Parental Camping

So, you'd like to share a campout experience with your son?

Well, we're 100% in favor of this kind of experience as it's positive for both parent and Scout.  But, there are some considerations, guidelines and rules for parents who are not fully trained and registered "Uniformed Adult Leaders." which are summarized below:

• Fathers AND/OR Mothers are absolutely welcome to join us in an outdoor activity.  However, other siblings who are not registers Scouts cannot come along as it's not a "family" outing but rather a Scout activity.
• Before the trip a parent must complete the BSA online Youth Protection Training course (YPT) found at http://olc.scouting.org/info/ypt.html .  It will take you less than an hour & when you finish, please e-mail our training coordinator with the date and time of your completion at:
    . 
  You should also print out a copy of your course certificate for your records.  When taking your first BSA Online Training Course you have to establish an account.  Don't worry if you don't have the requested BSA ID #.  If you ever decide to become an "official" uniformed or other registered BSA leader  (and we hope you'll give that serious consideration), you'll get a BSA ID# which you can go back online & fill into your records later on, but it's not required.  Also, our BSA Council is Connecticut Yankee Council BSA - Milford, CT # 72.  After registering and logging in, you'll find the YPT course on the "General" tab.  You cannot camp with our Troop until you've completed this course, NO EXCEPTIONS!
• The Troop can usually provide you a tent if you don't have one, but other camping equipment is your responsibility.  Check with the Scoutmaster at scoutmaster@troop76.org .  Scouts must, however, tent with other Scouts and are not allowed to tent with parents (or any other adult for that matter). 
• From time to time Scouts, especially new Scouts, have angst at the new experiences.  If your Scout seeks your comfort or intercession in some matter, after determining that there are no safety issues, please direct them to get help and guidance from one of the older Scout leaders or a Uniformed Adult Leader.
• The Scouting experience is designed to give the youth the chance to learn new skills and from time to time in exercising these skills, they will "fail" .  Our objective is to give them the freedom to succeed and fail, but when failing, to fail safely.  So, we ask that parents not "hover" or be too directive to their Scout unless safety is involved.
• At a campout, generally the Adults on the trip coordinate to do their own shopping, cooking cleanup, etc.  The Scouts are organized into patrols and it's their responsibility to do these things for their respective groups.  They will make mistakes and sometimes menus don't work, food gets burnt etc., but we keep an eye out to make sure food practices are safe and no one goes too hungry.  Sometimes, however, having to deal with culinary adversity is a good incentive to do it better next time.

In general, the best guideline for parents participating in a campout is to stand back a bit and watch the interactions between your Scout and the others in the Troop.  Follow Adult Leader's advice on how and when you can help.  Mostly, just enjoy the outdoors and plan on coming to the next campout too so you can witness how quickly your son learns, adapts and shines in his camping and Scouting skills.   Even better step up and become a Uniformed Leader and more directly participate in guiding your Scout and others to the maturity Scouting promotes so well!