Taking our new guys on their first campout this weekend

[gwd-scouter 11]

Yikes, what a crowd! In the course of a week, we went from a Troop of 10 boys, 2 ASMs and a few Committee folks to 21 boys, 6 ASMs, 6 Committee Members, and parents that just want to help out. Several have sent me emails about merit badges they'd like to sign up to counsel.

 

A typical campout for us was 2-3 adults and 8-10 boys. We are fortunate that we always have 100% participation or close to it at meetings and campouts. This weekend's trip is no exception. Eighteen boys and 10 adults. Good grief. Thrilled about the number of boys, but the adult roster is just too much. I'm hoping that it is because this is the first campout for the new guys and the parents want to come along to see what happens.

 

I am looking forward to this weekend, though. Since we've been so small, the guys only set up one dining hut. Adults used one end, the scouts the other. This campout, our one mixed age patrol (Dynamite) will make their own dining hut and camp away from the rest of us. Patrol Leader is a bit nervous, but he will do just fine. He called my son yesterday to get some advice on his patrol's menu and plans for Saturday activities. The guys will have a PLC meeting Friday at the campsite after everything is set up to go over the activities for Saturday. Great idea!

 

The new Scouts and their Troop Guides (Swat and Extreme patrols) will use our large existing quonset hut. We had assigned a Patrol Leader and Troop Guide to the 11 new Scouts, but the two older boys decided it would be easier to manage if they split the group into two. They made one menu, but each patrol will cook for itself. That way, they figured, it would be easier for the new guys and all of them would have a turn on the duty roster to cook and clean.

 

This is all just so fantastic! Our guys know what they're doing and that will leave plenty of time for me to sit and chat with the new adults, help them in their transition from Cub Scout Leaders to Boy Scout Leaders - you know, teach them the three pan cleaning technique. I can't wait.

 

Oh yeah, all those new guys signed up for summer camp too. Fortunately, three of our older scouts are doing the high adventure program and won't be camping with us. Great news, since the campsite we reserved is not big enough for our sudden growth.

 

 

[Eagle92 110]

Congratulations on the recruiting. Looks like your scouts have their game plan. One bit of advice, if you haven't heard from anyone else yet, it get some activities organized for those adults attending so that they cannot get int he way of the patrols. My old troop had the adults set up as a "patrol" in that they did their own cooking, slept in their own area, and had thei own activities to do. This was especially helpful on the Webelos overniter my troop did and the first campout as Scouts. Some parents have a hard time transitioning from Cub leader to Scout leader.

 

 

Good luck and may your unit have a BLAST!!!!!!

[SR540Beaver 116]

gwd,

 

I ran our new scut program for a couple of years before turning it over to my assistant and assisting him since last year. We typically run about 20 new scouts per year. New parents coming along will dwindle after the first couple of campouts other than those that decide to serve as registered leaders. A typical campout for us will be 40 boys and we pull 2 trailers, so we need a decent amount of adults for transportation. When our SM first took the troop, he spent Thursday evenings before the campout begging adults to come along for two deep leadeship. Now it isn't unusual for 15 to 20 adults to be along.....which is too many for me, but they camp as their own patrol and stay away from the boys.

 

Congrats on your growth!

[SctDad 10]

WOW

 

10 adults going. Sounds like a chance to split the parents into 2 patrols. Bbut if there is a lot of parents that are new to camping, then one would work.

 

I look foward to our campout at the begining of next month. We are probably going to be taking 15 - 20 boys. and the same for the parents. I think that our site will be just big enough.

 

Any way have fun and be safe

[resqman 108]

I guess it all depends on the numbers. We had 45-55 registered scouts before crossover. 13 crossovers have signed the paperwork. We had 10 on the first campout two weeks later. Three older scouts volunteered to be troop guides and act as patrol leaders until after summer camp to show the NSP how to get things moving.

 

Last campout we had approximately 40 scouts and eight adults. We needed 7 vehicles just to transport that many people. All the adults except one attending were registered ASMs and had been with the troop at least one year. The only "new parent" has 2 boys, one in the troop for 3 years and one crossover. This was his first campout with the troop. He was kept busy running a merit badge session and cooking for the adult patrol.

 

New parents are cetainly allowed but politely discouraged from attending campouts to encourage the crossovers to learn to depend on each other as well as the boy leadership instead of mom & dad. New parents are encouraged to take youth leadership and fast start so they understand and can attend if they choose.

[cyboji59 10]

Since we are further north than you and the weather is a little more unpredictable(blizzard today), we plan a cabin campout the first month where we work on basic skills. The older boys work with the younger fellas about how to function as a patrol, cooking, setting up camp.

Eagle 92 is absolutely right about the parent patrol with activities. The goal is to keep them away from the boys because the new parents are so used to doing the instructing in cub scouts - former cub scout leaders particularly seem to be a problem til they get used to the new ways. A good 2 or 3 mile orienteering course is a great activity and will wear them down(the more hills the better). After that, take them on a nature identification hike. Make it like a mini Outdoor Coordinated training event. Have them do a skit or a song. The ones that thrive on it are the ones that you really want to continue anyway.

As we get to the real purpose camping/camporee's - most of the parents tend to fall away when they realize that it's not family camping. But the first few campouts are a weaning time - especially for the adults.

Summer camp is different, we require someone to be fully trained SM/ASM to attend. Unless we have trouble getting 4 fully trained adults then we drop it to registered leaders with NLE/YPT training(commitee member). All parents are welcome to register and attend training, so the choice is ultimately theirs.

 

Our troop picked up 14 new scouts this winter. All 14 had a parent on the first cabin campout. Results - we will have 2 new ASM's that are going thru training this month. Three others decided to be on the committee instead. It works.

[Eagledad 2779]

Beav, your troop sounds so much the troop you visited when I was SM. May I suggest you throw in the idea that your scouts learn how to camp light. We went this way to get rid of one of our trailers. Everyone just needs to start using back packing gear. It sounds like something the scouts would hate, but in reality the scouts loved it and the adults hated it. In fact, the adults still brought a lot of gear.

 

As for new parents, I wanted them to come to the first campout because it use that whole weekend to show them a boy run program. No mistery, this is what your son will do every campout. And, this is the campout were every new scout and adult took their totin Chit training from the scouts. The only adults who attended where the adults in training. If that doesn't impress boy run to the parents, nothing will.

 

Barry

[gwd-scouter 11]

What a fantastic campout! It would take a very long post to describe all the things that went right this weekend, so I'll suffice to say that our junior leaders had everything under control. My husband and I spent time with the new parents. When we arrived the new Scouts all scattered and took off down to the Lake. I could see some concern on the parents' faces, and frustration on our Troop Guides and SPL. One Troop Guide headed down to the lake and rounded 'em all up. Then the work began setting up.

 

I made a comment to the parents that watched the fiasco that ensued while the new guys were learning how to set up camp: What to the untrained eye may look like chaos, is really the boy-led troop in action. They are all learning, next time it will go smoother. My son overheard that and laughed about it on the ride home - "That's one of the best things you've ever said, Mom."

 

One of our new ASMs demonstrated his "Webelos Leader to Boy Scout Leader transition training device" - take right hand out of pocket, peel back the protective cover, place hand over mouth. Hilarious!

 

The thing I noticed the most was that none of those new guys spent any amount of time with his parent. Sure, once in a while a guy would come up to his parent and ask about something. To their credit, every single one of those new parents was heard to say "go ask your Patrol Leader."

 

Everyone was all smiles when we arrived home. So many compliments given by the new adults. They were really impressed with our junior leaders and (displaying an uncharacteristic lack of modesty) my husband and me. They stated they can see that they made the right choice in which troop to join.

 

I am so excited about the upcoming year. I may have two sons, but now I have 20 boys!

[SR540Beaver 116]

Barry,

 

I hear you, but I don't think things will change. The troop has far too much invested in gear for 5 patrols plus adults to entertain paring down. We use Eureka Timberline tents for the youth and several different varieties of Eureka tents for adults. Propane tanks alone for cooking and lighting take up a lot of space. Plus, we just had brand new patrol boxes built and retired hodge podge styles we had used for years. One trailer is for gear. The other is for personal gear. We could probably get by with using just one trailer if we attempted to put everyone's personal gear in the vehicles they are riding in. But even 4 backpacks in the trunk of a car would be pusing the limits of the trunk.

 

I will admit, it is the adult side of things that increases our gear carrying capacity. In addition to our patrol box, we have two huge black plastic storage boxes. One for food and the other for paper goods, tools, hand warmers, etc. Then there are two turkey cookers for heating KP water for the whole troop in addition to cooking for the adults. And the two tables the adults use to hold all their junk. We had 44 boys on the last campout and 21 adults. Personally, I'd like to see that cut to about 10 adults......but that ain't happening. That would be a 4 to 1 ratio and some adults who pull trailers are using their single cab truck, so you have need for more adults driving. I'm not telling you anything you don't know.

 

I would like to see us go lighter, but I just don't think it is a mindset they are willing to entertain at this point.

[Ohio_Scouter 10]

Well done, gwd-. I knew all the while you guys could do it. Nothing more satisfying or impressive than a well-oiled machine.