What do the parents expect?

[John-in-KC]

Right or wrong...

 

What do you perceive Billy's parents expect when Billy comes home from Scout Camp?

 

- Fun

- Growth

- New skills

 

???

 

OR

 

- A bunch of MB cards signed off?

 

OR

 

???

 

I'm in listen mode. TIA for your replies

[GernBlansten]

I think there's three types of parents.

 

1) The parents want advancement, signed off merit badges, as many as they can get.

2) The parents want Billy out of their hair for a week. Don't care about advancement or fun, but if it happens, thats fine.

3) The parents want Billy to be happy. If that means he earned lots of badges, great. If it means he met some new friends, great. If it means he didn't do anything but stare at the stars, great.

[IM_Kathy]

LOL at getting them outta you hair for a week - I always try to sway my daughter to pick a Girl Scout camp choice that is the same week as my son is gonna - it NEVER works. When my son was in Cubs we sent them both to YMCA camp just for the fact that it's boys and girls and we got a week of vacation from the kids it was sooooo nice LOL

 

ok, on to the real question... I can't speak for other parents, but for me I want 1) my son to have fun, 2) my son to try new things, 3) meet new people, 4) work on merit badges.

[Mafaking]

 

We tell our scouts to have fun. The MB's are an alos ran to what really is a vacation. What else would it be?

 

If the choice is between citizen of the..... and canoeing take canoeing. Those text book MB's can be done on slow burns over the winter. And don't load up on MB's. Camps always have a free time in afternoon. Please use it. 4 MB's in a week is fine. Six and you are hitting it hard. More than six and you are missing on what summer camp is supposed to be FUN!. If it looks like school it ain't summer camp.

 

 

[Twocubdad]

Varies by parent, but the out of my hair thing is for real.

 

I had one dad who along about every February would start going through his vacation options for the week I had his kids at camp. After about three years of it I broke:

 

"Gary, I don't want to &@&^%#* hear about where the %@$#^ you're going while I'm babysitting your @&%$, snot-nosed kids."

 

"Gee," he says, "I thought you would be interested to hear were we're going."

 

" &%&$#@%$ $*&*@! "

 

[desertrat77]

I think the previous posters captured the spectrum of parent expectations to the letter.

 

Mafaking's comments about text book MBs and school v. summer camp really struck a cord--spot on.

 

I was out of scouting for many years, but after now serving in two different councils, I am dumfounded to see the number of "indoor" merit badges offered at summer camps.

 

I agree, outdoor merit badges should be the focus of any merit badge efforts at camp. And if scouts already have them, then they can participate in the more challenging outdoor programs designed for older scouts. Or they hike, relax, go to the rifle range...far better use of their limited time at camp.

 

[evmori]

I would be more concerned with what the boys expect. After all, that's who is in the unit, not mom & dad.

[Eamonn]

"What do you perceive Billy's parents expect when Billy comes home from Scout Camp?

 

If Billy is anything like OJ was/is:

Lots of dirty laundry!

A very dirty kid. (Oh yes I love the "We went for a swim everyday" story!)

A few new cuts, scratches and bruises.

A lot of stuff that will take months, sometimes even years to come out. By which time it of course will only be half true and too late to do anything about.

Some really great new stories that he is willing to share with the old folks.

A new list of people who did something that got on his last nerve.

Only half the underwear he took with him, this half is clean and he will still be wearing the underwear he left home wearing.

A phone call from my pal the camp director telling me that he borrowed ten bucks and said that Dad would be happy to repay it!

A kid who is really hungry, stories about how bad most of the food was, but needless to say the pizza was good.

A very tired kid who after he has eaten everything on the menu at the Laurel Inn, sleeps the entire journey home. When he gets home he eats some more and then sleeps the rest of the day, only moving to pee and eat.

HWMBO can expect to be really itchy as he forgot to tell her that he fell in poison ivy and it was all over the third load of laundry.

I can expect the dogs to go a little crazy because they missed him. Friday will sleep on his bed only moving to eat and pee. Rory will keep vigil for a while but will get bored and look for something to eat.

I will get upset because he has lost one of the new hiking boots I bought him. It will turn up in the backseat of the car a few days later.

The lost sleeping bag, never does turn up.

The allergy pills he had to have and couldn't go without, will be found in the furthest corner of his foot-locker. -Un-opened! (Under a roll of damp TP which he had to have because the bathrooms at camp never have any.)

A call from his best friends mother saying she has found a pile of underwear in her sons footlocker which doesn't belong to him and she questions where he got a copy of Playboy magazine. (We of course deny any knowledge of it, as does OJ the next day when he is awake but still eating.)

He does have one Merit Badge the Artist Badge, he informs me when HWMBO isn't around that he only took it because the girl doing it was hot! She also had a car and would go out and buy pizza!

A call from the Council Camping Chairman who is going on about something that happened to the camp tractor. "Did I know and was I aware that it was a diesel tractor? If so why didn't I tell OJ?" (I'm happy to refer him to the Camp Ranger who should have been watching!) I ask did filling it with gas really do any damage? He isn't a happy camper and he tells me that OJ has borrowed ten bucks from him to buy a pizza.

 

I'm happy that my kid has returned home.

I'm happy that he didn't get badly hurt.

I'm happy that he has had fun.

I'm not happy that I now owe $20.00

I'm scared that I'm going to get a bill to have the tractor repaired.

The Artist Merit Badge is something he is proud of, not only was she hot but they are going out on a date to pizza hut.

Eamonn.

 

[IM_Kathy]

Eamonn - I loved to hear about another boy being filthy after camp... my son's first year as boy scout he got the nickname "walking taco" because his shirt had nutritional value for a boy's day. And I learned early - we go sock and underwear shopping after summer camp "just throw them away" Every year he ends up in the ravine during some storm and his white socks are all black YUCK! But he has a blast, and that's what matters.

[Knot Head]

I am the activity chair and main all week leader at summer camp. I tell parents my goal are in the order...

 

be safe

have fun

learn skills, get MBs for advancement

 

seems to work for boys, parents, and me.

[FireKat]

Aww.. Knothead, you forgot the big one.... getting dirty!

[gwd-scouter]

Don't forget the neatly stacked clean underwear returning home in the footlocker. I remember that from both my boys after their first year at summer camp. Gross!

 

I can't say precisely what the parents in our Troop expect when they join or even after their sons have been in for a while. Those that have been with us for a while have come to expect that their sons will have fun, work hard, learn, and, oh yeah, have fun. Advancement comes as a part of the process.

 

From what I've heard from the parents of our new Scouts, they liked our troop because of our high expectations. They liked how respectful the Scouts are to the adults, and the adults to the Scouts. The liked our older Scouts and how they run the Troop. Most of all, they heard from their sons that they had fun when they visited and camped with us. Guess that was the selling point.

 

Everyone is signed up for summer camp! New guys will go through the pathfinder program - the new Scout program at our camp that works on the requirements from Tenderfoot - First Class. Parents seem happy that the guys will stay together through the week and learn a lot. They also understand that the program does not automatically sign off on the requirements - the boys must demonstrate the skills to their PL or Troop Guide to get signed off.

 

We do have a few boys that need extra help with swimming and the parents are excited that the boys can get that help at camp and then again back home - one of our parents offers up his swimming pool every summer for us to work with the boys.

 

Finally, I think the parents expect their boys to come home from camp happy, excited to tell stories about the week, dirty, tired, hungry for Mom's real food, some advancements checked off or merit badges earned, and eager to do the next fun thing with the Troop.

 

Hopefully, that's exactly how we will return their sons to them.

 

As a side note: All those new guys showed up for Patrick's Eagle project workdays yesterday and Friday. Parents hung around for a while watching. They all got a first hand glimpse of their sons' futures if they so choose.

[Gunny2862]

Advancement , Advancement, Advancement.

 

Argh, that's pretty much all I hear about.

 

If pressed, they pay lipservice to the ideals of Scouting but they hammer away at this method over and over and over(ad nauseam) again. Even the Eagle Scouts who are also parents....

Did I say ARGH?

I also prefer they have a minimum of one open period at summer camp.

[Narraticong]

I agree that it's more important to know what the boys want from camp. And as first year campers, they don't have a clue either! It's proably a good idea to have a pre-camp parents meeting early on in the process to let parents know what they can expect.

 

If the focus of your troop is advancement, then parents and Scouts might expect a bunch of merit badges. If your focus is on outdoor adventure, then they should probably expect things along that line. In other words, the tone of expectations should probably match the tone of your uaual troop format.

 

I had a similar experience as Twocubdad, during my first months as a Scoutmaster. As she dropped her son off to go camping with the troop for a weekend, a Mom was all made up and excited about heading off for a weekend at the Casino. That was when I first realized I was in some cases running a baby sitting service! I was mad for a little while, until I realized that just like the Mom, I was heading off for a great weekend, too! I just have a little diffrent idea of what is fun...

[OldGreyEagle]

Hey now, Camp Minsi in beautiful Pocono Summitt, PA is not more than 5 miles from the Mt Airy Casino and Resort, also located in Pocono Summitt PA. Perhaps we have missed our mark, a combination package could be arranged, a week at the casino for mom and/or dad and a week of camp for the youth all very close together.

 

Be right back, sounds like a call to the COuncil PR guy is in order