Beavers campers- snacks?

[Bemyclementine]

Ds aged 6 is going on his 1st camp, the packinglist say no sweets intents, do they usually take snacks? I'm thinking apples. Cereal are crisps?

Have the leaders not said anything to the Beavers about what they might be doing?

Is it just their group camping or a District one?

Mine are in cubs and they ask us to send biscuits/crackers that sort of thing for the snack bin, but if they say no snacks, I wouldn’t send anything as they’ll eat plenty.

@toomuchlaundry no, nothing other than archery. It's just their group but beavers, cubs and scouts

I am sure he will have a blast, learn some new camp fire songs particularly the banana one!

Remind your son to look after his belongings and keep them together. We thought DS was quite good at this but on his first camp he left a trail of destruction behind him and the leaders had to keep reminding him to pick up his stuff.

Label everything including underwear!

You will probably find when he comes back that everything in his bag will be wet apart from his towel!

Make sure he helps pack his bag so he knows what’s in there and where. Pack everything within a bin liner or similar to keep them dry and pack a spare one to put dirty or wet clothes in. If he is anything like DS he won’t change clothes, particularly underwear!

We do a parents q&a meeting at our Beavers once a year to answer these kind of questions.

To reassure you though - the kids are always fine. It's the parents who have the anxieties.

I had them too the first time my eldest went to camp.

We post loads of photos on Facebook during camp so families can see what children are getting up too.

Exactly! You've been given a list of whats required. Nothing else!!!!

They have communicated. Try communicating with them. Emails are a wonderful invention.

I'm also a beaver leader. In the nicest way please don't worry about what they are doing and what they will eat

There will be plenty of food. If anything we over cater to make sure everyone is fed including adults

I don't put my timetable up on osm as it can be subject to change if weather, or another activity runs over. If you tell your child oh you are doing this, then it can cause disappointment if we just don't have time to do it or weather isn't right

I understand its their first camp and that can cause nerves for both, but I've been a leader 8 years and all 3 of mine are in scouting, including the eldest now a young leader with me. Your child will have a fantastic time, learn new skills and enjoy spending time with friends

Honestly, all you need to take is what is on the list and nothing else. It's not designed to trick you, they tell you exactly what they need.

As they get older they take more. We are now into Explorers and there is no parental involvement at all, the Leaders communicate directly with the Explorers via WhatsApp and my Son goes and buys his own treats for camp, the older Explorers take alcohol.

Scouts might take money if there is a shop on the site to buy woggles, badges etc.

Quite a few of my cubs will read on camp - especially at night as they settle for bed, or in a quiet moment between activities. We always have a little downtime built in, so they can read/play/explore the site etc.

I agree with the rest though - it doesn't matter how many times you remind them to brush teeth, change clothes etc, they usually don't!

I'd have liked a bit more info on activities, what thy expecting to do each day. DS is 6, and has slept at GPs houses but thats all. He does better if he knows what to expect. Not a minute by minute itinerary, just a general idea

Have you asked, and explained that your DS will do better knowing roughly what to expect? I would have a quick chat with any parent who asked (I'd prefer it to be face to face at the end of a meeting, rather than by email though). But, as a PP said, it's best to give too much info, as things can change.

my Son goes and buys his own treats for camp, the older Explorers take alcohol

Be a bit careful with that, as your son gets older, Explorers are not allowed to take alcohol to camp, and our leaders would (and have) sent home any explorers found with alcohol. That said, we did the same at that age!!

I also didn’t think leaders could communicate directly with the young people even Explorers as under 18

Our Explorers leader allows it. They are 17/18 and he would rather they had two cans supervised than smuggle it in and go and drink it unsupervised. Parents are in agreement with it. District Commissioner is also aware and in support of being supervised and a teachable moment and a way of keeping communication lines open.

We had a large camp a few weeks ago with over 600 cubs and Leaders were drinking there too. It's not a forbidden thing and before the pearl clutchers come along, none of them are alcoholics or can't not go without a drink either so calm yourselves.

Thanks for the concern though.

The Explorers are 14 to 18 and parent permission is required for them to enter I to the whatsapp group.

Of course you can get some groups who still communicate with parents and not the young people directly.

Don't worry, it's perfectly legal, allowed and acceptable. My 14 year old is capable of relaying info that I need to know and is more than capable of getting himself ready for a camp.

And it's all thanks to his Scouting journey preparing him for it.

They can, as long as other leaders/adults are copied in on the communication, and everything is transparent and open.

And just to put your mind at rest, this is taken directly from the Email and Text message guidance for Leaders.

No snacks at camps here.

They still organised a “midnight feast” for the kids.

Ive never been given a run down on all planned activities, it’s more a show up and get stuck in kind of club with a variety of things on offer

*Our Explorers leader allows it. They are 17/18 and he would rather they had two cans supervised than smuggle it in and go and drink it unsupervised. Parents are in agreement with it. District Commissioner is also aware and in support of being supervised and a teachable moment and a way of keeping communication lines open.

We had a large camp a few weeks ago with over 600 cubs and Leaders were drinking there too. It's not a forbidden thing and before the pearl clutchers come along, none of them are alcoholics or can't not go without a drink either so calm yourselves.

Thanks for the concern though*

It's not just a concern, it's more that it directly breaks the scouting policy here. It doesn't matter if parents are ok with it, and if leaders consider it a 'teachable moment'.

*During Scouting events attended by young people under the age of 18, the following rules apply.

• Under 18s must not drink alcohol under any circumstances.

• There must be the correct ratio of adults responsible for young people at all times.

• If you are responsible for young people you must not drink alcohol.

• If you are not directly responsible for young people, and you do drink alcohol, you should still follow the Yellow Card (our safeguarding code of practice).

• If you are drinking when ‘off duty’, you should consider
how alcohol may affect your ability to carry out your Scouting duties when back on duty.

• Young people must know who is responsible for them at all times*

No Explorer can be 18, they must leave before their 18th birthday. I, too, went to a large cub camp a few weeks ago (perhaps the same one, it had over 600 cubs, and a bar) and am fully aware that leaders may have a drink, but not while directly responsible for the young people. So, for example, we had 24 cubs, and 7 leaders. 4 leaders must be responsible for the cubs at all times, so 3 may go and had a drink. That's fine. No pearl clutching required! It doesn't mean that the 16/17 year olds who were present could have a drink just because the adults could, and to be honest, I'm really surprised that your DC allows this.

WhatsApp age limit is 16, so I would have thought irresponsible of a group to encourage young people to communicate via a social media app that some of them will be under age to use

Our Explorers leader allows it. They are 17/18 and he would rather they had two cans supervised than smuggle it in and go and drink it unsupervised. Parents are in agreement with it. District Commissioner is also aware and in support of being supervised and a teachable moment and a way of keeping communication lines open.

The better keep that quiet because POR explicitly forbids adults to allow under 18s to drink at Scout events.

And explicitly forbids leaders to drink when in charge of young people.

The idea of leaders drinking might have added to OP’s worries. My understanding is that leaders can only drink if they are ‘off duty’ and that there are enough other leaders to be in ratio and on duty. They also must not drink to excess. For smaller camps I can’t think there would be enough leaders to have many of any off duty.

This is correct. And, in my experience, even when there’s one or two leaders who could have a drink, they almost never do. Or they may have a single drink. But generally, by the time cubs or beavers have settled to sleep, the leaders are more than ready for bed anyway, knowing they’re likely to be up again in a few hours. A drink is the last thing on their minds!

It also says under best practice that Leaders can drink if ratios are met, which is what they do. To deny no alcohol is involved is naive at best, stupid at worst.

Unfortunately, alcohol is the work of the devil on here so you will never get a balanced view. Unless it's a sip of sherry at Christmas, you are a functioning alcoholic.

We have 1 18 year old Explorer. They won't be returning September but they were 18 in May and stayed till the "end" of the year.

You can be surprised all you like but it's not like they are getting absolutely hammered and out of control. The last camp the Explorers went on, there was 2 cans of Carling between 5 of the older ones (17/18)

All the parents are in agreement that a safe space is better.

The rest of the Explorers are 14/15 and high as kites on sugar. Up until 3am and doing things I'd never allow in a supervised environment so they don't do it alone and the mystery is removed.

It isn't "explicitly forbidden". This is from the best practice.

Leaders can drink as long as non drinking leaders still cover ratio

That's why parental permission is sought as to the best method of communication and is applicable to Explorers only. Scouts and below is communication with the parents.

All this can easily be found in Scouting guidelines which you can Google rather than assuming.

@AbreathofFrenchair

Even the link you shared says it's explicitly forbidden to allow under 18s to drink.

And if you are responsible for young people you must not drink alcohol.

It's not best practice it's POR and your group and DC sound dodgy frankly.

It's discouraged to have any alcohol at events with young people but if you must then only those adults not on duty can drink and it shouldn't be in the presence of you people.

You certainly shouldn't be facilitating 17 years having a few.