When the 5th graders lead the backpacking trek

[Horizon]

Thought I would share this. I liked the father's experiment and patience (something I could work on myself I admit).

 

http://www.backpacker.com/trips/price-of-adventure-follow-a-5th-grader/

[Prepared]

Reading this makes me hopeful for our youth. A lot of parents try and force their kids on everything and never let them make mistakes to learn from. My son is working on his AOL right now and I can see the Scouts become more and more independent. They planned most of a hike, with the help of the adults last year, and they ran most of the trip. The only thing we did was interject when they said they wanted go up a path that, "looked cool" and they wanted to know where it went (it was an animal trail and they couldn't follow it). Many parents do not give their kids a chance to fail at things that can teat them a valuable lesson, I do that sometimes. THIS is the biggest reason why I want my son to be in Scouts. He has an opportunity to do fun activities and adventures as well as many chances to learn from a failure in a safe way. Thanks for sharing this @@Horizon

[Ankylus]

A lot of parents try and force their kids on everything and never let them make mistakes to learn from.

 

Agreed. We always emphasize to parents the "safe to fail" environment of scouting. We all learn more from our failures than our successes. 

 

And thank you, too, for sharing the article.

[blw2]

Love it!

 

I have dropped lots of hints to my son about the possibility of doing such things as a "patrol" outing.  Even though he's PL, he's still more in the follow along and ride the bus mode.  Hopefully in a year or two it'll catch on.  I would love to be able to witness this sort of thing! (a big reason I'd prefer to be ASM than treasurer)

[cchoat]

I always sit down with the new parents and let them know that i will only say no to the boys if its a health or safety matter.  At the PLC, I gently steer the youth leaders to consider ways to mediate any issues that I may feel that would be serious, but will allow them to try whatever they plan, to the point where they fail.   Hiking, canoeing or swiming when it's raining, check.  Doing so during a thunderstorm, Nope.  Wait it out, and move on to alternate plan. (Weather safety taken by all youth leaders and incorporated into planning). Expensive trip planned, but fund raising planned fails to meet costs, lesson learned to either scale back expectations or start fund raising earlier.  Always have a backup plan.  Thus training and mentoring the youth leaders is important. 

 

With that said, the local Pack transisioned it's Webelos to the troop in August this year, to allow all their boys to earn thier WEBELO and arrow of light awards under the new requirements.  So... 

 

We just came back from a long  planned, weekend camping trip that involved my established scouts working on earning thier Hiking merit badge.  Because this was already planned by the PLC, and knowing when we would pick up new scouts from the Webelos, it was understood that the younger boys would not have the opportunity to work up to the 15 mile day hike.  That didn't stop the event, nor did it stop the young scouts from trying.  While none of them completed the full 15 miles, (The PLC planned a path that looped back every 5 miles, knowing that the new guys would possibly have a problem) one did 5 miles, the other four completed 10, and the older boys got in their 15. 

 

Never rule out the ability of these younger scouts.  They can rise to a challenge.   And that's not allowing them to fail, but allowing them to suceed to the best of their ability.

Edited September 23, 2016 by cchoat