fboisseau 10 Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 I recently came across one of those BSA regulations that seem to be extreme, to me, when it comes to safety or other reasons. It seems that to be on youth staff for Cub Day Camp you must be 14 years old and a Life or Eagle Scout. Now I can see the requirements being set to this level if the Scout was going to be running the stations, but in most cases that I have observed the youth staff is helping two or more adults with setup, clean up, and keeping the Cubs on task. I can also see these requirements being necessary they were assisting with an area that was inherently dangerous such as waterfront, archery, or BB's, but most of the station are arts and crafts, or informational. There are other similar programs in my area (vacation bible school being one) that uses kids 11 years and older to assist the instructors, I have a hard time understanding why the BSA is so restrictive in this area. I will also be honest and state the reason that I was checking into this was because I was trying to convince my son to work at day camp for the experience. So there is a little feeling on my part as to why my son can not get this experience now, when he might still be open to doing it. Link to post Share on other sites
scoutldr 726 Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 Sounds like a local rule, fb. Don't think we do it that way down south. I can see maybe First Class, since younger scouts can be as much a pain as the Cubs, but Life or above sounds overly excessive. In fact, I'm sure that if they are qualified to be a Den Chief, they are welcome at Day Camp, as long as they remember which side of the Blue/Green fence they're on. Link to post Share on other sites
AdvanceOn 10 Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 Our requirement for youth staff is at least 14 years old and they have to sign up for Venturing Crew. Link to post Share on other sites
dsteele 20 Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 The National Standard, M44 (M is for mandatory) reads "All day camp staff members must be at least 14 years of age. Den chiefs under 14 may only atttend day camp if they are serving as a den chief with their natural den or pack." No mention of rank requirements, but you should check with your local council. There may be a local rank requirement. DS Link to post Share on other sites
Twocubdad 665 Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 DS is correct about the standards. The rank thing sounds like a local rule imposed when they were flush with Scouts wanting to volunteer. I don't see any real reason for it. But a more practical answer to your question may depend on how you define "camp staff." We have quite a few 11- 12- and 13-year-old Boy Scouts "working" at day camp. Boys that age are allowed only if they have a parent in camp working as an adult volunteer. We operate similar sibling programs (glorified daycare, really) for the children of our adult volunteers of all ages and gender. In the case of the Boy Scouts, we treat them all the same, regardless of age. Actually, we probably have only 2 or 3 Scouts 14 or older. They are under the supervision of a day camp "Scoutmaster" and SPL. They typically work half the day doing things like helping with games and the obstacle course, or refilling water coolers and emptying trash. They other half day we try to give them a Boy Scout activity, usually working on advancement or a merit badge, depending on the wants/needs of the boys. Link to post Share on other sites
dsteele 20 Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 I hope I was right about the standards I was looking at a copy of them when I typed my answer. Twocubdad -- I like the idea of providing a program to younger scouts who help out at Day Camp. DS Link to post Share on other sites
hops_scout 9 Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 I am helping at our day camp this week. I, only being fourteen, am the oldest helper out there. Tomorrow, I am leading a hike which is 5 miles long. Age doesnt seem to be a problem for us, though maturity is esp. since we have two way radios. Link to post Share on other sites
Bob58 10 Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Twocubdad's guidelines work just fine for us. We mix our packs but keep boys separasted by rank and so "natural" dens are out, but we pick up a few volunteers who come because both their sons can attend. (Totlot has helped also.) We are not inviting Kindergarten graduates this year -- is anyone else running Tigers all week? We kicked around the idea of inviting all new Tigers in the District to our closing show and picnic -- we will require parental attendance w/ Tigers. Bob Link to post Share on other sites
Twocubdad 665 Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Technically, we don't have a Tiger program. The real Tigers just moved up and are considered Wolves. Although rising first graders can be registered as Tigers, it's not practical to think you could register and plan a camp in 10 days. However, this year we have enough rising first graders in our sibling program that we are going to treat them as a Tiger den. It's really just a matter of what you call them. They are still going to be under the sibling program and won't be in the mix with the rest of the Cub Scout campers. We are going to include elements of the Tiger program into their activities. The bottom line is that some of these kids have been coming to day camp for years and are tired of the sand box. They are chompin' at the bit to go to "real" camp, so we are trying to accommodate. As with the 11-13 Boy Scouts, these kids are allowed at camp only if one of their parents is an adult volunteer. It's not open to any Tiger. Link to post Share on other sites
Bob White 20 Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Several of the Packs in our district do a Spring Tiger Recruitment and send them to Day Camp. it has been a very successful program here. Bob White Link to post Share on other sites
jbroganjr 10 Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 The 14 yr is a good requirement. Never heard of any thing about rank, we have had 16 yr 2nd class at resident camp. great scout, not interested in advancement. Link to post Share on other sites
Bob58 10 Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 Hi, I didn't mean to hijack the thread and I guess I expected the types of responses that I rec'd. We are alos planning on allowing all the children in our tot lot to make the rounds of arts & crafts field / table games some other activities. A few of our packs have also gotten into spring recruiting in a big way and while we had not planned on Tigers this year ( and we won't add them withg 10 days notice! ) I was curious as to what was happening in other dist / councils. I see the Partnewr requirement as a definite problem for Day Camp. I'm not missing some waiver am I???? Bob Link to post Share on other sites
Bob White 20 Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 We keep the tots activity separate and out of view of the cubs. The last thing they want to think is that they are doing activities appropriate for a pre-schooler. If the things you are doing with wolves and bears can be done by pre-schoolers aren't you aiming pretty low skill and interest wise. Just a thought. Bob White Link to post Share on other sites
AdvanceOn 10 Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 We also mix our packs and set up age/rank dens. As far as assigning den chiefes, they'll be assigned to a leader from the natural pack. As far as Tigers at Day Camp. We do a spring recruitment and encourage Tigers to attend Day Camp. It's not a high turn out, primarily just the younger siblings of other scouts. We include them in the regular day camp activities. They do everything the other dens do. Each den has rank-specific activities that they work on, Tigers are no exception. We also require a parent since that is the Tiger program. Link to post Share on other sites
fboisseau 10 Posted June 11, 2003 Author Share Posted June 11, 2003 I got the Life or Eagle Scout requirement from the person who is running Day Camp for our district who looked it up with me standing there in his Day Camp Manual printed by BSA. I assume he had the current one since he had just complete training for the Day Camp director. Link to post Share on other sites
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