Progress in improving Scouts vision

[JMHawkins]

I had come to the conclusion that 11-12 year old Scouts were simiply incapable of seeing empty candy wrappers on the ground. While the candy wrapper actually contained candy, they could spot it from two miles away. But once it was empty, it became completely invisible to them. I'd tell them they needed to clean up their campsite, and they'd say "we did!" I'd point at the myriad of candy wrappers on the ground and say "what about all those?"

 

"Oh," they'd say. "We didn't see those."

 

Well, today we went on a day hike with a stop for lunch at a waterfall. As everyone was packing up after lunch, I noticed the usual ration of wrappers on the ground and was about to remind them to pick up their trash. But I got sidetracked by one of the parents who was along for the hike and talked for a few minutes about the area where we were hiking. Suddenly I realized the Scouts all had their packs on and were 30 yards up the trail. "Oh great," I thought. "Now I'll have to go catch them and haul them back down here to clean up all the..."

 

I look at the ground around my feet. It was perfectly clean. Not a candy wrapper to be seen. Have they finally learned how to really clean up after themselves?

 

Of course one of the Scouts has left his jacket behind...

 

 

 

[Eamonn]

Oh we of little faith!

I've been around Scouts for a while and the one thing that I've learned is to expect the unexpected.

Don't try and understand it.

Just accept it, enjoy it and move on.

Ea.

[Trevorum]

Before leaving a campground, our troop always polices the area. As SM, I was incredulous that the fellows simply did not seem to see the trash right there on the ground! We'd have go go back over the area 2 and even 3 times. One time, the campout fell on International Talk Like A Pirate Day (Sep 19) and we had lots of fun with that. When it came time to break camp and police the area, I told the scalliwags to look out for the "golden doubloons". After we got past the part of, "What's a doubloon?", I realized the guys actually did scour the area better than usual, looking for that treasure. From then on, I took to scattering a few dimes in the area just before the policing. It's remarkable what a little incentive can do! From my profession I know that keen observation is a skill that can be taught. I have no doubt that the pirate exercise, created in jest, nonetheless served to teach them how to hone their observational skills.

 

(This message has been edited by trevorum)

[beardad]

We did something similar to that, only I don't remember what it was exactly they were looking for. It turned in to them ignoring the trash, and only looking for the "doubloons"

 

This was cub level at an outdoor pack event though.

[Basementdweller]

I forever fixed the problem.....One of my first campout I waded up $1 bills and tossed them around the campsite......The first one was found and then it was on......Cleanest campsite ever.

 

The SPL tells the new scouts about it.......

[Eagledad]

I brought a box of Tootsie Pops suckers on each campout and sat it in the assembly area. The SPL explained to the scouts that they could have as many as they wanted so long as they only took one at a time and a wrapper was never found on the ground. The box only stayed out about 30 minutes the first few campouts.

 

Barry

[Engineer61]

Sounds like standard parental amazement.

 

[Kudu]

 

The same phenomenon happens with fire building. Take a goup of new Scouts to look for sticks and they walk right over them. They just don't see them.

 

 

[perdidochas]

Kudu,

 

My observations as well. I've been at campouts where there was enormous amounts of tinder material under our feet. The scouts, though, head far away to find inferior tinder.

[DigitalScout]

The front part of the optic nerve in the retina is called the optic nerve head or optic disc. There are no photoreceptors (cones and rods) in the optic nerve head. In males between the ages of 9 and 14, this disc area of the retina rapidly increases in diameter which often prohibits the nerve from properly responding to light stimulation.

 

Thus, when snack contents are removed from their containers, the loss of mass causes the optic properties of the container to shift slightly towards the red/blue light spectrum just enough to inhibit the responsive in the optic nerve head. The condition is called neseeum wrappolocius and occurs in 90% of boys between 9 and 14. It has also been known to prevent boys from seeing empty cans, juice pouches, chip bags, dirty clothing, and tools.