Parent night at Boy Scout Camp

Last night was parent night for M's Boy Scout Troop at camp. When we got there the boys were at a flag ceremony. When I found them, M tried to hide from the camera:


The Troop had a cookout and we got to visit and see what the boys are doing and not doing.

Things M is doing:
Going swimming every day, for several hours.
Working on his swimming merit badge (surprise to us - D had to take down long pants and shirt today so he could do part of this.)
Working on Pottery and Art merit badges.
Flossing his teeth.
Putting a damp towel in the bin with his clean clothes.
Changing his socks. (The only dirty laundry I brought home last night was 3 pairs of filthy socks.)

Things M is not doing:
Brushing his teeth (instead he claims to be scraping off the plaque with his fingernails).
Getting up at 6am for a pre-breakfast swim with the Scoutmaster. (He says he wants too, but is too tired each morning.)
Putting on sunscreen. (luckily its been rather overcast most of the week)
Showering.
Wearing anything but a swimsuit.
Changing his clothes.

I suppose it's a good thing that mom's aren't at camp. I would be nagging kids to do things like brush their teeth, hang up their towel, change their clothes. While we were there, M managed to dump a cup of water into his cleaan clothes bin - thus soaking most of his socks, underwear and shorts. And dampening the camera. I dried off the camera as best I could and sealed it up in its baggie. I also seemed to embarrass him by hanging his socks up to dry - M says they are going on an 8 mile hike on Friday. Hiking in wet socks is just asking for blisters.

M and D in M's tent. Note M's socks hanging from behind D.



M's home for the past week:


M seems to be having a pretty good time. No begging for us to take him home. Maybe he's enjoying getting dirty and not having Mom nag him about all of the above...

Things that we should have sent:
Clothes for swim merit badge - even though no one told us the first year Scouts would be doing this - if its mentioned, you should take it.
A clothes line to dry towels or wet clothing.
A backpack of some sort - to make it easier to haul stuff around when on a bike.
Duct tape. Of course!
M thinks a Camelbak is needed. Nice thought - maybe we'll look into one...