Laser Tag or not?

[Marty_Doyle]

One Hour -

 

Which fume are you excluding - Aclohol, gasoline or perfume?

[OneHour]

Marty ... they are the car fume and perfume ... of course!

 

The alcohol is the excluded and banned fume!(This message has been edited by OneHour)

[Mike Long]

Like many other issues it depends on who calls the shots in your area and how they read the rules. (Or if they have even read them) The G2SS does not prohibit it, so it's ok to take your boys. However, I believe there are many better activities to spend troop time on.

 

Our district substituted our yearly spring camporee for a lock in at a local arcade/mini-golf/go cart venue that included free laser tag for the boys and a troop Vs troop laser tag tourny.

 

We opted out of that district event as we did not see any correlation between scouting and a weekend at an arcade.

 

We view the lock-in and activities such as taking the troop to an amusement park as Bob described as "not being a responsible scout leader that is an abdication of responsibility."

 

The planning committee fell on its face when planning the camporee and rather than put the call out for help and salvage it or postpone it (Yes, we did volunteer before it fell apart and after and were told they had it covered both times) they abdicated their responsibility.

 

But, that is merely the opinion of myself, our committee and some of our scouts. Obviously our council and district disagrees with us.

 

The laser tagging Troop isn't wrong.

The real question here is "What kind of activities do you want your troop to engage in?"

[Bob White]

It was cool close to 30 years ago to go camping and do all of the boyscout stuffs!

 

That must have missed the Chicago suburbs where I was a scout in the 60s and 70s. There was just as much peer pressure on scouts as there is now.

 

Today there are alot of fun things to do. Onehour pointed out PlayStaions, I hope that is not an endorsement for using them as a troop activity? rock climbing gyms can be fun, but that would involve knowing knots, learning and following safety rules, physical fitness, even advancement among other disciplines. But some posters here say that if a leader takes that into consideration then the event is no longer fun for funs sake.

But if we don't take those things into consideration what would be accomplished? Kids could get hurt, they could be ejected from the gym, they could cause someone else injury, we would set a bad example of scouting in the community, there would be no accomplishments made, but hey at least we would be having fun for fun's sake right? That's not what the parents want for their children. If they onle wanted the kids to paly they could take them alot of other places besides scouting. The challenge we accept as scout leaders is to have a ton of fun while the methods of scouting are used and the aims of scouting are met.

 

Kids don't need adults around to play games. There is a reason that scouting has adult unit leaders. As master of scouting methods it is the SM's responsibility to see that there is purpose to the games we play.

BW

 

 

 

[SR540Beaver]

OGE,

 

Set me straight here. Are you talking about playing laser tag to count as a monthly scout outing in place of camping or as an extracurricular activity for the guys in the troop? I'd say no to using it in place of the troop's monthly planned event. That would be like driving to a local city park and playing capture the flag for an hour or two instead of a weekend camping event. If it is an extra activity planned as a treat and some fun, go for it.

 

I usually agree with BW and on this one I do and I don't depending on the answer to my above question. There is nothing wrong in planning a "fun" event like taking the troop to a baseball game or water park as a reward in addition to the regular scheduled activites. They're going to do this anyway with their other buddies, why not get to do it with their scout buddies occasionally? To do it in place of a regular planned activity would be stretching the limit, even if scouting skills or lessons could be applied.

[OldGreyEagle]

Oh you guys, a simple yes or no would have been sufficient, but like Forrest Gumps feather, these threads tend to waft over a myriad, a veritable plethora of nuances, present or implied.

 

Now, the troop I ran across was in the climbing gym, they had 3 hous there and then 3 hours of laser tag and that was their activity. (NOTE; It was not my troop).

 

Scouts in our troop have wanted to do Laser tag for years, but the "word" was scouts couldnt do Laser Tag as it involved "shooting" at an animate form (I.E. Humans). But as has been discussed, the way the rules are written and how they are interpretted brings to mind a need for a Scouting Rosetta Stone, so we could answer just what do they mean by that?

 

So, my simple quesiton boils down to this, if a scout is injured playing Laser Tag, will the BSA insurance cover it? I know it wouldnt if he was injured playing paintball, sky diving, or any of the prohibited activities.

 

And bob, what suburb around Chicago? I was scout in the DuPage Area Council, Wood Dale, Troop 65 1964-1972 or so

[Bob White]

Calumet Council

[OneHour]

Bob ... that's Sonny PlayStation, the video game. I'm not at all endorsing any video game, but they are what's taking over the kids' interests nowaday, the younger ones any way.

 

75-78 SHAC, back then we had some good ole time with scouting and we had a fairly large troop ~60 boys. We did things that are now band! i.e. riding in the back of a pickup, hunting rabbits, etc. doing things that we leaders nowadays would shutter even the thought of it, things that we would cringe when the word "liability" come into play, and things that would constitute harassment (snipe hunting, etc.).

 

I agree Laser Tag and the likes should not replace a troop activity event; however, it wouldn't be a bad supplemental outing just for the sake of having fun!

[SMEagle819]

We have done it before. The scouts enjoy it, and as many of you stated earlier, they like it because it's "FUN." We do it during our regular meeting time, so occasionally we are the only ones there. When we do schedule it, we only go about once per year. However, it has been about 3 years since we last went.