Camping. Deal Breaker?

[5thGenTexan]

I am a bit unsure what to do....

Last weekend was my first campout as Cubmaster.  (I am still working on getting others to help, but that is another story.)  I hauled all the equipment up, bought the food, etc.  I cooked for the weekend and made sure there was just the right amount planned to do for the weekend.  I wanted to make sure the Scouts and families (mostly new) had a good time, and it does seem like they did.

As a kid we camped a lot as a family, granted it was popup camper, but we just slept in there.  Breakfast to bedtime we were outside doing something.  So far I have not found my way in tent camping.  At home I stay up late, usually till midnight before I attempt to go to bed.  On this campout everyone disappeared 8:30 or 9:00.  I simply can not go to a tent and just sit for 3 - 4 hours till my normal trying to sleep time.  This past weekend once again... I did fall alseep once, but I would wake up every so often and then spend 15 - 20 minutes trying to go back to sleep.  Seems like about 3 am I finally stayed asleep till getting up at 6:30.  2 days of that and I am absolutely exhausted and wiped out at home.  

Does the possibility exist that I am in the wrong volunteer position? 

[scoutldr]

Sounds like you are trying to fill about five positions.  You can't do it all yourself.  What did your Den Leaders and Committee do?  Find a Den Chief or two to help out on outings.  

[Thunderbird]

Some suggestions / recommendations:

Try to get at least one adult leader / parent from every den to take BALOO training.

What about putting the families in charge of their own meals?  Or putting each den in charge of a different meal?  Or each den contributes something to one particular meal (Saturday dinner, for example).  This would also help with the Scouts' rank advancement (Bear Picnic Basket, Cast Iron Chef, etc.).

Is there someone on the committee who could help by taking charge of the equipment?

Den Chiefs could help with games and activities.

 

 

[Jameson76]

What others have said, need to spread the workload out.

On the going to bed, no need to head to the tent at 8:30 just because others are.  I too typically go to bed 11:30 or so nightly.  On campouts (We are Boy Scouts  maybe Scouts BSA or Whatever the over 11 year group is called now) so Scouts and leaders start turning in 9:30 - 10 or so.  Some of us sit by the fire and enjoy the evening until time to hit the sleeping bag.

For two night outings the boys tend to stay up later on Friday nights, then earlier on Saturday nights.

Also - never underestimate the power of an afternoon nap in a hammock during the outing.  Quite refreshing

[HashTagScouts]

After 7 years as adult, I still chalk it up at every outing I am going to get at best 1-2 hours of sleep on Friday.  I was pretty much the same way as a kid too.  By Saturday I am exhausted enough to sleep from midnight to 6-7 pretty soundly.   Put me in a cabin with other people though, and I ain't sleeping until I am home- every rustle of people rolling over, coughing, etc. and I am wide awake.

[The Latin Scot]

Shh! 🤫

(I have never liked camping, and I imagine I never will. I avoid it at all possible costs, in fact. So, if you are one of those who, like myself, prefer a warm, dry bed to a cold, moist bag in the middle of nowhere, perhaps you can look at other options. Since you are in Cub Scouts, camping is never going to be a serious excursion, so maybe you can figure out a way to sleep comfortably in your car, or use a cot, or some other means of making the experience as enjoyable as possible. Or even look into cabins or some other stress-free option. The last thing you should do is kill yourself over an activity you may not enjoy)

I mean, gee wilikers, I suppose that if you share the load, it might be more enjoyable! For sure, you should not be doing everything on top of an activity that's already hard enough on you. Talk to your fellow leaders and see what options they can propose for you. 

[ianwilkins]

What you need is another couple of adults to sit round poking the fire and chewing the fat with until a normal bed time. Last time I went to bed at 8:30 I was probably cub age, or ill.

And pack a good book for the next trip to pass the time.

Having 3-4 hours "me time" on a weekend campout? That sounds amazing!

Of course, the amount of stuff for the trip that's on you will also make it harder to sleep, when you wake up at 2am and start running through things you need to remember in the morning, or things you should have said, or tomorrow's plan...it doesn't help you sleep at all (I know this only too well!)

It also helps to be comfy, I've taken to throwing in a proper sized pillow now if I've got space, and making sure I've got enough gear to stay warm. Somehow though I can't sleep through on camp and wake at silly a.m. needing a wee*, sometimes more than once. It's not ideal, so I need to prep for making that as painless an effort as possible (though I just can't bring myself to take a wide mouthed bottle to the tent).

* A couple of years ago I pitched my tent with the door due east, the sunrises and wildlife I got to see was almost worth it the early toilet trip.

[DuctTape]

As cubmaster you should be making the arrangements for the campout, the den leaders need to do the rest.

Re:sleeping. i am an outdoors guy. i sleep better camping than at home. a lot is getting used to it. BP slept in a hammock (illustrations show it was probably a "stretcher bed" aka cot). 

[qwazse]

I am last to bed,and that happens about two hours after my last drink of water. I like star gazing, weather watching, and listening for wildlife. On many trips, I won't even set up my tent or hammock until I'm sure I need it.

I am also often first up. Sooo I count on those afternoon naps.

I found camping with the pack to be especially hard, as we are all just beginning to get used to each other.

I will say this: everything is easier with a buddy. So, if you find someone who will share the load with chores and such, especially who you don't have to tell what to do, treat them like gold.

Oh, your pack parents better darn well be treating you like gold. You're giving them 5 star service!

[5thGenTexan]

***  This is what I had to say yesterday afternoon before someone broke the site***   😀

 

Den Chiefs would be great!!!  However, last weekend we were at our campsite for Beaver Day (Annual day for units to help with projects in camp, to give back).  The Troop (the most active Scouts) were at the primitive site doing a Wilderness Survival Campout the same weekend, so not available to us.

Dens cooking thier own meal or contributing:  Its been suggested that Dens cook on their own.  The breakdown this past weekend...   4 Lions with inexperienced parents.  2 Tigers, 1 Wolf and 2 Bears.  17 people in all camping and eating.  Its a lot of equipment we don't have yet for few people.

We have a new parent that has volunteered as Quartermaster.  This was his first campout so I wasn't going to throw the burden of equipment on him yet.  Next time... yep.

BALOO?  I am still trying to get the current batch of DLs to get specific position and hazardous weather completed.  

I know and I apologize.. lots of excuses. 

 

I am still learning the art of delegating jobs...  I had this dream that people would see a need and step up and do what needed to be done.  Just a dream. 

 

s

[fred8033]

#1  Camping does not mean you have to have an uncomfortable bed.  Over the years, I've developed a bed that I really like.  Extremely comfortable.  

#2  Cut out ALL caffeine.  As a late night person myself, this is often a key difference.  No coffee after noon.  No mountain dew.  No diet coke / pepsi.  No chocolate.  

#3  Nap.  And more naps.  And be proud of your napping.  Easier in troops, than in packs.  Most of my scouts probably don't know this, but I'm usually the last to fall asleep.  I do this as  mischievous happens at night and less in the morning.  

[elitts]

If everyone is heading off to bed at 8:30-9pm, it sounds like you need to start planning some kind of activity for Friday nights.  8:30-9pm is about when we would start 'smores and kids would start playing flashlight tag.  (Though we did have one pair of boys that would disappear suddenly around 7:30-8:00pm because they'd put themselves to bed.)

The key to being Cubmaster on camp-outs is that you shouldn't be running any of the specific activities once there.  What you do is start pinning down parents who are already there and asking them what they are going to help with.  The way I'd ask the questions would make it clear that they would help with something, the only decision to make was about which thing they chose to do.  Since they are already on the camp-out, they couldn't very well try and dodge the question by pleading unavailability.  This works even better if you can get the whole group of parents together at once because if you start allocating tasks, some parents will volunteer and once that happens, you identify the slackers trying to hide behind other people and guilt them into doing some actual work.

If you do it right, you get all the tasks supervised by some other parent so you can float between activities, and usually even work in a nap somewhere before or after lunch.  Of course, you still spend the whole day making sure everything keeps moving, so it's not like you aren't busy most of the time, but at least it's just busy pitching in where needed.

 

Oh, and just as a general tip from a former Cubmaster to a new one:

Cub aged kids are always thrilled by taking old games and then adding new rules to make them stupidly hard. 

              Example: "Crab Tag" which is like freeze tag, but where everyone has to walk on all fours and when you freeze, you have to stay bent over.  Then if someone free manages to crawl under your arched body, you are free again, but if you collapse, you are out permanently.

[thrifty]

I usually go to bed about 1am during the week.  The adults in the troop are in tents by 11pm.  We have several leaders at every camp so I just tell them I'll be going for a hike so they know where I disappeared to.  I enjoy the peace and quite of walking through camp or wherever we are and I see things others don't get to.  I might hike for hours and eventually I get back to camp tired enough to lay down.  I walked through an entire small town one night that the troop just drove through.  I also use ear plugs sometimes.  I'm a light sleeper and someone snoring three tents away can wake me.  I keep my phone close for wake up.  I'm good on about 4 hours sleep so only suggestion I have is to start the coffee early.

[ParkMan]

On 3/6/2020 at 11:31 AM, 5thGenTexan said:

Dens cooking thier own meal or contributing:  Its been suggested that Dens cook on their own.  The breakdown this past weekend...   4 Lions with inexperienced parents.  2 Tigers, 1 Wolf and 2 Bears.  17 people in all camping and eating.  Its a lot of equipment we don't have yet for few people.

Can you please remind me again how big your pack is?  The strategy for a pack of 20 is different from a pack of 50.  You need a strategy appropriate for a pack of your size.

As Cubmaster you are program leader - not doer of tasks.  You need to make sure there is a fun, engaging program for the Cubs.  You can't do that when you're worried about the food for the meals, setup, cleanup, etc...   In my larger pack, one of the best things we did was establish a parents camping group.  It was a simple ask 6 months ahead of the next camping trip - "can you help me in coming up with plans for the next camping trip?"  We met three or four times over the next six months and came up with a plan.  Who would handle cooking, gear, etc...  We ended up with lots of parent involvement and help.

As for bed.  You cannot got to bed at 8:30.  The evening time after kids go to bed is when adults build teamwork.  You sit around, shoot the bull, think up ideas for next time, etc...  Those people are the ones who become your leaders.  That's really important.  It's a required part of every trip.

 

[5thGenTexan]

22 hours ago, ParkMan said:

Can you please remind me again how big your pack is?  The strategy for a pack of 20 is different from a pack of 50.  You need a strategy appropriate for a pack of your size.

As Cubmaster you are program leader - not doer of tasks.  You need to make sure there is a fun, engaging program for the Cubs.  You can't do that when you're worried about the food for the meals, setup, cleanup, etc...   In my larger pack, one of the best things we did was establish a parents camping group.  It was a simple ask 6 months ahead of the next camping trip - "can you help me in coming up with plans for the next camping trip?"  We met three or four times over the next six months and came up with a plan.  Who would handle cooking, gear, etc...  We ended up with lots of parent involvement and help.

As for bed.  You cannot got to bed at 8:30.  The evening time after kids go to bed is when adults build teamwork.  You sit around, shoot the bull, think up ideas for next time, etc...  Those people are the ones who become your leaders.  That's really important.  It's a required part of every trip.

 

We have 27 registered Scouts, but on this particular campout I had 9 Scouts and 8 parents.  All but two parents are registered leaders, but still new enough they don't know what to do.

One of my WB items is going to create a Pack cookbook so hopefully adults (or Scouts) have an available source for proven recipies.

A few times I looked around and the adults were sitting in their chairs AT their individual tents.  They set around the fire some, but by 8:30 everyone was gone.