Posted on 08/01/2006 10:27:00 AM PDT by fgoodwin
A boy tries to light dry grass under a pyramid of twigs. Eventually, it catches and he lies on his side to blow the embers into crackling life. Tonight he and his friends will dine on a thin stew made of thistles and heather leaves, cooked over the fire. They will sleep in a makeshift bivouac on a bed of ferns.
This is not a scene from Swallows and Amazons. It is an increasingly popular kind of educational holiday for children.
On this particular course, groups of children aged from nine upwards will be pretty much alone. They have a signalling system if in distress and adults will check on them during the night. But they will be entrusted with knives, matches and each other's safety.
To some that might seem irresponsible or shocking, but to others it's a ray of hope amid today's paranoid child-rearing; it is a rite of passage that will equip these children with a deeper sense of self-belief. In many parts of the country, it is difficult to let children roam free due to a lack of public land and social constraints. But there is a growing consensus that in holding our children too close, we risk damaging their ability to manage and live with risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at education.guardian.co.uk ...
But there is a growing consensus that in holding our children too close, we risk damaging their ability to manage and live with risk
Every kid ought to have his own 40 acres to play on and there out to be 40 acres between each kid.
Beware the dingos.
We used to call it confidence. Weird phrase makes me think they are setting up a Church of Self.
We use to call this "Boy Scouts"
Exactly.
One wonders how & why Scouting is so failing in its traditional role of making kids comfortable in the outdoors that other groups are springing up to take over that function?
The scouts have been so demonized by the left and the gay lobby that I fear they will never recover.
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