Communications with home

[shortridge]

Eamonn -

 

Am I reading that right - by 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, the camp is deserted? No closing retreat ceremony, no presentations of troop awards, no squirtgun attacks on the camp director?

 

At my home camp, there's one pay phone for the whole camp, very rarely used. It's out in the open in front of the trading post, so calls can be heard by anyone walking by - no privacy for a Scout complaining about the food or homesickness. (Don't know if that was intentionally placed there or not!)

 

If there's an emergency on the outside, it comes in through the camp office (staffed 24/7); if something happens to a Scout, the reverse is true.

 

As a parent, I would have to trust my Scout's adult leader to contact me asap if something were wrong. (If I didn't trust them on that, why would I let them go in the first place?) I'd also talk to my child about how to get in touch with me if needed, and include a prepaid phone card for the pay phone. Other than that, I'd wish them the best of luck and fun, and let them develop some independence.

 

Then I would take a nap. (Hah!)

[Eamonn]

shortridge

The Awards and presentations are all covered at the Recognition Camp Fire on Friday night.

It seems that everyone is busy and needs to get home ASAP.

The camp is used by the Cub Scouts for Parent and Son weekends. These weekends have their own staff, who as a rule are setting up by a little after 10:00 AM.

The phone at camp is placed in much the same spot as where the one in the camp you use is.

 

We have in the past had very long threads about cell phones and electronic games! I'm not going to rehash all of it again. There seems to be no meeting of the minds.

One of my pet peeves about Scout Camps is the number of soda-pop machines, that seem to spurt up all over the place.

OK, I'll admit to not drinking the stuff.

A couple of years back I was staffing a NCS weekend at Heritage Scout Reservation in PA. The Ranger? Was refilling the machine.

Me being the friendly chap that I am thought he looked a little lonely, so I started a chat with him. Some how the conversation got around to me asking what the best selling soda-pop was?

He informed me that Jolt outsold all the other types.

It was food for thought!

Eamonn.

[acco40]

I've had problems with cell phones. I highly discourage cell phones for the youth but if a parent has an issue with that they should let me know.

 

Scouts who get homesick usually get worse when they talk to their parents. Our summer camp is about 2.5 hours away with no traffic or construction. Our council, for the first time, has elicited the help of a firm that will run emails both two and from for a fee. Tokens are purchased and when a email is sent to camp, a print-out is made and delivered to the Scout. When the Scout wants to email back, he writes it on a form and it is entered in a computer and emailed. Sort of like "fast" letter writing. It will be interesting to see how this works.

 

From my experience, a letter (something physical) is a godsend. Better that a phone call and much, much better than an email. It is so easy for parents to pre-write a few notes to their Scout and mail it the day he leaves for camp. It will then usually arrive mid-week - just when first year campers are at their worst wit hhomesickness. That cheers them up, gets them over the hump and by Friday they don't want to leave the next day!

[evmori]

I dunno. I really don't see the need to send out e-mails to all the parents. At our summer camp, parents night is Wednesday. And it usually rains on Wednesday. If mom & dad need to know what's going on 'mon up to camp on Wednesday night & find out! Otherwise, you will see your son when you pick him up on Saturday.

[skeptic]

By 11+ it is time for children to have begun to not need mommy and daddy constantly. A week at camp, without direct home contact, is generally a very positive point of growth in their self image and confidence. We should discourage as much of this as possible, in my opinion. Letters or simply cards should be enough, in most cases. If there really is a need, contact should be done with an adult present. Use of the pay phone in some camps actually requires an adult be with in order to encourage counseling of "little Johnny" prior to his crying on the phone.

 

Of course, I am an old guy who was a latch-key kid in the 50's and responsible for family dinner prep by age 10, ready to serve (or close) by the time dad and mom got home in the (1)family car. Neighbors watched us, but unless we got really out of order, we did not hear much from them; and of course we played in the front and back yards on the two or three blocks in our area, as well as in the street. Still, somehow we survived and were far more self reliant at an early age than many kids today.

 

Aside from a poor economy which makes it difficult to move out, way too many teens get out of high school with absolutely no ability to fend for themselves. Much of this can be directly attributed to the overly protective attitudes of many parents, and lack of home bred responsible behavior.

 

JMHO

[acco40]

I hear you. I've had cases of parents calling their child's employer for goodness sakes! I'd die if that ever happened to me!

[SSScout]

Lessee now,

Not so long ago, a letter (paper) might arrive and be read and re-read after arriving days, weeks, even months after it was written (by hand) and sent. The emotional and informational impact was palpable. I still have the letters that my folks received from me from camps and school. I have theirs to me too. Surviving letters from the days of the revolutionary war and other periods are artifacts attesting to both the special wonder and ordinariness of people back then.

How is this lack of tangible evidence of love and affection and concern in years gone by going to be felt in years to come?

 

Camp Director used to require a written, stamped letter home before dessert was allowed on Tuesday dinner (ice cream sundaes).

 

One of my favorite cartoons has 'Cathy' asking a friend if she has received the email Cathy sent to find out if she got the voice mail Cathy left about the telegram she sent to ask if the friend received the letter Cathy sent? I forget the outcome...

[ASM857]

We have had issues with Cell phones and troop policy is no electronic devices on trips or campouts under two & 1/2 hours. We have oue cells posted if parents have a concearn but we put all scouts in a lockbox if they forgot and took one. We encourage parents to let the boys experiance camp, and they can visit on thursday night or send care packages any time. This has helped from years past were scouts got upset that so & so called home but he didn't have a cell or money for the pay phone.

 

Camp is not for electronics

My 2 cents

YIS

Doug

[SMT224]

As with others, we strongly discourage cell phones. They cause more trouble than they are worth. If they do choose to bring them, I don't to see any use at all. Active texters and phoners usually loose battery power mid-week anyway so have to do without.

 

My experience is that a phone call home by a homesick kid makes the situation much worse than it was already. Hearing mom slows the progress of independence and seems to make them want to go home all the more. We keep the new Scouts busy, busy, busy, so they're all tuckered out by taps. By Tuesday or Wednesday they have forgotten about being homesick and are having a blast with camp and the Troop.

 

Letters from home are the best thing! Everyone loves to hear his name called at mail call. My experience - now ten years of summer camps - is that this is the best way to communicate with home. I actively encourage parents to send letters, but not care packages. The Scouts will find plenty to rot their teeth at the Trading Post, and sometimes a box of candy or chips in a tent will bring in uninvited guests (like skunks!).

 

Nevertheless, I do like Herms "fill-in-the-blank" post card. Maybe I'll try it this year. What other things have you put on the post card?

 

 

 

 

[Twocubdad]

We're in the no electronics camp with Doug and Acco. Camp is no place for that. You want to play video games and TM your girl friend all week? Stay home. And no homesick kid ever feels better after talking to his mom. We do have an exemption for program-related stuff like GPS or digital camera for the historian.

Last year we let the camel's nose under the tent by allowing boys to listen to their C3PO player (yeah, whatever) at night, in their tents. Bad idea. This year everyone shows up with their I-phone music/game boy/microwave oven combo. I'm not getting in the business of policing that. Then there's the constant "he stole/broke/won't let me use my gizmo." Nope, I'm not fighting that battle either. So we're back to a No Electronic policy.

Yet we still have scofflaws. I'm making my rounds one night this year and see the faint blue glow of a LCD screen from one of the tents. Turns out one of my older guys is sending highly inappropriate messages to his girl friend. Which opens another can of worms. Nothing is just a cell phone anymore. Do you guys really want to be in the business of monitoring Internet access at camp?

Another issue we have is the adult use of electronics. For whatever reason, this was a big problem this year. One guy probably spent 8 hours a day on the lap top. He came to camp why? It sure wasn't to help me. We're close enough to home that we can tag-team leaders (I and one other guy are there the full week, but we have other dads rotate through for bench strength). Seemed like the first thing the replacement dads did was wave their cell phone around and yell, "who want to call home." We're going to nip that in the bud next year with a better adult orientation/training session. I understand that these days many adults need to check in with the office occasionally, but it needs to be limited and discretely done away from the Scouts.

As far at the issue of email reports home, this year was the first we had the ability to do that. Our camp now manages all merit badge classes and sign ups on line, so we had Internet access for the first time. I think I sent email reports with photos Tues, Wed and Thurs which our troop webmaster forwarded to all the parents. I don't know that it was so much an anxiety thing as it was just fun to know the Scouts were enjoying their week at camp. The other non-scout camp my boys go to posts slide shows every couple of days. We enjoy watching those. It's just nice to see what we're getting for our money.

[raisinemright]

Our troop has a strict "no Electronics" policy. Course, the camp is so far in the boonies, i had to walk over a mile to get three bars on my phone.

 

I stayed for four days and had one get get a small case of the homesicks. I gave absolutely no consideration to giving him a phone cause I knew he'd have far worse problems. A few minutes of talking to me and another dad during the walk to his MB class and the lad was in great spirits again.

 

My 2C son got sick after I left and had to go to a clinic in town. When the leader called me, I asked him to put my son on the phone. I had a pang of doubt in my decision but my kid is very independent and secure away from home with several weeklong trips away so I wasn;'t too concerned in his case but...cell phones? no way

[gwd-scouter]

This post is not about cell phones, but electronics at camp in general. Camp Old Indian does not have internet service of any kind (so no emails home) and even getting one bar on a cell phone is a rare occurrence. It's funny to watch people in the parking lot or at end of the meadow walking around slowly or at times in circles holding up their phones trying to find a signal. I call it the signal dance (it almost looks tribal) and I am always amused when watching.

 

Anyway, this year I saw what had to be a first at summer camp. One troop had movie nights. They brought an LCD projector and DVD player and every evening after twilight activities were over, they would gather at the first aid lodge, plug in, and then all plop down to watch a series of Adam Sandler movies projected on the side of the building. One night they even brought in a snow cone machine - SM proudly announcing to me that it had six flavors. The Troop is from my District and has a reputation of being pretty soft on the boys, but movie nights at camp? Yikes!

[Basementdweller]

Movie night that is a hoot.

 

We go camping to escape from it, not bringing it with us. I don't think emailing is needed, remember the parents are using this for a vacation of sorts.

 

I had a sick wolf at the council camp, He borrowed my cell phone to call mom. Well, Dad answered and yelled at him for calling home, and to only call if it was an emergency. Poor kid was in tears.

[DYB-Mike]

Greetings All!

 

My wife and I just sent our newly minted scout (cub crossover) to his first summer camp two weeks ago. He had slept away at friends (overnight) and his Nans (several days) so he was not inexperienced at sleeping away from the nest.

 

I am in complete agreement with those of you that support the concept of using this time away at camp to allow our sons to learn to stand on their own two feet. Its a good thing for both parent and child: son learns to be responsible and fend for himself while parent isnt faced with the temptation to correct or help out.

 

Wednesday was Parents Day at our sons camp, which is less than an hour and a half away from our home. Neither my wife nor I wanted to go, not because we didnt care about him but because of the reasons stated above as well as the fear of triggering homesickness. Before he left for camp our son asked us to come and so we did. We found him happy and excited (a little dirty and disorganized but thats the nature of the beast). A couple of the other new scouts in his Troop were really having a hard time and there were tears when their mothers arrived. Our Troop leaders, to their credit, got these new scouts through the week though and in my humble opinion the boys are much better for it. What doesnt kill you only makes you stronger.

 

To the topic, I personally think the daily update emails are unnecessary and do present the opportunity for parents to micro-manage from afar. Its much the same thing with cell phones. The ability to be in constant communication with Mom and Dad is both distracting and defeats the purpose of sending the boys to camp in the first place if one believes the purpose to be for the boys to develop responsibility and self-reliance. Our Troop has a no electronics policy (not sure if the camp has one as well) that I think is a good thing. Im not anti I-Pod, anti-hand held game, or anti-cell phone, its just that theres a time and a place for everything and scout camp is not the place for electronics.

 

Prior to summer camp our Troop held a couple of information sessions that were aimed primarily for new parents and scouts. They were very comprehensive, providing lists of what to bring, giving an overview of the weeks activities, and answering parents and scouts questions. Knowing the weeks agenda in advance makes it unnecessary for daily email reports.

 

At one of the information sessions I brought up the subject of the scouts writing letters to home. Everyone laughed at me, both leaders and parents. I guess nobody writes letters from scout camp any more. I did and, 40 years later, my mom still has it.

 

I trust the Troop leaders and camp staff to look after my son. If I didnt then why would I send him there in the first place? Clearly, if there was an emergency in the area or something happened to my son I would want to know about it, otherwise, as somebody wrote, no news is good news. By not hearing anything I know my boy is learning to be his own man.

 

 

 

YIS

Mike

 

[Its Me]

 

I am a mixed bag.

 

I am the consummate writer and logger. I will spit out three pages for a four day trip. All sorts of stories from funny to discussions had on the trail. My write-up has a bias though, in that some how no matter what happens their character was reinforced. For instance, it rained cows and horse and some tents had a little water, but it seemed to build character as the boys didn't complain - all that much.

 

I know this robs some aspect of their own private memory so not everything goes into the write-up. However, at a Scoutmasters minute I will re-read or tell some stories that happened on the trip. The scouts eat it up. Those that didn't go wished they did cause it sure seems like we had a good time. Those that did go think wow we had more fun then I thought we did. Some how the pancake mix spilling on the ground is a lot funny on Tuesday night then it was on Sunday morning.

 

Other bag

Our SPL came to me and said I have a cell phone plan for summer camp.

SM: Great let's hear it!

SPL: No cell phones for anyone under 15.

SM: hmmm? do you think that's fair?

SPL: Yep! The young ones can't handle it.

SM: what about Tommy, he is 15 and he textes 40 times an hour?

SPL: The young ones cry?

SM: You may want to reconsider that policy.

ASM: um there is no service at camp.

SM: