Troop Schedule and Holidays.....

[Troop185]

I think what works for your troop is good. We do a lot of long distance, 3 night trips. So Holidays and school vacations are good for us. Also, we have 3 retired scouters, still in good enough health, that enjoy backpacking, canoeing, etc. Coming back from Ontario on Memorial Day, and waiting at customs is not so bad, when you know you do not have to go to work the next day!

 

This April, over Spring vacation, we were backpacking in Kentucky (450 miles); Memorial Weekend we were at the Bruce Peninsula (300 miles); and last Labor Day weekend, we were in Norther Ontario (400 miles). If I have to travel that far, I like to spend at least 3 nights.

 

Until this year, our Tenderfoot Weekend was always on Mother Day weekend. It is very local, and we get done by 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. Mothers do not complain much when the scouts are home in time to go to church, etc.

 

Every year, I do a mid-week backpacking, canoeing, kayaking, tubing, low ropes trips for the new scouts to my cabin. We return on Saturday night of Father Day weekend. We even stop on Saturday evening, and go to Mass with a very special priest in Northern Michigan. We are home for Father Day, and the scouts have a lot of stories to tell.

 

I feel very fortunate that I have the retire scouters to go with me. One of the rivers we go on, is very, very popular on the weekend. It is like bumper boats on Saturday. However, on Fridays in June, we have the place to ourselves.

 

 

[Brewmeister]

I don't see the big deal. Aren't boys supposed to be doing the planning? So this seems like one of those lesson-learning opportunities. Either it will work or it won't.

 

My philosophy is you plan events for the people who can make it, not for those who can't. Those who can come, will.