Basementdweller 608 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Solutions??? Problem, parents send scout to camp with 2 large bags of doritos, 2 liter bottles of MT. Dew, bags of candy bars and beef jerky. Result, Meals prepared do not get eaten and sick lethargic scouts. Looking for your experiences dealing with this..... I would love to have every scout dump his pack and send the food home with mom and dad. We have sent home letters, notes, emails, phone calls, begging and pleading with parents not to send extra food with the boys. Solutions?? Thoughts??? Link to post Share on other sites
KC9DDI 11 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Boy Scouts? Do more backpacking. If they want to carry all that extra weight, in addition to the food and supplies they actually need, then let 'em have it. Link to post Share on other sites
Tampa Turtle 1011 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 We have kicked this around the block a few times. Naturally it really presents a few problems--bad nutrition, undermines the patrol meal planning, invites other boys to pester for goodies, etc etc. I came down pretty hard on one boy on this last year. Now I am much more familiar with him I see his problem was one of his meds that depressed his appetite. His parents were desperate for him to get ANY calories into him. It is still a problem as he is pretty underweight. We tried to compromise so he could have healthier snacks (jerky, trail mix) timer around when his medication affected him least. We have also had some boys who really just had some awful eating habits as well and had to talk to their parents. Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted March 5, 2012 Author Share Posted March 5, 2012 The food issue is never a problem when we backpack..... This is when we drop or car camp...... boys load up just before meal time.....then proceed to not eat dinner resulting in a sugar crash later. Link to post Share on other sites
qwazse 4344 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 I hate to say it, but this may be one you can't win. But, before we throw in the towel ... By prepared, are we talking boys preparing their own meals? Are the recipes involved enough that scouts have to tend fire, get water etc ... as they prepare them? Ideally you have scouts busy enough that they work up an appetite as they cook. If not, the boys need to be active in a wide game until just before meals. Idle time is the carb-loader's playground. (Personal experience talking here!) Snacks are for after supper (that includes clean-up). Maybe even after evening campfire. Link to post Share on other sites
ASM162 20 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Had an interesting issue with two scouts, who happened to be brothers. They would eat pancakes, loaded with syrup. They would eat sugary sweet cereal. They would not eat eggs, sausage, chicken, or beef; with the exception of maybe a hamburger. Neither one of them cared for hot dogs as well. I come to find out that their meals at home consist of pop tarts and Mt. Dew; Or donuts and Monster energy drink. I was surprised. When on an outing, my concern is that they do have some caloric intake, but not empty calories like with soda. If they turn their nose up to what has been planned for meal time, it can become quite a hassle to feed these boys something half way nutritious. What has been something of a breaktrough, is that if they are looking for something to snack on, the grubmaster has been providing apples and oranges simply for that purpose. It is now understood that any chips or cookies are reserved for crackerbarrel. If you want to snack on something before supper time, apples and oranges are here for that purpose. One last thing, it is not so much the boys bringing extra snacks, as it is one of our adult leaders. I cannot for the life of me understand why he wishes to undermine the grubmaster, by bringing along extra snacks, when in reality, we don't need them. If he wanted to bring the snacks for his own use, that is one thing, but he brings the extras along, and then opens them up when it is time for crackerbarrel, essentially wasting the food that was already planned for crackerbarrel. Link to post Share on other sites
Eagledad 2779 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 We dumped this on the SPL, meaning that he was going to be responsible for the solution we came up with together. The SPL didnt have a problem with stricter guidelines in this area because he was also dealing with bad behavior and lethargic scouts from the junk food problem. Most of what we discussed was information (ammunition) for explanation of his changes. This is going to sound corny, but I presented him with several sources of BSA literature that stated the adults were responsible for the scouts health and safety, and nutrition is part of the responsibility. If the boys couldnt handle the responsibility of scout health in their boy run troop, the adults would be forced to step in the troop would be less boy run. As I said, none of this was difficult for the SPL because he wanted to deal with the problem, we just needed a way to approach the problem so the scouts would be part of the fix. The discussion then went to how we could keep the fun side of eating without it getting out of control. We came up with guidelines like only two liters of coke for the whole patrol on the whole campout. This force the scouts to plan which meal they wanted the coke. Same goes with the other junk food. Strangely we found that the patrols didnt bring coke much after that because even though we are talking a car camping problem, we are a backpacking troop and still had to pack the liter bottles to camp which was a pain. Everyone can pack a can, but a liter? Now I know this doesnt fix the problem with individuals bringing more food, but it helped a lot because the scouts actually understood the problem and the parents wanted to help the SPL as well. BUUUTTT I want to add that we had an experience at one campout several years ago that change most scouts attitude of bringing personal junk food. It was a loud girl like shrill one night from a scout running from his tent as fast as he could. A skunk had clawed through his tent to get his snacks in his pack. After that, the PLC for years-on basically warned all new scouts of the risk and would relate that story to any scout who contested the wisdom. And we didnt have much of a problem anymore, at least with abuse of junk food anyway. Good luck. Barry Link to post Share on other sites
shortridge 184 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Soda, chips and candy bars on a campout? No way. This is why it's a good idea to build shakedown time into the pre-trip process. Basement, your idea to send the food home with parents is spot on. If you need to leave on a Friday at 5 p.m., have everyone at the church or lodge or SM's house at 4 p.m. to unload their packs and have their gear inspected by the PL. Use it as educational, not punitive, but make it clear that this crap is not allowed. Problem solved! If you're doing plop camping, adopt a no-food-in-tents rule for the reason Eagledad outlined. That puts the onus on the boys to ask for space in the coolers or chuck boxes, which the PL will have to politely decline because it's not part of the menu. So unless they've come prepared to rig up their own bear bags, the food stays locked up in the trailer the whole weekend! Problem solved. If you want to illustrate the issue, take an old raggedy tent on the verge of being retired. Set it up in someone's relatively rural back yard. Toss in a bunch of Snickers, spill some Pepsi inside, add a couple bags of potato chips and some loaves of stale bread inside and zip it up. Make a unit visit a few days later and see what's left. Link to post Share on other sites
Engineer61 19 Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 "Now I am much more familiar with him I see his problem was one of his meds that depressed his appetite. His parents were desperate for him to get ANY calories into him. It is still a problem as he is pretty underweight. " Yep, BTDT. Anyone taking traditional medication for ADD or ADHD has this issue. There was a time where my son took in 90% calories AFTER 6PM when the meds wore off. The other 10% were at 6 AM. He would have to force himself to eat any kind of lunch...it took several years to get that to be consistent. The doctor prescribed diet for this scenario is quite literally, high fat, high protein, high starch...forget fruits and veggies for the most part (they are the "empty" calories). Link to post Share on other sites
T2Eagle 902 Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 I think the first two words in your post are telling: "problem parents". This isn't a boy problem so the solution doesn't really lie with them. My experience is that this kind of thing involves a discreet number of repeat offenders. I would try talking directly to those particular parents, tell them they just can't send the junk. Your idea of checking the packs and sending it back is spot on. If you can't do it before you leave do it when you get where you're going before any packs get inside the tent. Hopefully a few times of sending the stuff home will do the trick. Absent documentable medical problems, even if some kid won't/can't/doesn't want to eat what the rest of the patrol thinks should be on the menu, junk food isn't the alternative. Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 I understand add and adhd meds......no problem with that. the gentlemen involved did not line up at the medicine lockbox at breakfast or dinner. Spoke with the SPL tonight about it.....suggested he do a pack shake down before we leave for next camp out.....his eyes got big.....heheheeh, he is the worst offender...... We will see what happens. Link to post Share on other sites
boomerscout 35 Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 trying to keep chips away from teens is like trying to keep the IRS away from your money. the extra calories shouldn't have mattered to a growing teen unless camp is not providing enough physical activity. Link to post Share on other sites
SeattlePioneer 144 Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 I'm surprised Scout Camps don't do a shakedown of Scouts as they enter camp. To avoid competition with the Trading Post.... I've never had to actively manage this issue. It's always resolved itself as snacks are eaten over a couple of days. But if someone's got an inventory big enough to open their own trading post, that might be a different issue. My own experience is that respectable, regular meals for a week help get boys into good mealtime habits, and myself as well (my own habits being rather irregular.) It might be worthwhile to make that point to boys towards the end of camp and to cue parents in on an opportunity for more regular meals when boys return from camp. Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 I guess there are two points of contention..... 1. reduce the menu size and food cost.... 2. waste the patrol will make pancakes the cook is eating bbq potato chips while flipping pancakes and then not eat breakfast or only eat the sausage or bacon. or eating candy bars while turning burgers....... then they throw it all away if it isn't eaten....I generally get milk and oj for the following week following a camp out...... Link to post Share on other sites
packsaddle 753 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I'm just going to interrupt this thread for a quick note because it is the PERFECT place to announce this. Actually it's a celebration...of the 100th Birthday of the OREO!!! "Little girls have pretty curls but I like Oreos, Oreos, my choice because, They're the very best cookie, Ever Was!" "Girls are nice but boy, what icing comes on Oreos...Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm" The entire summer camp dining hall...singing in unison...some of the boys almost with a sense of reverence...what a great memory. Link to post Share on other sites
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