From: Dave Edelman (dedelman@iname.com)
Date: Sat Feb 01 2003 - 18:00:54 CST
Diane,
I waited a bit before responding to this thread. I think that my problem is
that my experiences have been so varied that maybe only a set of examples
will work.
On my first trek in 1992, we had a set of brothers and their father along.
The brothers split up between the two crews and that was probably a good
thing. The father was scheduled to be lead advisor on my crew and his son
was elected crew leader. For the year that this scout was our Senior Patrol
Leader, his father made a point of not being involved so that he would not
influence the scout. Throughout the trek, the father and son did their
respective jobs very well and the trek was a success. In this case, the
father and son had understood exactly what had to be done to make the crew's
experience a success.
On another crew, we again had a pair of fathers and sons but neither was the
crew leader. The difference between these pairs was night and day. One dealt
at arms-length and everything was fine. I was the lead advisor and the crew
ran just like the troop. There is a scout in charge and he had me as a
resource as necessary - though I will jump in (gently I hope) in a matter of
health risk or safety. The other father son pair was amazing. I guarantee
that there isn't a photograph of one without the other. It was as if they
were walking alone through Philmont unaware of anyone or anything else.
Frankly, I'm not sure that they really got anything out of Philmont, but
that's another story.
At a troop committee Christmas party, one of the fathers asked me "Why do
some people have a great time at Philmont and others hate it?" I thought a
bit, and based partially on the Crater Lake campfire, said something like
"Philmont isn't the then and there but the things that you find out about
yourself, the memories that you take home, and how you and each crewmember
grows. If what you find out, what you remember, and how you grow is good,
then it is a great experience, otherwise it's a bad one." With that profound
statement (no I hadn't had any eggnog) I left him to think.
That next trek, we again had two crews and two pair of fathers and sons. The
father that I spoke with, who was not in the same crew as his son and
another father son pair who were. The second father had a problem with
alcohol. There was some tension between that father son pair and I was a
little concerned about what might happen. Let me set the scene: In one crew
we had the son of the father with whom I had spoken. In the second crew, we
had his father and the second father son pair. The crews operated as a pair
of sister crews. From the very first day the separated pair was a disaster.
The father was out for himself and himself alone. The son was constantly
caught in the shrapnel. By the last day (Clarks Fork to Basecamp) the father
had left his crew and was walking with our's. On the other hand, the problem
father was amazing. He worked to keep the adults from killing our problem
child and made sure that the youth on the crew were able to get the most of
the experience. I wish with all my heart that I could say that Philmont
cured his problem but that just didn't happen. He has since died due to
alcohol, but his son had an opportunity to see his father in a new light. It
didn't make his loss any less but I like to think that the son will have
some good memories of his father and of Philmont.
Now that I've run up everyone's bill :-( I'll get to my point. There is no
hard fast rule. Make sure that the advisors know what is expected of them
and make them toe the line. At the crew leaders' meeting on day one, the
crew leaders are told point blank to take charge. They are told to let their
ranger help set the tone initially, and to get the help of any camp director
along the way if they are kept from running the show. It should never come
to that. If it does, then the adult in question just doesn't understand
scouting, his actions at Philmont are only a symptom of a larger problem
Dave
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