To be worrying about ds’s Scout expedition this weekend?

[JustBeingJobless]

Ds is 12, has adhd and high functioning asd, is gingery blonde and has very little common sense. All this is relevant!

This weekend, he is due to do an overnight expedition with Scouts, which involves his patrol walking for 4 hours to an overnight campsite with no adult supervision. The weather forecast is 29 degrees for Saturday and I’m fretting about sunburn/heatstroke. He’ll take a hat off as soon as he’s out of sight as he hates wearing them. I’m whittling about him doing this walk anyway, as I’m not sure how he’d cope if he gets lost or separated from his mates, but a couple of the kids are older and very sensible, so I’m fairly confident they’d be pretty good in an emergency, but the heat is really concerning me as he burns at the drop of a hat and I can guarantee he won’t reapply suncream for the walk back the next day.

Am I being overly pfb or are my concerns justified? I’m just worried that without adult supervision, the signs of heatstroke could be missed and he (or one of the other kids) could end up ill.

Please feel free to tell me if I need to give my head a wobble and get a grip!

Are the scout leaders aware of his adhd/asd? If they are I would hope they would support your son by reminding him to reapply his suncream.the next day/wear his hat.

They will no doubt tell the scouts to ensure that drink plenty/take rest breaks in the shade. If it's anything like D of E then although the kids walk alone, adults are actually never that far from them and there are checkpoints.

No reason for him to become separated from.the group but can you ask the leaders to ask one of the sensible, older kids to be a group leader and remind everyone to wear hats/drink water/ensure everyone is present before moving on -this way your son gets reminders without feeling 'different'.

No adult supervision for over four hours for a bunch of 12 year olds? How is that allowed happen?

Yes they’re aware, so I’m going to have a word and just remind them that he won’t remember to do some things without prompting. I’ve just got visions of a lobster red ill child returning on Sunday!

4 hours isn’t really that long is it? I’m sure I was out playing in the local park for that long at 12, but I just worry about ds a bit more because I know he’s got a bit less common sense than a nt 12 year old.

The SLs will ensure they are smothered before they set off, and sun cream with a high factor will protect that long. Remind the SLs if you are concerned.
IME, Leaders will have risk assessed the expedition, and factored in plans for the heat. when mine was doing DofE in this sort of heat recently, the Leaders met them at various points with extra litres of water to top up what they could carry, and of course, at that point were assessing any other factors to do with safety.

Hilda - it is allowed to happen because they are building responsible, trusted adults. They train them and they risk assess it and are almost certainly following them or driving round to meet up at various check points.

IMO URNBU. We area fair skinned family and burn within ten minutes of direct sunlight on hot days.

Depends. Are the leaders pretty hot on checking the kids are all ok and keeping them in line?
I made a mistake letting my dc's camp with Cubs, against my gut instinct. It wasn't well organised and they came home after one night.
However I trusted their Beaver leaders when they were younger and dd had a fab indoor sleepover with them.

I’d approach the Scout Leader and ask if you can help with the risk assessment for the trip given your son’s needs. Complete the activity consent form fully without assuming that the SL can think through implications. Using a once a day sun cream may help. Perhaps a partol Leader can be asked to lend a hand with making sure he can fully participate. It might be that your son can be set some personal challenges and so earn an appropriate - so doing task is part of achieving not just ‘cos it’s sensible.’ Try and remember that the Scout Association pick, train and have high expectations of their leaders. Hold back the tears, stick a brave face on and make sure you pack a cheery wave: Then be prepared to be very very proud when you litte one comes and tells you all about his great scouting adventure.

I'm a Brownie Leader and trips like this are MASSIVELY Risk Assessed and the Leaders wouldn't be allowing the kids to go if they felt it was dangerous, so although it's hard (and I still struggle when my DD1 goes off on Guide camp!), you do need to trust that those in charge care as much about the safety of your child as you do.

However, it wouldn't hurt to remind the Leader when you arrive - perhaps even write down some instructions about sun cream application times, water consumption and hat wearing, you could ask the Leader to 'buddy up' your DS with an older Scout and ask the older Scout to keep the piece of paper and ensure that your instructions are adhered to.

This will be a memorable, exciting activity for your DS - he'll be incredibly proud of himself once he completes it (and you'll be incredibly proud of yourself for letting him go once he's safely back in your arms). Good luck! xx

Talk to the leaders and ask if there will be checkpoints and if your son can be reminded there to drink, wear sunscreen, wear a hat etc

I was at a water checkpoint for a similar event a few years ago during very warm weather and we (gently) told off the kids who arrived with full bottles of water, encouraged them to tip out the warm water, replace it with our cold water, drink, and then top up. We were also keeping an eye for kids starting to suffer ill effects and had the ability to call back up volunteers with a land rover to pick up people if necessary. Hopefully this event will have similar even if it’s just a leader stood there with extra bottles of water, the important thing is it’s an adult who will remind them to drink.

I was at camp with my Guides recently and they decided that the person who admitted she would forget to drink would carry everyone’s water bottles, so every time someone asked for theirs, she would drink too. They did take turns but we’re very good at reminding each other, and all stppping and drinking together. So maybe suggest that your sons group could do similar? Or at least prompt each other to drink.

I get why you are stressed but these kind of things are great for teaching kids how to be a little independent..
You may be surprised how well he copes when he is asked to..
That said the group has older kids who will report any issues to the leaders at the check points.. And they wont let him wander off.. They will have a responsibility to keep the group together when they can't see an adult.

And you can bet there are adults around even outwith the checkpoints..

So yanbu to worry but the scouts will look after him

I think you should ring the leaders and discuss your concerns.

My lot were a bit older but we used to have checkpoints where we'd wait along the route and make sure the group was ok, we'd give them walkie talkies in the mountains and stay in range or let a sensible one keep a mobile phone in areas of signal.

The leaders won't mind. The only kind of parents we minded were the helicopter ones who'd sneak supplies including a take out dinner once into the group on the walk and then complain when the group failed...

If your DS has friend with him that he really gets along with then there should be no problem.
Saturday is a long way off in weather forecast terms.
Is there a young leader going to be with the group (YL being 15 or older)? It is drummed into them that they MUST stay together as a group and one or more will have a mobile and emergency contact number(s).
Our group sends out teams for 10 hours of walking in January.

Chat to the leaders as soon as you can. They will most likely be able to reassure you, and might be able to add in some extra measures (like making sure checkpoints or similar know to remind everyone to suncream and drink, or ask the Patrol Leader to keep an eye on your DS in particular).

It’s better than speaking to them on the day as then they’ll be thinking about eleventy-billion other things as well, and it gives them more time to talk to you and think it through.

Thank you all for the reassurance! I’ve just ordered some spf50 once a day spray stuff for him to take (figure a spray is probably easier than a cream) and also a long sleeved uv protection t-shirt. Fortunately his hair is much too long at the minute as he’s refusing to have it cut, so at least his neck won’t burn!

I’m going to speak to the SL tomorrow and raise my concerns. Just didn’t want to look like the neurotic parent! He’s been on camp with them before many times, but it’s always been freezing and wet and that doesn’t concern me as much as the heat.

I think my underlying worry is that if he does start to feel unwell, he’s not very good at actually telling anybody and it could easily be missed.

If your DS is as big a risk as you say, then I actually think it's unfair on the rest of the group for him to go. Unless of course they are actually more supervised than it seems. Scouts and Guides are very good at letting children build independence whilst actually keeping a very close eye.

I think you are being sensible not neurotic. The SL would prefer to know in advance if your child is likely to ignore instructions on important stuff like sun cream. The older children will be able to phone the SL if there is a problem with your son. Have a chat with the leader, explain your concerns and I hope it goes well.

When I was involved we were always around, just not necessarily with the children. It’s good for them to have a go at looking after themselves with us in the background for emergencies only. Kids are actually far more capable than we give them credit for. Also sometimes kids listen to other kids more than adults when it comes to things like having a drink or sun cream. I love the example of the girl who didn’t drink above. Great solution and teamwork.

I would keep talking to your DS about the importance of re-applying sunscreen, wearing his hat and sipping water at regular intervals.

Can you get a suncream stick that's super easy to apply while walking?

Let him pick a hat / baseball cap that he likes to wear?

I would also speak to the scout leaders but ultimately accept that DS has to be responsible for this and anyone else reminding him about these things is an added bonus rather than something to rely on.

Does he have a digital watch with an alarm he can set to go off at hourly intervals?

even though it is once a day sunscreen, they are questionable so he still needs to reapply. it is only two weeks since uv peak and he will be sweating.

Can you show your son a video on YouTube or NHS website with info. about signs of sunstroke?

Or "threaten" (too strong) that he won't go on any similar outings if he gets sunburned on this one?