SSScout Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Whew! Hot and Humid, but no rain, lots of smiling Cubs. I was the Scout Skills fella, me and three Good Scouts. And about 20 Cubs every fifty minutes..... Flags, knots, ropes, maps, compasses, Left no Trace, Rescue Roping.... But has anyone else out there noticed that the younger Cubs (Tiger, Wolf, ) have a hard time manipulating things? Left over right, right over left... over and under... holding the hand palm down or palm up.... I mean more than one might think was expected... Almost without exception, they are all eager to accomplish the task (fold the flag, tie the square knot) but find it hard to follow the directions. Sure, some are more adept than others, but in talking with other Scouters here, it just seems that the 7 year old of today is less , what, ?handy? than in days before. The skill does come (will it be remembered next week?) but I marveled at the difficulty some Cubs (alot!) had in following the directions, even when I stood right next to them and modeled it (" does THAT knot look like THIS?") and even when I took their hand and turned it the proper way to hold the rope coil ("palm up, BIG LOOPS...") it was still hard for them to copy the motion. Yeah, some of them were "challenged", I could see that in some cases, and in talking with their Den Walkers, but even so, the "average" young Cub just seemed, un-handy... Thoughts? PS: I did receive many comps from the DWs about how I "connected" with the boys, so it ain't as though I was a task master. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nike Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 HOw many kids play board games or with tiny soldiers any more? How many kids fold their own laundry? (OK, my boys like the "pile" method, but they can fold.) Who wears velcro or no-tie tennis shoes? These all involve fine motor skills, and in some ways we are taking all the finger manipulation and bending out of life. I taught 2nd grade girls knots two weeks ago, and they had as hard a time as your boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutNut Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 A couple of years back I had a knot board as one of the activities at our Day Camp. Nothing fancy, just the basic knots that the various levels would be needing to learn. I also had some great pictures of easy step by step instructions for each boy. None of the boys in any group got thru all of the knots. Most had problems with even the simple overhand knot. We ended up giving the boys the materials to finish at home if they wished. If I ever do that again it will be in a different format and be focused on just the overhand and 1 or 2 other real, real, easy ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisabob Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 OK I admit it. I am horrible with knots. Just not good at all. A person can show me and show me but until I do it myself about 1000 times (which means getting it wrong about 500 times) I just don't have much of a chance. It isn't a matter of being unable to pay attention or follow directions. It is more a spatial skills thing (never been one of my strengths). And it is a lot worse when someone is facing opposite me so that I have to reverse what they're doing. I own a bunch of knot books intended for knot dummies like myself (and a few that are BSA products). Many are not that helpful because it seems like something's missing between the (static) picture-stages they show. I do like some of the animated sites on the web. It helps I can replay them a million times while I try to figure out what I'm doing. So I can sympathize with those kids! And I'm a little in awe of those of you who can see it tied once, and then go do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlabamaDan Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I can do knots with a little practice, but it's like a foriegn language. If you don't use it you loose it. I did some fancy knotwork on our family hiking staffs, turks head, french spiral, etc. I can't even remember how I did it without looking. I don't know how people can remember all those knots when they're not used reguarly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainerlady Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I too have found that kids these days have very little fine motor control and dexterity. I do Cubs and Girl Scouts and none of them can tie knots, cut well with good scissors, or sew a simple running stitch even with instruction. My assessment of the problem is today's parents want it done now and done right so when the kid takes too long the parent takes over and does it for the kid. The kid never learns to manipulate anything. Video games and computers are no help either. Instead of giving kids real paper and paint or crayons they let the kid draw on the computer. Velcro shoes, slip on shoes and slip fastner instead of button pants don't teach kids anything but they're easy for parents and teachers to deal with. I too just finished day camp. The biggest frustration point for our staff - parents doing the projects for the kids or tucking the project away and saying we'll do it at home so you don't get dirty here. I know those projects we staffers work so hard to create aren't being done at home. Best line from a parent at camp to one of my fellow staffers "How dare you let Junior paint an ugly picture. I demand that he gets another chance to make something pretty." The kid was working on his Webelos artist badge - the part about mixing colors. I know Junior will never forget that when you mix all the colors of paint on the table you end up with an ugly shade of brown. Mom mentioned it every half hour for 3 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSScout Posted July 1, 2009 Author Share Posted July 1, 2009 Monday... flag ettiquette. Folding the triangles in the US flag was the biggest hurdle. "Thumb Under" was the motto... Seemed like the younger Cubs always had to have their palm UP for some reason, and grasping the flag palm DOWN so as to flip the fold over correctly was the stumbling point. Once that was mastered, ("thumb under"), the folding went easier. Tuesday... knots and rope. We used the rare, double ended, bi-colored rope (red on one end, white on the other), picked high in the Peruvian mountains just for us. (not all ropes have two ends, you know! Suuurrre, Mr Scouter....) Only attempted the Square Knot and Bowline. I was surprised by the number of boys that would TWIST the rope in a vertical manner, rather than follow the example, right next to them, of crossing the ropes ("right over left, left over right"). It took some more than a few minutes to master it. And the bowline was a challenge to all, including the DWs. But most mastered it, and knew the rabbit-hole story by heart. I tried exampling it on the wall, and told everyone to do the same on their table. Surprise! alot of the boys held up the rope in the air, rather than on the table, trying to follow me. Wednesday... map and compass. Fun playing with magnetizism and the steel framed tables and the compasses we gave them ("we can KEEP these?"). Took a vote: "on the count of three, everybody point NORTH!" Ran thru some gradation of maps, from a National Geo Map of the Universe, to the solar system, to the Globe, to a world map, to the US of A, to MD, to the County, to the Park, to a topo of our camp site. "we can KEEP this map?" Roads, creeks, buildings, orient the map. "cool" Then the Civil Air Patrol led them thru a search and rescue drill, pretend you're a helicopter looking for the (toy)truck lost in the (tall grass)forest, radio ranging and stuff. Thursday... Leave No Trace. Talked 'em thru the LNT card, stories about problems and how to do it. And not do it. Fire safety. Rescue roping... "Reach, Throw, Row, Go" ...give each pair of Cubs a 15' rope, taught how to coil it loose in right hand, ("I don't know. I think I'm left handed"), hold knot in left hand, throw rope to buddy to save him! He takes rope, coils it up and throw back....Again, the younger boys (and the older ones) had trouble coiling, keeping the hand either palm up or palm down. And each tried to do it opposite from the ScoutStaff right next to him. Some insisted in throwing a jumble of rope, all mashed up in the hand. This naturally tangled and missed the mark. Some threw with BOTH hands! We could laugh at this, 'cause Mr. Scouter had done the same thing ("Throw me a rope!") as a joke. Friday... Water slides created with plastic sheets on the ground and soap and water. Throw the rope to your partner at the bottom of the slide, and pull him up! Great fun. trade places. Everybody had a chance to do it several times, practice coiling and throwing ("big loops!") Didn't have enough time, want to do it alot. No, you may not keep the rope, sorry. Multi tasking: Wash clothes, face, hands, learn a skill, exercise, have fun all at the same time. But still, why is it so hard for the most of these boys to turn the palm down or cross things horizontally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nike Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I spent last week teaching archery. How come they don't know left from right or which hand they write with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle732 Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 SSScout, What district's day camp did you attend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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