How long should a meal take?

[scoutingagain 20]

" How do I get my scouts to be more efficient with their time?.

 

For at least one crew of scouts in our unit this was solved. We did a couple of shake down hikes for a summer high adventure hike at High Knoll in the Blue Ridge Mountains council scout reservation. One of the critiques that came out of the shake downs was that the scouts took a long time to cook, clean and pack up. They were told that on the outing if they didn't get their act together they may not have time at the various campsites to participate in the site activities if they arrived too late. The scouts assured us they would be ready. Well the scouts we're up and at 'em every morning and ready to go before the adults were during the outing. The adults were very pleased with their response.

 

So I think the answer is, what's happening after the meal? If there is no defined activity the scouts want to participate in, well who cares if it takes three hours to cook a meal. If there is something going on they want to do, but know they can't do it until the meal is cooked and area properly cleaned, they'll get it done.

 

SA

 

 

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

Interesting that this should come up this weekend. While our older scouts were off on an independent hike (see the "Patrol Backpacking" thread), our younger scouts were struggling at our base camp with their meals--one patrol took 1 hour and 45 minutes to fix breakfast and clean their dishes. Also coincidentally, the PLC has planned "cooking" as this month's theme, giving us a unique opportuntiy to focus on these skills at the needed time.

 

With what had happened over the weekend, I talked with the other leaders (adults) on the cause of this, and I think this has a lot to do with our unique troop dynamic. We have 5 scouts who are Star/Life and are 16 or 17. We have one scout who is 15 and one who is 14. Then we have 8 scouts who are 13 or 12. There appears to have been a disconnect between these older and younger scouts and so few inbetween (currently 8th-9th grade), so they have not learned by the natural rote of things, with scouts of one age passing their skills on the next year's "class."

 

Talking to the SPL on the drive home, he agreed that it will be good to have the patrols prepare, cook and clean-up 4 meals at the meetings over the next month. With some concerted direction, the PLC will be showing them the ropes, on prep and cleaning. The PLC's plan is to have every meal at the next campout be a part of a cooking contest.

 

With what has been included in this topic, I think I will encourage the SPL to have the PLs assign duty rosters for these meetings/meals to have the patrols get in the habit of using this resource. I actually read all the above posts and took notes on what I wanted to suggest to the SPL and PLC on how to help improve these scouts skills and organization.