Hydrate

[shortridge]

Starting to drink the day it gets hot doesn't cut it. If you're not prepping your body by hydrating consistently in the days leading up to the heat/exertion, you may very well go down.

[FScouter]

I agree that sports drinks are heavily promoted and while there is a modicum of value there, its mostly hype. I run marathons and ultra-marathons and water works perfect for me. Ive found no value in commercial sport drinks.

[mdlscouting]

I know that Gatorade may not be the healthiest thing out there, in comparison to pure water. However, the addition of a few empty calories is well worth it to me, if It will encourage boys to drink more water in especially hot environments.

 

This is especially true for Cubs, who may let their taste buds overrule what little amount of common sense they have.

 

Drinking too much Gatorade may have a small harmful effect over the long run... But drinking not enough water has a major harmful effect over the short run. I'll do whatever I can to encourage them to drink plenty of water... even if it's a bribe to the sweet tooth.

[Momleader]

Camel back inserts saved my own sons at camp last year...I got the knock off ones at Walmart. One fit in their day packs and carry almost 2 liters. During cub camp my son was the only one who wasn't suffering early signs of dehydration, and we had the boys drinking water on the way to activities, when we got to program areas, before we left program areas...it was wicked hot that week. I've ordered one for me this year. I think the novelty of having a sucking tube draws the cubs in....whatever works when it's hot!

[Peregrinator]

If you find Gatorade too sugary (and it is), you might want to try Gookinaid/Vitalyte instead. I've not used it but it is less sweet and it doesn't have any fructose or sucrose in it -- only glucose.

[Basementdweller]

The problem with bladder style drinking systems is you have no idea how much the boy is drinking with out taking it out of the backpack.

 

It is much easier to see what they are drinking if they all have water bottles, especially at a resident or day camp setting.

 

 

[5yearscouter]

We do day camp here in Phoenix in June. so it's HOT to say the least. The week we went it was 113 on Monday.

 

We do not allow camelbacks for drinking water--if they want to wear it with ice in it to keep them cool, that's ok and works well.

But there is no easy way to tell how much the boy is drinking, and that can mean the difference between fun at daycamp or a ride to the hospital. We require clear water bottles, and take a boatload of frozen commercial water bottles with us for the day in rolling ice chests.

There is also way to refill a camelback at day camp unless you use the water hose, which nobody will then want to drink out of cause it "tastes funny" or take most of the water out of one of the big orange water jugs on ice.

Once the camelback gets hot, that's a lot of hot water to drink, rather than frequent refills of a smaller water bottle from an orange water jug with a block of ice floating in it.

 

We do a small gatorade once or twice a day. We also provide snacks--since cubbies are so used to frequent snacks at events in our culture today, this works in our favor. We give them some salty and sweet snacks as they move between stations, which encourages them to drink water and balances their electrolytes usually better than just straight gatorade and gives them energy to last from 1pm to 10pm for the daycamp days.

 

If we followed the chart on heat that was posted, due to temps over 100 degrees we'd be unable to do any scouting for over 100 days a year.

[RichardB]

The winners.

 

http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2012/07/23/liquid-gold-check-out-these-10-winning-hydration-slogans/#more-15641

[SSScout]

 

I'll share my story again. During "Medieval Adventures" we often offered a toast "To The Queen!' (our camp director) or "To Her Majesty Queen Mary!" and occasionally singing "Ein Prosit! Ein Prosit, gemuchlichkeit!" after the first day, we were told by our DE to rephrase the toast, as it was seen by some as promoting alcoholism....

 

Wundebar!

[pchadbo]

The last two years at Cub resident camp it has been 90+ and 90+ humidity. Last year we instituted a rule and carried it forward this year. A better guage for Cubs is not the color of the pee (are you checking or asking? think of YPT) but whether or not they have to pee. We told our boys that if you do not have to pee when we pass a latrine usually every 1-2 hours, you are not drinking enough. We hd 17 boys and we all were well hydrated and familiar with the latrines. Sent them all home happy and healthy.