What do Scouts really want to do? Are we listening?

[Eamonn]

Several Troops in my neck of the woods have what they call "Free Weekends".

While the Scouts do pay to cover the costs the Free bit is all about the Scouts being free to do what they like.

Some bring cards or board games, some bring computers and video games.

Most of these weekends are offered in the winter using a cabin and the adults take care of cooking and preparing the meals.

Some Scouts do play in the snow (If there is any.)

Some just go for a walk with a few pals.

These weekends are very popular.

I've talked to some of the Lads who have attended these weekends.

While I will admit that I very well might be guilty of hearing what I want to hear and maybe of asking leading questions. Most of the Scouts see these weekends as being fun, but they feel that they don't get that much out of them.

Again thinking like the old fuddy-duddy that I am. It seems to me that without some sort of a challenge, even the most popular activities grow old fast.

So what do your Scouts like to do?

If it falls outside of the "Normal"?? Scouting activities are you open to it?

What activities that the youth have said that they want to do have you put your foot down and said no?

Ea.

[Lisabob]

Son's former troop did these every once in a while. My thought is that they're a recipe for trouble. Cabin fever sets in quick and bored kids are bound to get into mischief.

 

On the flip side, the annual lock in at a rec center was really a similar kind of thing - lots of games, cards, just hanging out, etc. going on. And that was probably the best-attended event of the year (and a major webelos recruiting event too). But I think there's a big difference from an event that really only lasts one night (and everybody drives home for a long nap the next day), and a whole weekend of nothing planned.

[shortridge]

Hanging out in a cramped tent playing cards and telling stories for hours because there's a huge snowstorm raging outside can bring people together. It's the shared experience of adversity and overcoming a challenge that unites us.

 

Years later, Scouts are going to tell tales about how they paddled 10 miles in a monsoon, found that hidden swimming hole during a 110-degree heat wave, lashed together a snowball trebuchet during a blizzard and fired on the adults and scrambled up that mountain just ahead of those grizzly bears. (Even if the reality was a minor downpour, 90-degree heat, sprinkled flurries and climbing a hill after hearing chipmunks rustling in the leaves.)

 

Something tells me that these Scouts aren't going to have the same tales to tell about how they hung out in a heated cabin playing video games being waited on hand and foot.

 

Kids will take you up on whatever you offer. If it's electronics and sluggishness, sure, that's cool. But the same is also true for challenge, adventure and the outdoors. Which one's better for them? Which one is Scouting based upon?

[Eamonn]

Hi shortridge

I'm not taking a side (Yet!!)

I'm a little curious.

If the PLC said that they wanted a " sluggishness" Weekend and you were the SM. What would you do?

Ea.

[CalicoPenn]

I'm not one to believe that every moment of every camping trip needs to be scheduled. Sure, there needs to be a basic schedule - Reveille is at 7:00, breakfast finished by 8:30, including clean-up, then a start to the days activities. Dinner is at 6:00, Cobbler and Campfire (if that's what folks want) at 0-dark 30. (your times may vary). It's those in-between times that are wide open. Maybe something is scheduled - a hike, swimming at the beach, a canoe trip, some advancement stuff, totin-chip classes, etc. but hopefully there is some "down/free" time available for the Scouts to do whatever - organize a frisbee showdown, take a walk with buddies to explore the pond, or just hang out in camp chatting, reading a book or napping - with flexibility to stop whatever is being done if something cool is happening - it could be deer browsing in a field, or watching a weather front coming in, or checking out the constellations, or to change plans when an opportunity comes along (Well gee, Ranger Bob of Nice State Park, thanks for the offer to lead the lads on a Salamander/Frog/Snake Search but we have a Totin Chip class scheduled - uh huh - I'd scrap the Totin Chip class in a heatbeat, as I imagine most of the Boys would)

 

That being said, "If the PLC said that they wanted a " sluggishness" Weekend and you were the SM. What would you do?" My answer to this would be "if you want to be a slug, be a slug at home - and I'll be a slug at my home too. I'm not going to organize/drive/fret/worry if the only thing we're going to do is just hang out and do nothing - it's a waste of my time - and I'd prefer not to ask other adults to waste their time away from home to just hang out and be slugs on a camping trip. You don't have to plan tons of advancement work, or even any advancement work, but there's got to be something other than playing electronic games in the woods in order for it to be worth my time to go - if you want to schedule an hour before dinner to just play computer games, I'm fine with that, but not all day".

[qwazse]

Our cabin weekend is usually one with a lot of slack time. The boys sled. We do a little business. The sled. They play cards. They sled. We help some first-years with some basic instruction for advancement.

 

Sometime in all that they make food, keep the fire going, and clean up.

[Twocubdad]

We do this once a year, the meeting which falls between Christmas and New Years. We call it Cabin Fever night, just a chance for the kids who've been bottled up in the house to get out and see their friends. We could probably charge parents for sending their boys, but I digress....

 

In the past we fell victim to campouts like this. Fortunately, I now have enough boys in senior leadership positions who have the maturity to make the connection that these are the only campouts kids get sent home from. Love those guys! Idle hands really are the devil's workshop.

 

The best campouts are the ones where you get the balance between activities and down time. This month's campout hit it almost perfectly. We were doing wilderness survival camping and the patrols were given a number of things they had to accomplish. Building a shelter was a biggie. The wind was howling all day the the temps were going to be in the teens, so the boys put a lot of time and effort into the shelters. Late afternoon we called them all together and gave them food for dinner which they had to cook with no utensils. The boys disappeared into their campsites and I hardly saw them all day.

[Pack212Scouter]

Our Troop has one of these every February, but it's a little more structured. It is one of the more popular outings. It's the only one that the PLC allows electronics on. We also usually do the First Aid MB for the first year Scouts and Communications or another MB for the older Scouts that want to take it. Usually the most senior ones take a Day Hike and there is a movie on Sat night.

[shortridge]

Eamonn,

 

I would ask them why they wanted to do that. I would ask them how it fit into their annual Scouting goals. I would ask them how they considered cabins, basements or lodges to be camping. I would ask them why this wasn't something they could do on their own, outside of Scouting.

 

And then, if they had good answers for all of those, showing thought had been put into this, and if they truly believed it to be an important, valuable part of their Scouting plan, I would likely agree to go along.

 

However, that would be contingent upon my sleeping outside in my own tent, cooking my own food over a fire, eating my delicious desserts in front of them, building a pioneering structure, carving a neat gee-gaw, taking great photos on a hike ... showing them by example what they're missing out on playing Call of Duty or Risk. And I would work with them to balance it out by going on a great trek the next month.

[MoosetheItalianBlacksmith]

Our troop used to do this as a reward for good behavior and camping and other scout stuff throught out the year. They were only allowed the one trip with electronics and stuff a year.

 

THis worked out great and caused the boys to strive to try and reach the goals laid down to be able to earn this trip. They always had fun with the other stuff too it wasnt just a checklist situation. Created alittle bit of a game amoung some to see how far beyond the original goals set we could acheive.

 

Unfortunatly we had a SM change and our current SM belives its owed to them and thats pretty much the only trip hes intrested in takeing them on. He forces it to be allowed and its know as the Annual trip instead of the reward. He has let the Scouting in the other areas go lax.

 

 

So i belive the Free trip has its place but it cant be the most important thing. if used right it can be a great motivator.

[Basementdweller]

The scouts do the program planning........So not sure we are not giving them what they want....Our troop is growing not shrinking.

 

Like many here we do a lock in during the winter months......We hook multiple video game systems together and hold patrol vs patrol tournaments....Pizza soda and egg mcmuffins for breakfast...

 

We are doing multiple events in March, april, june, September and November.......Caving, canoeing and backpacking being the extra event on top of car camping.....I forgot our single day hikes in Jan, Feb, March...........

[Lisabob]

I'm all for a sledding themed campout (in places where snow is likely). It is great fun for the older boys - not to mention adults - to act like little kids again and go sledding all day long. It offers bonding opportunities. Plus they're usually exhausted at the end. I don't count that as a do-nothing weekend.

 

One of my son's former SM's one year talked the PLC into planning what the SM called a "lazy campout." Big mistake. First, there wasn't any planned structure to the weekend, and the boys who you'd expect to get into trouble, did. Second, it was shortly after a very large group of cross-overs joined the troop so there were little kids running around like maniacs everywhere, without focus for their energy. Third, when the adults decided to try to do some basic skill training with the young guys, and when the older guys didn't want to do it ("This is our lazy campout! You said so!") it went badly. Not to mention that the older kids weren't so sure they wanted to cook meals on time, clean up the dishes, get out of bed, etc. There was a lot of grumbling on all sides (from the boys, "we didn't get to be lazy!" and from adult leaders, "you ungrateful brats!" and from new scout parents, "is this what all your campouts are like?")

 

So my view on this is colored by stories left over from that experience, but I guess any SM that goes along with, or promotes, a "lazy" weekend (or "slug" weekend, or whatever) is asking for problems.

 

Also, I don't know about all of you, but when my guy plays video games for hours on end, he becomes short-tempered and snappy and sometimes (when he was younger) had to be forcefully reminded to stop to eat or sleep. I wouldn't want to deal with a whole troop of boys in that mood.

[Basementdweller]

I did not answer the question.....

 

 

The scouts plan our program and we do our best to support their decisions and guide them when needed.

 

The banning of cellphones, pads, ipod, we might not hearing them...... Inflexible camp out schedules failing to accommodate school schedules....

 

 

So how do you adjust your camp out schedule????? Most school calendars are not a year in advance.....many activities require reservations a year to 18 months out.......

 

so Jr. High dance gets scheduled on the same night as the caving trip and you have $500 in reservations what do you do???????

 

We are a very young troop and this will become more and more of a problem.

[Tampa Turtle]

In our Troop the adults do some preplanning for the boys during the summer.

 

We try to consolodate (the ever moving-usually approved weeks after school starts) School District Calendar, 3 different school calendars, holidays, special events (NFL games, parades, etc), and known scout events (Scout Sunday, Blue and Golds--two packs, etc,etc). This leaves the open weekend for planning.

 

We give the boys some suggested rules that have worked in the past (meeting times, mix of low cost trips if we do a high cost one, past calendars for ideas.

 

The boys are responsible for planning what camp-outs and activities they want to do. It gets kicked back to the CC for cost estimating (and kicked back for the boys to raise money if needed).

 

Adult leaders are there to try to make it happen.

 

Because we are a large Troop we tend to have more opportunities to do stuff than any one individual can participate in. It is not unusual to have some guys go hiking and another one marching in a parade the same weekend. Kinda hard when we are short of adults but it keeps the horde down to a reasonable size.

 

We violated this a few times. Gone to the same Summer Camp because it was easier for the adults. Did not do Seabase, Philmont, and a week long AT because it was to hard on expenses and adults.

 

Sure enough need to avoid getting in a rut by doing same things every year. Older boys get bored.

 

Hard to strike the balance between letting boys having freetime and the need to schedule enough activities. Sometimes it seems like MB academy in the woods. I fought for more freetime at Summer Camp and the compromise was to give boys a choice of 3 or 4 things to do (stay and play cards, go swimming as a group, go buy a slushie, go shooting) as long as we new where they were going and a return time. Worked 90% of the time.

 

One problem is boys seem so programmed and scheduled these days they seem to have a harder time without structure.

[Eagle92]

Base,

 

In regards to calendars, have your PLC look for patterns in school calendars, i.e. SATs are always these weekends, Proms tend to be these weekends, etc.

 

My PLC had to deal with over 14 different school calendars, in the New Orleans area you did your best to send the kids to parochial and private schools, even if you worked for the public school system like my mom, friends' moms, and an ex-girlfriend's parents who were principles.

 

When we carefully reviewed the schedules one time form the year before and the current year, we noticed some patterns. Only time they patterns were broken up were by Mardi Gras, and Easter. Otherwise it was pretty standard.

 

Now we couldn't please everyone, but we were able to get the most folks to actuivities as we could.