WBCCI Families & Youth - Positive Reinforcement

[wheel interested]

Originally Posted by FiveGreers

Okay, I've loaded two pictures onto my photos of a BOONDOGGLE. This would be for kids who have patience-I only have one of those-lol! I think my other two would get bored. But my mom worked on this for a while. It's a neat thing and has a wonderful aroma!

Thanks! That is quite a project. That is weaving? of? It almost looks like the weaving of the four vinyl straps we made into whistle holders at camp. That was a box like pattern. Is there a pattern or is this a hands on project to be passed on? I like the idea of projects. I remember fondly making things in camp.

[65glbtrotter]

Some of the things my ten year old daughter likes to do while we go camping are, in order of importance to her:.
1. Play in the play area with other kids
2. Ride her bike with other kids
3. Walk her dog
4. Fishing
5. Arts and crafts
6. BINGO
7. Story-time (an adult reads a book to a group of children)
8. Singing children songs around the campfire
9. Scavenger hunt.
I feel things like a scavenger hunt that all should be winners with a prize for all that participate and BINGO you keep playing until all have won and prize is a small candy bar or small toy (age appropriate)

[ALANSD]

great idea. In my region we were scared off the local chapter by attending a large rally where the kids felt unwelcome, and unwanted.
I have not attended a WBCCI event since.
Our 6 or more Forum Rally's on the other hand have been fun for everyone, we try to get the kids involved somehow, and have had smiling faces of all ages.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by wheel interested

As for badges why not put them on the lanyards (are they called) on a ribbon or strap worn around the neck. Or we could make children t-shirts with clear vinyl pockets that a card could be inserted into.

1: choking hazzard. a BIG one.

2: they'd just take it off and fling it somewhere.

I'm talkin' little kids. My son's first experience w/ the wally club was when he was 11 weeks old.

sure, older kids could use lanyards...thats what most of the adults do. making them would be a good activity.

[05ModPod]

Do I detect a hint of "sweet bitterness" Chuck - or an egging on to reply - somewhat similar to "competition"...

If you don't organize activities that inspire fairplay - then sooner or later the kid with the bigger or better something or other will ruin the sandbox.

Adults are the same way..I wonder how many leave really early to get the best camping spots - or the first in line for the clean power or fresh water - or able to dump the fastest - or set up or break down their camp site the most efficiently - or who secretly passes judgement on how others look after their rigs - or style of tow vehicle or limits each push with their setups and yest the big one - who always seems to be first in line for the icecream or best choice of morning muffins and donuts. "I like mine better than yours" oh yes we have all said or thought that one but when we were kids it was "Mine is Better than yours - my Mom said so".

Without organization kids will run amuck - whether at home or at a Rally - deciding to have a tent and a central play area - believe it or not still takes organization with the intent to meet the "play" needs of the children.

Life is a challenge everyday - the word competition is loosly meant - in a fashion to challenge oneself - or to challenge each other in "healthy" group activities. Only those who play unfair or take advantage of situations will come away with a bitter taste - and of course those on the receiving end of unfair play will remember it for the rest of their lives - what was your story...

Lets see - Pins will prick, Lanyards will strangle, YIKES stickers will end up on that nice 2006 Safari - but may go well with our run down yet to be fixed up 61 Overlander - in fact it could hold her together in places.

I grew up and participated in many individual sports, self challenging sports, team sports and liesure activities, entered lots of contests for this and that where some items/ideas acheived things and others abided my time in submitting them - One thing I did learn though - that PARENTS were the childrens worst enimies - they just would not let their kids come out and have fun - always pushing their kid to be bigger, better faster. I was so lucky to have parents of a different attitude - hence recipient of many sportsmanship awards over the years.

The "competition" emphasis on Healthy was only mentioned as a Motivating idea to encourage more Unit interaction and Region involvement and International awareness.To allow those kids who may never have an opportunity to be on in any organized sports or recreation activities - to benefit from the travel and friendships made all over the world (if lucky) For these kids they have Mom and Dad that have an Airstream - that may go to a campground and meet up with some kids they will never see again - but with WBCCI they may be lucky to attend various Rallies where their acquaintences become life time friendships.

Someone mentioned a while back that all this club is - is an extension of all facets of life - we just do it with a common denominator - Aistreams.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by GT6921

Do I detect a hint of "sweet bitterness" Chuck -

Yep!! DING DING DING DING DING!!!!! You WIN THE PRIZE

Originally Posted by GT6921

or an egging on to reply - somewhat similar to "competition"...

ah...nope. sorry, you're a LOSER!

[quote=GT6921]Adults are the same way..I wonder how many leave really early to get the best camping spots - or the first in line for the clean power or fresh water - or able to dump the fastest - or set up or break down their camp site the most efficiently - or who secretly passes judgement on how others look after their rigs - or style of tow vehicle or limits each push with their setups and yest the big one - who always seems to be first in line for the icecream or best choice of morning muffins and donuts. "I like mine better than yours" oh yes we have all said or thought that one but when we were kids it was "Mine is Better than yours - my Mom said so"./[quote]

don't care what other people think or do. It is of no consequense to me. But if thats what its going to be about, I'm gonna pick up my ball and go home.
We like to say in our unit, that "its just camping". that's great, imo. BUT...its not "just camping", if we turn everything into a competion. its annoying. I don't want to spend my vacation time being annoyed.

Originally Posted by GT6921

Without organization kids will run amuck - whether at home or at a Rally - deciding to have a tent and a central play area - believe it or not still takes organization with the intent to meet the "play" needs of the children.

.
absolutely. and it has nothing to do with "competition". there is no need to turn everything into a contest.

Originally Posted by GT6921

Life is a challenge everyday -

damn right, and the whole point of vacation is to get away from that. just for a couple of days. If I can't, I'll just stay at work, thankyou.

Originally Posted by GT6921

To allow those kids who may never have an opportunity to be on in any organized sports or recreation activities -

there is no such thing in this society. its EVERYwhere. what we need, desperately, is an opportunity to escape it.
]

[wheel interested]

Originally Posted by chuck

1: choking hazzard. a BIG one.

2: they'd just take it off and fling it somewhere.

I'm talkin' little kids. My son's first experience w/ the wally club was when he was 11 weeks old.

sure, older kids could use lanyards...thats what most of the adults do. making them would be a good activity.

How 'bout...

1. baby unit bunting and Wally pacifiers for the 11 week olds

2. color coded beanies with spinners (though may be a bit of a propelsion issue as in the flying nun--need to get a committee to study those effects) We had caps for age groups at my day camp.

3. cell phones with walkie talkie capabilities incorporating wi-fi hot spots for the teens to replace their grandparents CBs

And Cory, I loved your list. I think I may borrow it for our grandson's visit!

[05ModPod]

Originally Posted by chuck

damn right, and the whole point of vacation is to get away from that. just for a couple of days. If I can't, I'll just stay at work, thankyou.

my point exactly - I thought we were talking about the kids here? Not what we think?

[yukionna]

Originally Posted by wheel interested

Great ideas here. I'd like to pick up a few ideas to have ready for the children we get to see and meet even our own grandkids. What please tell is a boondoggle?

Boondoggle, like many words in the English language, has different meanings depending on the context:

Boondoggle is a North American term which has come to refer to the performance of useless or trivial tasks while appearing to be doing something important. In the United States, the key feature of this "art" is the waste of time and/or money involved. In Canada, however, the term has come to mean, more specifically, a government scandal involving the wasting or misallocation of public funds causing a project to be well over-budget, frequently more than double or triple the original cost.
Originally the term was boon doogle referring to a bone or metal ring used to secure the scarf of a Boy Scout (also called a woggle). American Scoutmaster Robert H. Link (died 1959) is credited with coining the term. From this, the term came to refer to the lanyards worn on the uniform of a scout, or to similar small decorative objects. Boondoggle has also come to refer in the USA for the plaiting craft known elsewhere as Scoubidou, since many such objects are made by this craft. For examples of "boondoggle" in this sense, refer to the article on the movie Napoleon Dynamite.
"Boondoggle" in the sense of a term for a project that wastes time and money, first appeared during the Great Depression in the 1930s, referring to the millions of jobs given to unemployed men and women to try to get the economy moving again, as part of the New Deal. It came into common usage after a 1935 New York Times headline claimed that over $3 million had been spent teaching the jobless how to make boon doggles1.
In more recent times the term "Boondoggle" has come to refer to a government or corporate project involving large numbers of people and usually, heavy expenditure, where at some point the key operators have realized that the project is never going to work, but are reluctant to bring this to the attention of their superiors. Generally there is an aspect of "going through the motions", (for example, continuing research and development), for as long as funds are available to keep paying the researchers' and executives' salaries and so on. The situation can be allowed to continue for what seem like unreasonably long periods, as senior management are often reluctant to admit that they allowed a failed project to go on for so long. In many cases, the actual device itself may eventually work, but not well enough to ever recoup its development costs.
An important aspect of the Boondoggle, as opposed to a project that simply fails, is the eventual realization by its operators that it is never going to work, long before it is finally shut down. This is not the same thing as simply fraud, where the proponents know in advance that their idea has no merit.
One example of this was the RCA "Selectavision" (CED) video disk system project, commenced in the early 1960s and allowed to drag on for nearly 20 years, long after cheaper and better alternatives had come to market. RCA were estimated to have spent about $US750 million (1985 dollars) on this commercially useless system, which was one of the factors leading to its bankruptcy in 1988.
Another is the Anglo-French Concorde Supersonic Passenger aircraft. As with the Selectavision system, although actual planes were built and regular services maintained for decades, the income from this has barely made a dent in the actual cost of the project. In this case, by the early 1970s it had already become painfully obvious that the advantages of supersonic flight were going to be nowhere near enough to compete with the low fares made possible by slower but much more cost-effective American aircraft.

[FiveGreers]

Awesome, yuki-lol! I truly like the first explaination...I think that's what I'll start telling my husband I'm doing when I'm really HERE- ! Although then he'll want to see my boondoggle-lol!

I do think it is some sort of box weave. Yes, it is time consuming, but my mother couldn't do just a little one-lol! But it has made for a very interesting item. Anyway, I have no idea if there are written instructions, but someone in the Orlando unit showed her how to do it and she started showing our 10 year old. Heck, they could even do just one frawn, that'd be enough for most.

I think most kids would like a scavenger hunt-heck, I think we adults call that geocaching-lol!

None the less, this thread is heading in the right direction-getting the kids involved in the unit-what a great thing!

[FiveGreers]

The "pattern" my mother used was a "north, south, east, west" pattern where you slice the frawn into four and use the formentioned pattern. She said there is a real trick to the end "move" to get it to stay together. You can also use much smaller palms and they are suppsed to look like little pineapples-to welcome new people- .

[maxandgeorgia]

Seems like I remember a "junior ranger" program in the national parks??? We saw some 5-12 year old kids running around looking very involved finding or identifying items relative to the area. This was fun for them and (here's the teacher in me) certainly educational about the place they were visiting. Does anyone know more about this? Probably is similar to the scavenger hunt already mentioned--which kids of ALL ages seem to love. For a forum rally, a group could sub-committee to plan such an event for the kids--maybe team them up so everyone could feel attached to and get acquainted in the play group. Just a suggestion. ~G

[sd90mac]

Why don't we ask the kids. I know we will get 5,000 answers, but some of thier ideas are good.
I would volunteer to work with kids doing crafts, or just watching them while they play so the parents can have 5 minutes to themselves. I'm sure others would also take turns. i noticed at the Sarasota rally, there wasn't a safe place for them to play. Why couldn't someone ask a local playground equipment company to set something up for the rally? Yes, I would be the one, if asked, to go ask them.
kids are not little grownups. they like to play, like to learn, and most like competition if geared to their ages. Not all kids like the same thing. There could be an area set up for "child care for a couple of hours for the the parents to get alone time.
I like the idea of cooking classes. There are many simple things the kids could make and have their own happy hour as was suggested above.
Let's put our collective heads together and make the changes we need. Don't sit back and wait for some one else to do it.
Marie

[wheel interested]

Originally Posted by yukionna

Boondoggle, like many words in the English language, has different meanings depending on the context:

Boondoggle .

Thanks. Now who would have thought I would have come away learning so much from in amongst posts concerning child's play.
Now that I read your definitions, I do recall hearing the term before. They must have intricacies in common.

The pattern and pineapple shape (welcome symbol) would appeal to crafty parents as well. There was another weave of dandelions that I never knew how to do but always marveled at.

I liked making a kite and then flying it at camp.

Junior ranger programs and geocaching--all this is sounding very cool and above all interesting!!

I would volunteer some time to take a turn as sd90mac suggests. It doesn't have to be a rally specifically planned for children but a few great ideas and materials on hand to get the ball rolling at each function, add children and voulnteers then stir.

[LuminumTraila]

Had to be away from the computer today and I came back to a thread full of wonderful ideas and suggestions. Thanks!! everyone -- this is great!

On the nametag idea -- they have breakaway (safety) lanyards now for kids. These are good for age 4+, for smaller kids, a good ol' safety pin (or diaper pin --remember those?) to pin a lightweight nametag to their back, not front, where even if they know it's there they can't reach it to take it off. We've put i.d. info on a piece of cloth with permanent marker and pinned it to our kids back when we've gone out in crowds and it worked pretty well.

Yes, some kids like competition, some don't. Ours don't, and I'm getting the feeling from others in our unit that they don't either. Maybe it's a trend among Airstream families to get the trailer and get away from the organized team sports and competitive school activities we seem to be bombarded with. A lot of the ideas here are right on track though -- National Park Junior Ranger Program is great! geocaching, astronomy, photography, nature hikes -- all things that adults like to do and kids are drawn to when they see adults taking the time to share it with them. Pam's idea of a drive-in (walk-in?) movie night sounds fun. I know we have a few artistic adults and teenagers in our group and I think they might enjoy doing some nature sketching and painting together with the younger kids.

65glbtrotter -- those are great suggestions. (Note to self: make sure unit has a Bingo game in the game box -- bag of small prizes for Bingo, enough to spread around.) Storytime and singing -- excellent ideas. I'm sure we must have some musical talent in our unit to help with this. Field games are great for burning off kid energy; tossing a softball, throwing a football around, frisbees, kites.

The boondoggle thing sounds neat. I wish I could see a picture! I could really get into learning and doing some of the old-fashioned camp crafts. Oh wait, I forgot, this is for the kids isn't it?

Many of these ideas are wonderful and simple at the same time. The hard part is remembering them when you need them, and that's why getting them down in writing like this is such a huge help. Thank you, thank you!

-J

[wheel interested]

KOA has a site for family fun where you can download audio stories or print them out, games, color your own post cards. I have all that saved to my hard drive. You'd be surprised how many times a little face shows up and sticks around. Next time I want to be prepared.
http://www.koakampgrounds.com/familyzone/

[Over59]

Originally Posted by Pam

He actually was a "teen queen

I cann't believe you outed your own kid....

[LuminumTraila]

Originally Posted by eubank

Maybe one idea would be for the region/unit to plan one yearly rally that is specifically family/child oriented. Maybe a rally at Disneyland or 6 Flags or whatever. Doesn't mean that everybody would have to attend that particular rally, or that the other rallies are designed not to appeal to families/children.

Lynn

Eubank -- This is a good idea! Two units in our region are getting together to host a family/youth rally in the fall -- the Great Pumpkin/Harvest Moon Youth Rally in Vermont. The rally theme and activities are focused on the kids, but I think it will be just as fun for adults.

Another rally that our unit is doing that I like (though I'm going to miss it this year) is a caravan during spring break week in April. Spring Break week is a good time to catch families for a caravan and a break from the winter doldrums before the camping season starts. This year they're going from New England to Amish country, Pennsylvania. Next year, I'm hoping spring break will fall near Cherry Blossom time in DC.

[rgesch]

Wonderful thread Jamie, you know you have my support! The WMNHU and the NEU are having their first YOUTH RALLY this year on October 6-9th in Townshend, Vt. "The Great Pumpkin Harvest Moon Rally". This event is for the kids. The entire weekend will be focused on the children in our combined Units.

Thanks for starting this thread Jamie!

[LuminumTraila]

Originally Posted by wheel interested

KOA has a site for family fun where you can download audio stories or print them out, games, color your own post cards. I have all that saved to my hard drive. You'd be surprised how many times a little face shows up and sticks around. Next time I want to be prepared.
http://www.koakampgrounds.com/familyzone/

Wheels -- thanks for this! I've been working on a family page for our unit's website and this will be a great link to add to it. Some others I've collected are:

http://www.gorving.com/Content/Navig...ds/default.htm (Go RVing! Cool for kids.)
www.gocampingamerica.com (fun for kids)
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/eclectic/f...pert/drive.htm (GORP's guide to driving with kids)
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/eclectic/f...pert/drive.htm (Travel Games Help Kids Learn)