Scout Talk

B8

By Paul Murray

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Every youth organization promises to teach their participants some valuable skills. It could be how to shoot three-point baskets, stick handle around pylons or make a great tackle. While these are all admirable skills, they are hardly what are called "life skills."

I have never read a newspaper report where a youth was quoted as saying his week in summer hockey school saved him and his buddy when they spent a night lost in the woods. However, the eight years he spent in Scouts taught him how to start a fire, and what to do when he was lost. These are the types of skills taught in the Scouts Canada youth programs.

Knot tying was a difficult skill for me to master. It seems 10 thumbs are not beneficial when trying to tie knots. Many Cubs have asked, "when will I ever need to know how to tie this knot?" If you have ever been on a canoe trip, and woke up in the morning to find your canoe had floated away during the night, you may wish you had paid attention to Akela on knot night.

During the winter, many weekly meetings are spent talking about the outdoors and some dangers that nature may throw at you when hiking or camping. It is important to know what poison ivy looks like before you have to head to outpatients with a red rash.

When a group of youth land at the site of their weekend camp, they are expected to pitch their own tents, and get their site ready for the night. These skills have been practised prior to the camp. Recently, a group of Cubs from Sussex visited a Scouts Canada camp on PEI. They landed late on a Friday night, split up into their groups and set up camp in less than an hour, while it was raining! Practice makes perfect.

Cooking is a skill that everyone should have because there is nothing better than camp food. Simple meals like macaroni and cheese with hot dogs are a gourmet meal when cooked on a Coleman stove at camp in the rain. Dutch oven desserts or ice cream in a bag are special camp foods that are always requested. Youth are expected not only to help prepare meals but to clean up afterwards. Yes, your darling child will willingly wash and dry dishes, carry away gray water and garbage, and have fun doing it.

In the Scouts Canada publication, The Leader, there is an article that appears in every issue called The value of scouting in my life. Two senior youth, usually Venturer or Rover age, write about how their years in Scouting have benefited them in their pursuit of happiness. They contribute to the development of their communication, organizational, leadership and people skills to their experiences in the Scouts Canada youth programs. These skills have allowed them to attend the universities of their choice, get the jobs they want and still be able to start a fire without a match, or how to tie that elusive bowline knot.

Give your youth this great opportunity. Enroll them in a Scouts Canada youth program in your area, Contact Lloyd Keirstead at 433-5326 for more information.