Immature Scouts or parents who wont let go?

[SMT224 10]

Last year at summer camp, one of our new Scouts (only child with very doting parents) was very homesick and extremely nervous that his parents would die while he was at camp. He was pretty much ok during the day, but had a very hard time at night. He would come and stand outside the leaders tents saying that he had to go home, NOW. We told him to go back to his tent, and things would be better in the morning. His parents had given him a cell phone so he could text them to make sure they were ok. It apparently was supposed to be something he did only once or twice a day to assure himself mom and dad were still alive and ok. Unfortunately, he ended up staying up until all hours of the night sending a steam of text messages home. Which apparently they answered (a big part of the problem!). I did not even know this was going on until Mom picked him up and told me. Maybe it kept him going, but I tend to think it just delayed him getting over the hump of homesickness and finding he can be ok and even happy without mom and dad. Not sure how much of this was the parents missing him or visa versa. He dropped out of the Troop a few months later, saying he'd rather play sports. Like Eagle 1982 says, Scouts ain't for everyone.

 

I'm going to be very clear with the parents this year that constant communication with home is not the best way to overcome homesickness. My first year as a Scoutmaster I naively allowed a homesick Scout to talk to his Mom on the camp phone - he immediately started crying and told his mom, "I miss you!" Over the phone, I heard a wail from Mom and she cried, "I miss you too!" The kid melted into tears and was on his was home the next day.

 

Moral of this story: If you can pry these kids away from Mom & Dad and get them to camp, don't let them phone home!!

 

 

[gwd-scouter 11]

Ah yes, homesickness and the cell phone. Happens even with older Scouts.

 

Last summer my son's friend went to work as a CIT at camp - he had just turned 15. He and my son were not housed together in staff cabins, which would probably have helped the situation. Scout is rather shy and quiet with strangers - even boys his own age. He was on the receiving end of several 'new staff' pranks. Also, being shy, he tended to keep to himself. His first week was miserable as he reported to his Mom. Turns out he was also calling home every day, sometimes more than once, to talk to his Mom.

 

Mom called me on Wednesday of the first week telling me the 'horror' stories of what was going on with her son. Asked me if it was normal, did Patrick go through it his first year, etc. It all sounded like the normal camp staff stuff to me and that's what I told her. She and I are good friends and I did mentioned that sending him to camp with a cell phone was a terrible idea.

 

He called her on Thursday of that first week and told her he was coming home for the weekend and not returning to work the remainder of the summer. Well, his cell phone battery died, no place to recharge, with a lot of coaxing from my son and without having his tether to Mom, he got over his homesickness, worked the whole summer and is signed up again to work this summer.