Five Things I Learned From the Boy Scouts - Be Prepared!

Ok, this is an easy one. Nothing weird like making kids take care of their own. No fancy jargon or buzz words. Just the tried and true Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.

Preparation is biggest single thing a group to do to make their visit to Washington positive. I’ll be exploring how to prepare for school groups in greater detail in the next few weeks, so let me focus today on a few simple items the Boy Scouts (and many of my “normal” groups) handled particularly well this weekend:

1. Water - With the recent heat waves, everyone who works outside, much less with kids, should be paying extra attention to keeping hydrated. But it’s not enough to just say “drink plenty of water”, especially with forty or so kids. It’s a great idea to bring bottled water, and plan on time to refill as opportunity allows. NOTE: The Capitol Visitors Center does not allow bottles, even empty ones. Feel free to pass out on their grounds.
2. Weather - DC gets a lot of rain, and wild, unpredictable summor thunderstorms are a regular feature, even if they are not the angry hand of God one we had this weekend. The time to ask “does everyone have a rain jacket” is not when you are about to get off the bus. Every single person needs to have suitable rain gear, on the bus, and not underneath, before you leave your home town.
3. Footware - This seems like a bit of unneccisary mothering, until I was guiding a group through New York City in late December. Believe it or not, several kids wore flip flops. In the slush. Got to see a lot of blue toes that week. Fortunatly, New York has a lot of places to purchase shoes at the last minute. Don’t plan on this on the National Mall. Plan for a trip to DC like you would plan to go hiking: comfortable, durable shoes; clean and dry socks; etc.
4. Sun Protection - A friend of mine remarked to me the other day that his main job as a guide is knowing where the shade so he can dash there from stop to stop. That’s a fair assessment when the heat index hits 105+. Every student should have sunscreen, and consider hats.

I know a lot of these seem “not your job” as a chaperone. And really, students are approaching an age where they can and should be responsible for these things. But I have seen each of these four items derail a tour (especially the dehydration issue!). Plan ahead, and a gentle reminder will usually suffice. Ignore them, and join me at the Emergency Room at 1 in the morning. Again!

Comments

[sam parsons]

u r right about lots of water. had six girls go down last year when we were in line outside before we had the CVC

[Lauren S. Kahn]

Every time I here someone say "Be Prepared", why do I think of Tom Lehrer? Tim, you are probably too young to know what I am talking about.