Mixing It Up!

[rjscout]

Overplan the campout... have LOTS of activities and the equipment to do these activities.

 

Don't expect that all activities will be done. Go with the flow. Sometimes the boys find something that they would like to be doing for longer than the 'planned' time. Have things ready for when they grow tired of the activity at hand.

 

Put your ideas in a notebook so you can re-use the good activities and skip the ones that didn't go over with the boys.

 

And DO have enough free time for them to just run in the fields or explore the woods (along the trails).

[Stosh]

I guess I am going to go along with what I see is a basic premise of the program.

 

Scouting should be fun, no doubt, no argument here.

 

Free-for-all's are a lot of fun, but with no goal or purpose intended. I have a problem here.

 

There are a lot of things boys can do that fit easily into the scouting program that are fun. I am a firm believer that the two go hand in hand.

 

Belching is fun for boys of this age, but serves no real scouting purpose, but as everyone knows to their own chagrin, fire is even more fun. I have yet to find a boy that doesn't want to play with the campfire, including peeing in it. Can that fun remain and still be channeled and focused into a safe and useful purpose? Boys love to play with knives. Can this fun be channeled and focused into a safe and useful purpose?

 

Sure they can. Can the whole family enjoy it with their boy? Sure they can. To me family outings can be a lot of fun, but only if everyone has a good time, remains safe, and serves a purpose oriented to scouting. Why select non-scouting activities when there are a ton of fun things that are scouting activities? After all, if one doesn't want to do scouting activities, why are they in scouts?

 

Stosh