Do Less, Enjoy It More

[69RoadRunner]

Last night we had an adult leader meeting. Our CM has been very busy with work and family responsibilities. We gave her a report on our successful Summit Merit Badge Camp and Northern Tier trip.

We did Philmont last year and she asked us to compare it to Northern Tier. They're very different adventures. I loved Philmont and Northern Tier.

One thing that was common about Summit and NT this year was the lack of program. I know some won't want to hear this, but it was a great thing.  Hear me out.

Normally at Summit they have evening program. This year, the scouts were free to do whatever activity they wanted or hang out at the tents and play cards. 

At NT, we'd arrive at camp between 2-4 and the only responsibilities were setting up tents and dinner. Everyone could fish, swim or just hang out. The paddling and portaging was hard work. Sometimes my arms were like rubber. That time to just chill, relax and enjoy the beautiful BWCAW, listen to the wolves howling to each other and looking at the stars was such a stress reliever. The scouts had a fantastic time. When we returned to base camp, we just had to clean up, pack up and hang out with no program.

In both cases, it made for a great experience. I loved the activities at Philmont, but it seemed like from the time you woke up until the time you laid down, your day was filled with activity.

This seems common for youth activities. Adults think that every minute must be packed with activity. Unpack some of that and give them time to just enjoy life.

My 2 cents.

[MattR]

1 hour ago, 69RoadRunner said:

Adults think that every minute must be packed with activity.

Not all adults. I always insisted there be a big block of time for scouts to figure out their own amusement. Some would explore. Some would work on advancement. Some would play cards or just talk. Most of them really enjoyed that time.

I never made it to Philmont but a common comment was that it's a constant push. Get up and get going so you can get to the next event in time.  It's a great way to encourage teamwork but not my idea of how to enjoy nature. I'm sure it would have been fun, don't get me wrong, but I do enjoy the tranquility after playing hard.

[David CO]

1 hour ago, 69RoadRunner said:

My 2 cents.

I'm fine with other scouters contributing their 2 cents to the forum.  But if your troop can afford all 3 trips (Philmont, Northern Tier, and the Summit), maybe you should kick in a few more pennies.   

[69RoadRunner]

7 minutes ago, David CO said:

I'm fine with other scouters contributing their 2 cents to the forum.  But if your troop can afford all 3 trips (Philmont, Northern Tier, and the Summit), maybe you should kick in a few more pennies.   

One per year and we work hard for the money.🤑

[TMSM]

Our trip last year to Sea Base was also filled with "activities". We went to Munson Island and the scouts enjoyed most of the program - fishing, kayaking and snorkleling were great but almost every night we had a campfire and sang cub scouts songs and 3 or 4 repeat after me songs. These campfire programs were fun the first night but grew tiresome and the scouts wished we could just hang out or go night fishing.

I am sure there is a purpose for these over the top programs but I also think they are overrated.

 

[69RoadRunner]

30 minutes ago, TMSM said:

Our trip last year to Sea Base was also filled with "activities". We went to Munson Island and the scouts enjoyed most of the program - fishing, kayaking and snorkleling were great but almost every night we had a campfire and sang cub scouts songs and 3 or 4 repeat after me songs. These campfire programs were fun the first night but grew tiresome and the scouts wished we could just hang out or go night fishing.

I am sure there is a purpose for these over the top programs but I also think they are overrated.

 

That's what we have planned for next year. I hope you mentioned that in the review at the end.

I've long hated the singing and we never do it as a troop unless we're somewhere where they make it part of the program. The scouts never seemed to enjoy it.  

I think part of it is people being stuck in traditions that scouts don't really enjoy.  And some adult leaders look down on you if you're blunt and say these traditions are not enjoyed by very many scouts today.

I know part of it is being in lockdown mode for so long, but we all, scouts and adults just loved being at Northern Tier and and almost everything was done at the pace we wanted. 

[T2Eagle]

I've always been a fan of leaving lots of time for the scouts to just be scouts: run around in the woods and have fun.  Too much of kids' time today is programmed.  A lot of the benefit of scouts i y opinion is just giving them time to figure out how to occupy and entertain themselves. 

I occasionally get push back on this from the other adults in the troop, although I've brought most of them along.  I  definitely get push back when we're at district and council events.  But I never insist my scouts attend any part of a program that they don't want to --- most of which are evening programs.

 

 

 

[Eagle94-A1]

Sadly there are more parents and Scouters who believe in doing more and filling every minute of a camp out with advancement than there are of us old fogeys who believe in letting the Scouts enjoy themselves. I had a Scout take a MB he already had because he enjoyed the activity, and there was no other way for him to do it at camp. When I mentioned this to other Scouters in the class I was taking, One Scouter said my Scout was wasting his time.

When my troop held their own summer camp this summer, yes almost every minute was planned out. BUT the intention was to have make sure the Scouts had enough to do and were having fun, not become school. When certain activities went over their allotted time, Wilderness Survival and Cycling come to mind, everyone went with the flow and had fun. When the Scouts were exhausted and needed some down time, they got their down time and had fun. Everyone, Scouts and adults alike, said this was the best summer camp ever, barring no showers ( they had to use faucets to get clean).

The only thing set in stone at summer camp was the Board of Reviews. The troop committee visited us at camp the last night, had dinner with the rest of the adults, andthen BORs commenced.  We had to be courteous of the committee's time. And no one had problems with that.

[eagle90]

One of the most difficult concepts Crossover parents have to adjust to is that not every moment of a campout has to be scheduled.  We normally give our scouts a couple of hours of afternoon free time.  Some will go out on their own for a hike, play whatever sport is in season at the time,  play cards, sleep, Do homework(!),work on advancements,. or just hang out with friends.  It also gives the adults  some free time to relax. read, or do whatever they want.  Scouts say it is the best part of the campouts and some of their best memories.

And I agree with 69 Roadrunner.  I am known for being an anti-singer!

Dale

[FireStone]

5 hours ago, eagle90 said:

One of the most difficult concepts Crossover parents have to adjust to is that not every moment of a campout has to be scheduled...

I'm constantly fighting this battle within my Pack. It's exhausting for everyone when we're on a tight schedule in camp. And it's totally unnecessary, especially at the Pack level. I think the idea is that we camp just a few times per year, so we have to make the most of each trip. But it seriously burns people out, I think the kids included. They want time to just run around in the woods, play a game, hang out in camp. That's a quality experience in itself.

To this day one of my Webelos son's favorite memories of scouting so far is a trip a couple of years ago and "log battle" in camp, 2 kids just trying to see who could stay on a shared log longest. he still talks about it. What he doesn't remember are the activities that we were running to, trying to be on time, rushing to go through the safety intro or whatever else we just barely showed up on time for, and then not having all that much fun doing the activity because the kids are tired.

I don't know why anyone likes that kind of over-scheduled madness, pre-crossover or post. I would have thought that by the time a parent sees their scout cross over, they'd welcome the idea of their son/daughter having some time to choose their own activities, make their own schedule.

[qwazse]

One of our VOA VP’s called it “structured unstructured time.”

[eagle90]

I remember one campout camped beside a creek with a little spring flowing off of it, probably two feet wide at mos.  Our scouts must have spend two to three hours trying to dam up the creek with sticks, stones, etc.  They finally formed a little pool and were so proud of their engineering feat.  Then they dismantled it to get it back to natural.  We couldn't have planned a better activity if we tried!

 

Dale

[fred8033]

Some of the best camp outs our troop had were focused around one core activity for the day.  The rest of the day was meals and free time.  

[DuctTape]

The adventure of the trip IS the program.

[BryanInOakland]

One interesting part of being on our Philmont trip last year was watching the boys figure this out. 

They had chosen the route based on activities, but after a couple of days, these teenagers really needed sleep.  And so they started talking about the activities, and what was worth getting up early for and what was a lower priority. 

The other thing was reviewing their work with them. why was it taking them 2+ hours to get up, get breakfast, pack and leave?  Once they realized if they could pack up in an hour, they could sleep longer! They started dividing up tasks and really getting efficient with their time.  It was great to see. 

So let the boys prioritize what activities they want to do. If the boys at summer camp want to skip the campfire and stay in camp playing cards, the SPL should go with the group's decision.  

I guess I'm preaching to the choir.