Adults taking more offsite breaks during summer camp?

[RememberSchiff]

Pretty simple, Camp store is not selling candy before breakfast or lunch. 

[Stosh]

I usually don't worry about the trading post issues.  If poor choices are to be had, they usually resolve themselves by Tuesday when they run out of money for the week.  No camp t-shirt, no camp water bottle, no more treats, etc. and "....it's not my problem" after that.  

 

What bugs me the most are the trading posts that sell pizza before the evening meal.  So much for the patrol meals and hanging with your patrol buddies when you have dinner at the trading post before them. 

[RememberSchiff]

At our camp, scouts need money for program materials as the week progresses.

 

Pizza sold at the camp store? Maybe a Food Court in camp next summer with a Pizza Hut, McDonalds,... 

[Stosh]

At our camp, scouts need money for program materials as the week progresses.

 

 

Bummer!  Making poor choices really sucks.  Maybe next year you can think this through better, but for the most part, your choices are not my problem.  "A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." 

[RememberSchiff]

Yes PPPPP. My approach is to teach this lesson to first-year scouts and watch the store. "Do you want that Arizona and Snickers bar or ammo at the Rifle Range?" Second-year and beyond, it is not much of a problem for them and no problem for me.

[Stosh]

  We have different ways of handing things.  If a scout blows his money early in the week, knows he screwed up, and is feeling bad about it, we have ways to "work around" the problem.  The SM (me) will "make a deal".  I will loan them the money and either they can pay me back with interest (Personal Finance MB preparation) or you can work it off.  "Working it off" usually entails a contract of leadership development over the course of the next year. 

 

Boys that choose the "work it off" option tend to turn into some of my best scouts.   

[Col. Flagg]

I'm getting dizzy at how fast, all of a sudden, adults and adult rules are now okay to apply to the Scouts. I could have sworn that a few pages ago folks were saying that the boys are well-trained and can learn on their own.   

[qwazse]

Is the question how long can scouts go without the extraneous adults in camp? I'd say decades.

Is the question how long they can go with only an SM in his hammock a couple stones throws away until they devise a catapult that will land an empty water bottle on his fly? Took mine about two hours.

How long can they go according to YPT? Until Taps. Then they need two adults.

 

Things are different as troop sizes get larger, I suppose. But in general, as long as there have been one or two adults in camp, that's been all of the resource the boys needed. So, adults may check out for any number of reasons. Their money, their time.

It's nicest to have then all around the fading campfire at the end of the day ... that tends to be when older boys become more reflective and come around with questions that no single adult has a good answer for.

[Stosh]

I like being with my boys.  Heading out for errands off-site is sometimes a bothersome necessity.  In terms of boy led, maybe I spend too much time jaw-jacking with them, but they seem to enjoy it as well.  Sometimes I often feel that they would get more done if I wasn't around as much, but they've never had to stand in line to get my attention either.

 

Every year at summer camp, I take each PL, individually, and have them eat with the "adults".  The adults sit with their back to the patrol of the PL.  He has left his patrol in the hands of his APL.  During the dinner there is a one-sided conversation that is expected throughout the meal.  The PL is to watch the patrol and report to the adults everything he observes going on.  Who's fighting with whom.  Who's sitting around doing nothing.  Who's doing all the work.  Is the APL doing his job. etc. etc.  The adults are expected to say NOTHING! The only thing an adult can say something is if the boy has an empty mouth and is not talking.  Then they can say something like, "What are the boys doing now?"

 

When dinner's over, the only comment I make is, "I'm glad we had this opportunity to chat."  It is surprising how much the boys learn about group dynamics by NOT being deeply involved in it and can see things they wouldn't if they are focused within the group.

 

To me, this is probably the most important and only truly relevant thing I do all week long at camp.  ....besides reading a good book or two....

[CherokeeScouter]

That was unscout-like at the very least and role models a bad example of patrol method.

 

Question: if I could complete a round of golf in two hours, am I good to go?

 

Barry

Nearby driving range? Probably. But the problem you have is when the other parents see you loading your sticks on the bus. 

[CherokeeScouter]

I like being with my boys.  Heading out for errands off-site is sometimes a bothersome necessity.  In terms of boy led, maybe I spend too much time jaw-jacking with them, but they seem to enjoy it as well.  Sometimes I often feel that they would get more done if I wasn't around as much, but they've never had to stand in line to get my attention either.

 

Every year at summer camp, I take each PL, individually, and have them eat with the "adults".  The adults sit with their back to the patrol of the PL.  He has left his patrol in the hands of his APL.  During the dinner there is a one-sided conversation that is expected throughout the meal.  The PL is to watch the patrol and report to the adults everything he observes going on.  Who's fighting with whom.  Who's sitting around doing nothing.  Who's doing all the work.  Is the APL doing his job. etc. etc.  The adults are expected to say NOTHING! The only thing an adult can say something is if the boy has an empty mouth and is not talking.  Then they can say something like, "What are the boys doing now?"

 

When dinner's over, the only comment I make is, "I'm glad we had this opportunity to chat."  It is surprising how much the boys learn about group dynamics by NOT being deeply involved in it and can see things they wouldn't if they are focused within the group.

 

To me, this is probably the most important and only truly relevant thing I do all week long at camp.  ....besides reading a good book or two....

This is a pretty good idea. A bit intense, but very important lessons are learned.

[desertrat77]

Yes PPPPP. My approach is to teach this lesson to first-year scouts and watch the store. "Do you want that Arizona and Snickers bar or ammo at the Rifle Range?" Second-year and beyond, it is not much of a problem for them and no problem for me.

 

I learned this the hard way at my first summer camp.  Burned through my spending money pretty quick (five bucks).  But loved to shoot.  I made a deal with the range master:  for every 100 pieces of spent brass I policed during non-shooting periods, he'd give me 2 rounds of .22 ammo during open shooting.