

 

We should be teachin' boys to make decisions and judgments. Whether it's a physical safety call or a Scout Law issue, eh?

 

Yeh are teachin' them that, right? And lettin' 'em practice?

 

Could he stop his friends and say, "Wait a minute... This is starting to get mean."

 

Yah. Seen it happen all the time. Way before age 16, eh? Isn't that what you expect of your PL's?

 

 

Now I remember back in the day, I was a naive country boy off at college the first time I got short-sheeted. Darn confusin' that is! You keep it safe der, anarchist.

 

 

[evmori]

Prank Police! They could get their uniforms from the Uniform Police! Hey maybe an entire security section could be created! Patrol Police, Outdoor Police!

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[SSScout]

Velcome... Bienvenue... Welcome...

 

Sometimes a "prank" is done... "because it is there".

 

Local summer theater had a roof that was a low slope and peak roof. I (Scouts Honor) have no idea how, but one summer morning the theater folks woke up to find a Ford 8N farm tractor fully assembled on the peak of the roof. A crane had to be brought in to remove it. Newspaper article. The only detail that was notable in the paper was that the tires were NOT fully weighted, so the tractor was maybe 600 pounds lighter than normal. Many years ago.

 

Sometimes because the 'prankee' needs to know they are "really are part of the group". Might be no other way to convince 'em. Camp with church youth group. One kid was NEVER having fun, there because his folks MADE HIM. Set up a snipe hunt. Paper bags, good pets, "weep, weep, weep", didn't realize it was gonna rain that night. The prankee came in soaking wet, but boy, was he part of the group then. Became one of the leaders, as I remember.

 

Sometimes because of the challenge... College had a chem lab at 6am (!true!) on a winter saturday morning. This necessitated getting up at 5am to wash, dress,etc to walk the 20 minutes from the dorm to the campus. It's still dark. No time for breakfast. Arranged with EVERYONE on the floor to be up and busy as normal at real time 3am. Reset prankees alarm clock as appropriate. Had him up and out the door halfway to campus. Everyone else goes back to bed and LOCKS THE DOORS. (open on auto lock at 5am). THIS WAS THE FLOOR COUNSELOR. "Cap't Bob's Fifth" was a very coherent group.

 

Sometimes cooler heads must prevail...listen for that "still small voice" that tells you "maybe I wouldn't want this to happen to me, even from/by those that love me".

 

Sometimes a prank is a chance to show yourself equal to the task after all... The old time carpenter sends his young helper to the crib for "North Wall Nails" and has him return with the message from the clerk that they are all out, but the clerk suggests that these South Wall Nails will do, just put'm in backwards, to the glee of the rest of the crew. The helper became a good carpenter (one armed. My dad.)

 

Sometimes... Oh, that's enough sometimes. Each occasion is unique. Some are memorable, some never shoulda happened. Some we are thankful no one got hurt("WHAT WERE YOU THINKING OF???"). If it is routine, then it is not a prank, it is hazing, and NEVER appropriate. If it demeans and there is real physical danger involved, it is never appropriate.

The Scout use of ceremony and work-thru requirements (even the OA Ordeal) leads to belonging and membership in the group. The African tribes of BP's day used the initiation process to weld the boy-man to the group (course, often the trials then were succeed or die. Bring back a Lions mane?). We have to be a bit less extreme, but the purpose can be the same. Often, I've noted that when the "official" stuff somehow fails, the boys will step in ...

 

Pranks? Sorry, "I know nnnnothink. I see nnnnnothink". As a Scout leader, careful not to unnecessarily cramp style, careful to love and care for the boys, careful to step in when you should (?when?) and step back to enjoy the show when you can.

 

It is, after all, more often an art form, not always a science.

 

YiS

 

 

 

 

[evmori]

SSScout,

 

What a great post! Excellent understanding of what pranks are about! Thanks for the insight!

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10