Re: are camp nicknames banned???
settummanque, or blackeagle (blkeagle@DYNASTY.NET)
Thu, 24 Jul 1997 11:03:38 -0500
John Economides asked in both forums:
> we in our Council have been told that National has recently sent out a
>dictate that camp nicknames (like "Flamingo" or "Pooh Bear") are no >longer
permitted at Scout camps.
If this was true, John, an announcement would have been made BEFORE the
summer camp season through _Scouting_ (in the May issue) and through
_ProSpeak_ (Professionally Speaking, the "professional journal of the BSA").
I've checked; there's NOTHING that speaks of summer camp operation along the
lines of "what nicknames can and cannot be used".
Additionally, your professional staff should have sent *each and every*
Scoutmaster, Coach and Advisor/Skipper a letter informing them of this new
"policy" similar to what happened when the BSA's Youth Protection policies
was introduced. This letter should have been sent BEFORE the start of the
summer camp season or as part of the summer camp package before you set foot
on the camp property.
Finally, there's not a valid reasoning for such a prohibition. Part of the
camp experience is seeing "Spanky", "Doc", "Moron" and "Dr. D" (again)
and meeting them for the first time after being told about them. Now, I
would caution you and other Scouters about calling one of your Scouts
"Moron" or "Spanky", because names can and do hurt inside even though the
Scout or Scouter may appear to appreciate and "go along with the flow" of
the nickname. During my summer camp seasons, I had to put up with several
rounds of "John-Boy" (after the popular Waltons television series) and "Hair
Bear" (when I had more hair, of course, after the leader of the Hair Bear
Bunch, a popular children's Saturday morning cartoon) and it didn't bother
me at all (well, except when we were playing softball against the
Scoutmasters, and they would all call me that! *laugh*)
But a new Scout that trips over ever branch, twig and popsickle stick, and
everyone calling him "Stumblefingers"; or a Scouter that is routoned and
cannot stay away from the Trading Post being called "Blimpy" could indeed
hurt the self-esteem of the person. That's what I would caution *anyone*
with, and it doesn't take a National dictation or policy letter to do those
cautions and make people think about the "labels" we place on our friends.
Part of Scouting, John, is the idea of making friends...and in making those
new friends, we sometimes assign new labels and descriptions to their names,
to remember them and to make them distinguishable from all of the OTHER
Mikes, Johns, and others. Unless there's a letter out there that went
directly to the Scout Executives from Operations (and with the Jamboree
going on and all of the Operations people up in Virginia, I seriously doubt
that!), I would continue to call your friends and fellow Scouts "appropriate
names" like Professor Beaver, Dr. Steve, MaryLee, and of course...
Settummanque!
(c) 1997 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://dynasty.net/users/blkeagle
241 Fairview Dr., Henderson, KY 42420-4339 blkeagle@dynasty.net
kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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