So what do parents do when their son is at camp?

[gwd-scouter 11]

Guess I'm used to my boys being away for varying lengths of time, either individually or together. Both are working at summer camp this year and husband and I are absolutely loving every minute of it. Sure, I miss the guys, but this summer my house is always clean, there is always food and drink in the fridge, the dishes and laundry are always washed and put away, there is no clutter of shoes, bookbags, jackets, and other manner of "oh I guess I'll just drop it here" in every room of my house, we can walk through the den without tripping over a tangle of controller cords to any of three video game systems. My goodness - even their bedrooms are clean!

 

Yep, been a nice summer. Three more weeks left!

[awesome1_in_cc 10]

I have no ideal what my troop parents do while we are away to camp? I know the Scoutmasters wife (aka my boss) really seems happy when we leave though. I know she and some other mothers get together a lot and go out to dinner, shop and what ever else they do.

 

Our troop has two sessions of camp every year for our scouts, one of which is designed for the experienced Scouts (out of Council) and the other for our first years and less experienced campers (in Council) although both are open to all our scouts.

 

Every year we have a parents orientation meeting in May where we go over some of the finer points of each camp and also go over some very general information on how we (the troop leadership) will handle homesickness, behavior issues, etc.

 

We also cover what our expectations are for the parents and let them know how we will be handling the common issues that come up at camp and how they can help us with it when their sons call.

 

Last year we also started a daily blog while we are at camp to our Troop website. We post stories and pictures daily while at camp and our parents really love this!! I actually get e-mailed if I am late posting it asking where it is.

 

Narraticong Great story and thank you for sharing it with us. It seems like you had a great week with your scouts and that is great! I have found that moments like those with your scouts will keep you going when things are rough as Scoutmaster.

 

[cubdadinnj 17]

Our troop goes for 2 weeks each summer.

 

Last year was my son's first year in the troop. I kinda kept my distance, since I had been a pretty involved Cub Scouter/Den/Webelos Leader.

 

I actually got a lot of projects done around the house ; -) last year.

 

He's thrived in Boy Scouts. Couldn't wait to go back to camp this year.

 

But this year -- I'm going to! I'm pretty excited about it. My first time back to Boy Scout camp in, umm, 34 years...

 

We're taking 35 boys -- including at least 7 - 8 first time Scouts. Its really a great group of boys -- helpful, supportive, funny, caring (I was actually joking with SM's wife last night -- the boys are all great, but then there are a few of the parents!).

 

It'll be amazing -

 

Pete