RE: [Philmont]: Age isues

Another point I thought some one raise by now is that there are two main
reasons for the age limit.
1) The physical ability of the boy to handle to rigors of extended trail
life.
and
2) The emotional maturity of the boy to handle the rigors of trail life.
The second of the two is the most important in my book. On my trek in
2004 we had a boy who made the age requirement by just enough to get in,
plus his Dad was also going, and the lead Advisor (not his Dad) knew
this boy well enough that he had no reservations about this boy going.
During the first three days of the trek I watched this boy slowly lose
his ability to keep his emotions in check. He was working outside his
comfort zone and not responding well to life on the trail, his tent
mate, the food, and several other issues that made him increasingly
uncomfortable and subject to breakdown. However, physically this boy had
no problems. I sparingly offered a little support when I thought he
needed it most. Somewhere around day 4 he bounced back and got it
together. He completed the rest of the trek as a strong, contributing
member of the crew, smiling all the way. This was a boy with a fair
amount of backpacking experience in mountainous terrain. He just wasn't
used to extended life on the trail. I can easily see where a boy with
less experience would have crumbled. There have been many posts about
having that individual (youth or adult) who can bring the whole crew to
a halt, this is part of the reason for the age limit.
 By the way, that boy was my son, and I don't think I could be more
proud of the way he overcame his difficulties and came through smiling
with very little intervention by any of his advisors.
Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of drtii123@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 3:03 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: [Philmont]: Age isues

We have a parent/advisor in our Troop who would like for their son to go
with our contigent to Philmont. He will not meet age requirements, close
but no cigar. He has an older brother going. We as advisors have told
this parent/advisor that he can not go this time, but hopefully again in
the near future. I have not seen this issue come up in discussion since
lurking on this list. Does anybody have any advise or stories to pass on
concerning this issue. It should be a clear cut rules and safety issue,
but what can we tell a difficult parent. Other than what we already have
that the Scout can't go.
 
David Ritter
Philmont July 2006

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Received on Fri Jan 6 18:06:18 2006