From: EA1981GLE@aol.com
Date: Sat Feb 01 2003 - 16:05:38 CST
>From my personal observations and having spent two summers as a Ranger, I
would not recommend splitting father/son from a crew.
Coaching and counseling the fathers before they leave for Philmont needs to
happen.
The best way to deal with it is for the fathers in the crew to make a pact,
if one of them interferes or causes unnecessary grief for their son, one or
all of the other adults needs to agree to pull the offending father aside and
re-explain "life in a civilized crew." Of course this requires all of the
adults to have the courage of their convictions to follow through and have
the offending adult take a time-out.
If all of the adults cannot commit to follow this principle then questions
about their ability to be a successful advisor needs to be raised. Just
because someone can take the time off of work and afford to go to Philmont
does not necessarily make them a good advisor.
On one trek I served as the advisor I had one Dad who we had to take aside
several times and let him back off. He was, and still is, a good personal
friend but was making life miserable for his son. By the 5th day on the
trail, he got the clue. His son excelled and he let his son lead. Upon
returning from Philmont, over a few adult beverages, he shared that in
hindsight, he appreciated my efforts and was glad we had him back off. (Now
he did admit that during that first few days on the trail he would have liked
to knock my block off a couple of times. :>)
During my ranger days and during the various treks I have been on, I have
rarely had occasion to take a dad aside. During this same time I have seen
numerous times where father/son relationships that were "tense" improved
greatly after a successful trek. I've also seen strong father/son
relationships grow even stronger.
To deny the ability of the Philmont Magic from being a part of a Philmont
trek, in my personal opinion, flies in the face of what Scouting is part of.
Again this is personal opinion. Your mileage will probably vary.
Alex in LA
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