Fish, hunt, field dress a dear, raise a garden, can / freeze what you’ve raised, change a flat tire, change a worn timing belt, change plugs, oil, filters in the vehicles, replace a water pump on your vehicle, run a chainsaw, split wood, build a computer, build a shed, build a house, wire a house, build a computer, make a quilt, cook, sew, etc.....I reckon I spent too much time learning stuff I’d never need.
I am passing this on to my daughter to begin planning for her sony who is now 4.5 months old!
...apply for a federal grant, hire a lawyer, file a sex discrimination lawsuit, use a condom, know the hanky codes and how to tippy-tap yer toes on the restroom floor...
Please ping your Scouting list
Thanx
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzMTMmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxODg3MDcmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3
http://tinyurl.com/2b5oqa
As a BSA leader this book is near and dear to my heart. I saw it on display a few weeks ago and wanted to buy it. I think that it should be a supplement to the BSA handbook.
This past year we hosted a foreign exchange student from Germany. The second day that he was with out family he joined our BSA troop. At first he wasn’t too sure about it, but after the first camp out he was hooked.
A few weeks after he returned home, I received an email from him informing me that he had worked as staff at a church camp. The staff were required to put up their own tents. He was the only one that really knew how to put up a tent. By the end of the week his tent was the only one that made it through two major downpours. He asked that I thank all of the troop leaders for teaching him the outdoor skills that he learned while he was here.
Great article! Our families are lucky, and have always lived on farms, and our son and his cousin learned many of these things from an early age. They’re also successful hunters. The most difficult thing for young ones to learn is to be quiet and still. This they did when waiting to shoot the squirrels that knawed on tap lines. Patience is a virtue.
That's right. Consider; who bought that kid the Gameboy or X360? The kids can't afford them. Mom and Dad bought them. I'd no more buy one of those things for my kids (and didn't!) than I'd buy them a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of whiskey.
In Troop 69 of Burr Ridge, Illinois we take our Scouts rock-climbing and rapelling at Devils Lake in Wisconsin. We take them rafting and canoeing. We go biking (when enough of the kids have bikes with gears and such so you can do something besides ride down the block on them). We go to summer camp. But the helicopter parents say "Oh, rafting's too dangerous" "Oh, a week at summer camp is too much for my son to be away from home". And they get horrified when I tell them "No cell phones. If he gets hurt, we'll call you."
Own, sharpen and use a knife. Sharpen and use an axe. Use a hammer, saw, wrench, screwdriver, hammer and drill. Tie a square knot, two-half hitches, a clove hitch, and a bowline. Row a boat. Paddle a canoe, and get in and out of both without tipping them over. Swim 100 yards. Float for a minute. Take a dump in the woods without crapping up your body or your clothes.