Reply to Reversing the Membership Decline in Girl Scouts

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
NP.  I haven't taken the training, but am curious to know what it focused on.  I can always use a refresher but feel like I've got my outdoor skills pretty well down - am comfortable solo backpacking, building a fire, navigating, top-roping, was a WEMT at one point, etc.  But I'm still anxious about the thought of leading a whole bunch of inexperienced girls doing it for the first time. [/quote]

Outdoor Cooking and Campout training is the first level of camp training and is designed to train leaders to take girls camping to established campgrounds with car parking nearby, some kind of potty and drinkable water.  MOre advanced training os for lightweight camping (no more than 2 miles from a car, pack in your own water or purify but stay in one location) and then even more advanced is backpacking.

They go over a lot -- it isn't about camping so much as it is about dealing with young girls camping away from home possibly for the first time, without their parents.   How to prepare them and to think ahead about situations that might come up.  It's a lot of progression... you build up the skills girls need.

Here are my notes from the training I took:
 
- bedwetting (esp on a 2 day over night) and how to handle, not have girl embarrassed 
- dealing with girls who needed to use the latrine at night 
- prepare girls for night noises by doing certain activities 
- how to help girls plan their own campout 
-activities that would help girls get ready to light matches and campfires (some girls are quite fearful of this) 
- how to help girls who are scared about camping without their parents.

I also learned what forms and procedures need to be followed in order to camp according to GS policies. 
Frankly the most useful part of the experience was hearing stories from the experienced leaders. Just camping experience on your own is one thing, but camping taking 12-18 girls is another thing entirely.

Syllabus of Cookout and Campout course:

Health and Safety: 
1. Use resources to identify health and safety procedures necessary for a cookout or campout with Girl Scouts

Leadership and Girl Ownership: 
2. Identify various levels of progression in the areas of outdoor skills, outdoor cooking methods, and in Girl Scouting

Ownership 
3. Use kaper charts for a cook-out or campout

Site: 
4. State the rules regarding GSCNC site maintenance 
5. State the process of securing a GSCNC campsite 
6. Use minimal impact camping procedures through proper site set-up, use and clean-up 
7. Set up, care for, and strike a nylon tent 
8. Set up, care for, and strike a tarp 
9. State the process for cleaning latrines and handwashing

Food and Cooking: 
10. Budget for and plan menus for a group, considering cultural, religious, and individual needs 
11. Prepare, cook, serve, and clean-up a simple meal outdoors. Describe how to purchase, pack and store 
food supplies for a simple meal 
12. Use the one pot, basic stick, skillet/griddle, and box oven cooking methods 
13. Demonstrate safety procedures for simple tools and kitchen implements necessary for a cookout

Fire and Stoves: 
14. Safely build, maintain and extinguish an individual wood fire 
15. Describe how to safely transport, build, maintain and extinguish a charcoal briquette fire 
16. Describe how to safely transport and use both propane and white gas portable cookstoves

Tools and Equipment: 
17. Use appropriate personal and troop equipment for an overnight experience 
18. Identify the proper clothing and accessories for activities in the outdoors 
19. Use appropriate sleeping systems for camping, including a bedroll 
20. Safely set up, use, and care for wick (lamp oil or kerosene) lanterns. Describe how to safely transport and 
store lanterns and fuel 
21. Describe the safe use of a bow saw and knife (jackknife and other sharp equipment)

Girl Scout Program: 
22. Participate in a form of grace, considering cultural sensitivity 
23. Plan and/or participate in an outdoor flag ceremony, Girl Scouts’ Own and campfire ceremony

Good idea of preparing girls:

NIGHT CONCERNS

Explore night noises and sound: 
Play games and exercises to help girls adjust to outdoor darkness. 
Practice gaining “night eyes” by keeping flashlights off for specified periods of time. Compare 
vision before and later. 
Teach “animal ears” to heighten ability to maneuver at night. Cup hands around ears. Listen and 
compare with and without hands. 
Help deal with fear of dark: 
Identify noises, calm fears; perhaps allow sleeping with lit flashlight or glowstick.

Bedwetting or soiling:

Discuss possibility with girls ahead of time. Sometimes this happens. If it does, change into dry 
clothes and put wet ones in a plastic bag. Be sure to tell an adult so the sleeping bag can be dried out. It happens; it’s not the end of the world. 
If you are aware prior to the camping trip that a girl does occasionally wet the bed, encourage the parents to send along an extra set of clothes (including sleepwear), and a leak proof plastic bag. Thoroughly wash and rinse hands after handling soiled or wet items.

Sleepwalking: 
Place known sleepwalker by a light sleeper Position adult near door 
Be aware of potential hazards

Night blindness: 
Sometimes occurs when glasses or contact lenses are removed; use the buddy system.
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