adults at summer camp

[Lisabob 13]

Well we finished camp sign ups last night. We've got 34 boys and 10 (!) adults attending for the week. When I started this thread I was worried we might not have enough adults. Guess that's not going to be an issue!

 

Lisa'bob

[oldsm 10]

Lisa'bob, I'm sorry you have so many adults going. To my way of thinking, that's WAY too many adults for only 34 scouts. I'd be curious to know how you will keep the adults from getting in the way of the scouts a) having a good time and b) letting their summer camp be as boy-run as possible.

 

I know we can't keep parents away, but summer camp is supposed to be for the boys - not the adults - and I would make that patently clear to all parents. I'll probably be excoriated for my position, but in a council camp setting, I don't believe you need any more than 3 adults for this number of boys (unless you have a special-needs scout or some other specific requirement). Just my $.02.

[jr56 92]

i am in a fairly small troop. We have adults coming and going all week at summer camp. We have to have the minimum of 2 adults in camp at all times, we usually struggle just to attain that. Any additional help we can get is great.

[Lisabob 13]

It's a funny thing about adult volunteers. Usually units can't get enough of them. One of the big "selling points" of this troop is that there is a highly involved and committed group of adults. On weekend campouts it is common to have 10-15 adults present. At troop meetings, occasionally we've had as many or more adults in uniform than scouts. Frazzled webelos den leaders see this as a fantastic strength. In some ways it is.

 

In others...well olds, I agree that 10 adults is a few too many. We do have a couple of special needs boys in the group. Their parents are not attending and the adults who are probably won't be working much with those boys. We have 8 or 10 new scouts going to camp for the first time with us. Only one of their parents is going and he's an ASM anyway.

 

What we have here is a group of adults who have been involved for a long time. Most of their boys are older teens or in college. They're knowledgable and skilled outdoorsmen. But (I think) they view this as their troop, as much as it is the boys' troop.

 

Anyway at first I had thought about going myself. I like camping and I like the kids and my work schedule would allow me to go. But with 10 adults, forget it, they don't need me.

 

Lisa'bob

 

 

 

 

[GernBlansten 10]

This year we have 8 adults going with our 35 scouts. Most we have had in the last two years I've attended is 4 adults. In the previous years, we adults have had a great, relaxed time. Same four and four new ones. I hope this year our personalities are just as synergistic.

[EagleInKY 14]

I'll disagree with the "that's too many" comment. If the adults are good - i.e. they don't want to attend every class with their son - then it's great having a good set of adults. We tend to have as much (or sometimes more) fun than the kids. We take part in the adult training sessions, adult climbing, canoeing, etc. We tend to hang around in our own "gang" and have a great time together. We model for them what a patrol should be. As the week progresses, we give them more space. A Thursday tradition for us is to cook a big meal for ourselves in the campsite and send the boys to the dining hall themselves. It's amazing how "grown up" this makes the younger ones feel.