A review of the summer camp experience and how leadership can help and mentor scouts by letting them do for themselves.
Show Notes:
A number of the points raised in the video were taken from the BSA Report: A Outcome of summer Camp.
Technical Note: This video is presented out of sequence from the other videos as it was created at summer camp after additional videos were shot and developed for the Scoutmaster Dave series.
Goose Pond Scout Reservation in Pennsylvania is a great camp for summer camp as well as troop camping year round. Check them out at: http://gpsr.nepabsa.org/.
Transcript:
Statistics show that boys that attend summer camp stay with the program longer and advance more quickly than boys that do not.
It’s no surprise given that summer camp is usually a week long and will traditionally consist of sessions for merit badges that may be difficult or almost impossible to complete outside of a camp setting.
Depending on the summer camp you go to, badges like camping, hiking swimming and equestrian badges may be part of the general program.
As I’ve mentioned in previous videos however the boys go through a tremendous amount of personal growth at summer camp as the need to do for themselves.
As leaders helping the boys through summer camp it’s important to remember to let them do for themselves.
It’s important to let them start the campfires, and complete their merit badges and advance at their own rate.
While as leaders we all want to put some boundaries and structure around what the boys are doing, if you make it as easy as holding daily sessions with pre-determined requirements to rank set up it actually robs the boys of figuring it out for themselves.
The danger in over orcautrating the program is that is becomes too much like cub scouts where the adults are in charge of getting the cubs from place to place within the program.
Once you start to do this, the boys begin to depend on it, they shut down and wait for the next thing you do for them. Very much like feeding wildlife who begin to lose the ability to hunt on their own.
As I record this videcast I’m at Goose Pond Scout Reservation in Pennsylvania, what I’m not doing in cleaning up after the boys, ferrying them back and forth between sessions, and wiping their noses when they sneeze.
What I am doing however is making sure that if their tents aren’t neat, that I’m talking with the SPL about the score he wants to achieve via the Greenbar awards, guiding the patrols to get to locations on time, but also letting them not get their on time and have to deal with the cosequences.
This, in my opinion is the best way for the boys to learn and grow. But this is what works for us.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was a report from summer camp.
