One’s Scouting experience is incomplete without attending camps. After all, it’s underneath the blue skies, away from home, as a part of a patrol where a Scout can learn some of life’s most important lessons. Camp Navigator tries to shed some light on the wad of benefits a scout can obtain from summer camps.
The purpose of camping for Scouts is not to teach them to be outdoor experts. Although many discover their love for everything outdoors like hiking, camping and canoeing through camps, this is not what a scout camp alone aims to do. The real purpose of it is to help kids inculcate good values, citizenship, leadership, and fitness and to prepare them for adulthood.
It’s through the the process of learning outdoor skills that scouts can gain self-esteem as well as become “skilled outdoorsman”.
By camping with a scout-led patrol, planning menus, cooking, cleaning, etc., they can learn how to lead, be responsible, flexible, adjusting, and resolve conflicts among other things.
In working on badges at camp, they can learn to set goals, manage their time, skip fun to finish requirements, enjoy learning, and enjoy the satisfaction of accomplishment. And, the best part, they get to choose their badges too.
Scouts love to be in groups. Camp gives them the ideal opportunity to eat, sleep, work, live and play with their Scout “group” — doing things together and cementing friendships to last forever.
In a camp, under caring, volunteer adult leaders’ supervision, scouts can be freer than at home. They can get wet, get dirty, experience adversity, all without someone watching their back. They learn by experience and they grow.
Scout camping is a critically important as it instills traditional values, teaches them the importance of service to others, prepares for responsible adulthood. Learning the most important values and lessons from their leaders, as they stare into the magic embers of a campfire, under a canopy of stars prepare them for confident young adulthood. By attending camps religiously for a span of year, scouts can become teachers and role models for younger scouts — another great self-esteem and positive value builder.
