Camping

My troop went Miami Camping this weekend. We're lucky to have a private 11 acre camp site right in the middle of Miami. But, Miami Camping involves lots of Moms, cabins with electricity and a paucity of discipline. It wasn't how I would have done it. But then, what is?

The positive points are that: my girls got out of the house in a safe and fun environment and learned something new. Some of them touched a goat for the first time, or slept under the stars (very adventurous for a girl who told me she would rather sleep in the cabin). We built camp fires--they certainly have mastered the one match, no paper fire--we sang songs, we slept on hard ground without pillows. The girls have a tireless appetite for tether ball and picking up Air Potatoes (which are some sort of tuber that drop from invasive vines).

I love Girl Scouts--you may already know this. I think it may be one of the greatest volunteer organizations Ever in America! What I like about it is that the kids get to do things on their own that their mothers would otherwise do for them--like cooking, or cleaning, or general time management.

When we were camping this weekend I was the only adult there who was Not there with their own offspring. For a significant percentage of the campers their mothers were still present to give them instructions or hairy eyeballs. The girls did get to do things on their own--mine certainly did their own dishes and set up their own tents and build their own fires--but I noticed that other troop leaders were cooking dinner for their girls while they ran amuck in the hammock. I think this sort of defeats the whole Girls Growing Strong idea of the program.

The kids had a great time and I'm sure it was a memorable weekend for them, but I would have liked to see some of their time spent in a productive-learning-type way (like I did at camp). It's hard though. All of the leaders are Moms who love their children, but either don't know enough about outdoor skills, or how to manage groups of other peoples children in the woods. I find it frustrating, because I can see how things could be better if there was just a small group of leaders willing to work together and put in the effort to plan a great camping program --full of games, and learning new skills, and working together, and free time too--rather than having the whole weekend be a social get together for moms while daughters do....something...

Here's to next time.