Hi! I'm a Camping Merit Badge Counselor, Scoutmonster, and a member of OA. (the Camping Honor Society.)
Camping is in a tent, or on the ground out side,(or, I suppose, a platform) not in a tent, in the jargon, "under the sky." I'll count sleeping in a cave. For unit activity, perhaps a cabin, but that won't fulfill any but the barest of requirements.
Actual practice, and you can flame me all you want:
Scout "A":
"To fulfill my last three nights of camping for this (Camping)Merit Badge, I want to go with my sister and her husband to Rushing-water-deep-in-the-woods State Park. Can I count that?"
Yes, I say. He is going with them specifically to work on Camping Merit Badge. Therefore, it is a Scout Activity: working on Camping Merit Badge. I know that his sister and her husband are hard core backpackers. They will add to his camping knowledge. I talk to her and tell her, that for the nonce, she is my assistant Merit Badge Counselor. I wish I could go, too! Go Scout! I think that ANY Merit Badge work, under the direction of a Merit Badge Counselor, is Scout activity.
Scout B: "I went camping with my family last summer, can I count that?" He's missed 7 possible nights of camping with the troop in that year. He didn't clear it with me, the Counselor, beforehand. I know nothing of his family's camping style. I say "I'm very sorry, no!"
Scout "C" comes on all the Unit campouts, goes to Summer Camp, and finishes it just fine.
If I look at the program with a global eye, yes, we HAVE TO Camp. WHY? It builds teamwork, comraderie and citizenship like NOTHING else. Camping isn't the purpose, it's the tool. Rerquirement 9 is meant to encourage Unit camping by allowing only 7 nights of Camp to be counted.
As far as Camping 12 times a year: In Minnesota, we say, and this comes from Council, through the Quality Unit paperwork, 12 "Activities," 8 of which should be "Outdoor" So we go skiing in February, camping in March, April, May, June, July, etc. In December, we usually go to an indoor climbing wall and in January, a "Lock-in." Most of our Scouts get Camping Merit Badge pretty quickly. Events should drive the advancement.
I think that you should, in a friendly, curteous, and kind way, gently move the troop back to a camping orientation. "Eighty percent of Scouting is Outing!"
What constitutes camping
in Camping & High Adventure
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Hi! I'm a Camping Merit Badge Counselor, Scoutmonster, and a member of OA. (the Camping Honor Society.)
Camping is in a tent, or on the ground out side,(or, I suppose, a platform) not in a tent, in the jargon, "under the sky." I'll count sleeping in a cave. For unit activity, perhaps a cabin, but that won't fulfill any but the barest of requirements.
Actual practice, and you can flame me all you want:
Scout "A":
"To fulfill my last three nights of camping for this (Camping)Merit Badge, I want to go with my sister and her husband to Rushing-water-deep-in-the-woods State Park. Can I count that?"
Yes, I say. He is going with them specifically to work on Camping Merit Badge. Therefore, it is a Scout Activity: working on Camping Merit Badge. I know that his sister and her husband are hard core backpackers. They will add to his camping knowledge. I talk to her and tell her, that for the nonce, she is my assistant Merit Badge Counselor. I wish I could go, too! Go Scout! I think that ANY Merit Badge work, under the direction of a Merit Badge Counselor, is Scout activity.
Scout B: "I went camping with my family last summer, can I count that?" He's missed 7 possible nights of camping with the troop in that year. He didn't clear it with me, the Counselor, beforehand. I know nothing of his family's camping style. I say "I'm very sorry, no!"
Scout "C" comes on all the Unit campouts, goes to Summer Camp, and finishes it just fine.
If I look at the program with a global eye, yes, we HAVE TO Camp. WHY? It builds teamwork, comraderie and citizenship like NOTHING else. Camping isn't the purpose, it's the tool. Rerquirement 9 is meant to encourage Unit camping by allowing only 7 nights of Camp to be counted.
As far as Camping 12 times a year: In Minnesota, we say, and this comes from Council, through the Quality Unit paperwork, 12 "Activities," 8 of which should be "Outdoor" So we go skiing in February, camping in March, April, May, June, July, etc. In December, we usually go to an indoor climbing wall and in January, a "Lock-in." Most of our Scouts get Camping Merit Badge pretty quickly. Events should drive the advancement.
I think that you should, in a friendly, curteous, and kind way, gently move the troop back to a camping orientation. "Eighty percent of Scouting is Outing!"
Jay