Young teens away for a week by themselves - what do we need to talk over?

[myotherusernameisbetter]

My just turned 14 year old and almost 13 year old boys are going away for a week with Scouts (There will be about 7500 other teens (Scouts and Guides) there).

I trust them to behave but feel we should have a chat before they go, on the list so far:

Not fighting!
Girls....
taking care of your stuff
washing regularly
brushing teeth/hair
being respectful to others
trust your instincts
Have fun!

They have been away for 5 days with school, but not both together and have been on many, many weekend camps. Camps are a bit more "free range" than school trips too I think.

It feels different this time as they are that little bit older (and teenage-ery)

Anything else you think needs to be covered?

[BOFster]

I honestly wouldn't say much- I'm presuming a safe level of supervision and that they are reasonably sensible, or the leaders would have raised concerns, surely? Too much stating the obvious tends to go in one ear and out the other, in my experience.

[MrsLettuce]

Safe sex, I know they're 'too young' but still.

[17leftfeet]

Having spent the previous weekend on one of these camps (is it WINGS they are going to) they actually have very little free time

Personal hygiene is important -no one really cares if they wash but making sure they dry properly if they get wet, adding layers before they get cold in the evening and adequate sun protection are important

Talk to them about liquids -you dehydrate much faster if you are outside all day and if they want to avoid camp headache then they need to keep drinking

13/14 they tend to stay in groups so opportunity for sex is limited but its always worth having the safe sex talk anyway

They will get the most out of it if they mix with other units so tell them to get out there and make friends ??

[TheFirstOfHerName]

These are all based on my children's actual actions while away at camp:

Use drybags to keep clean/dry clothes separate from wet/muddy clothes.

Change your pants daily.

Use antiperspirant.

Use sun cream when necessary.

If the floor of the shower is a bit manky, then wear flip-flops. Do not wear your walking boots, thereby making them unusable for the rest of the week.

Using mouthwash is not a substitute for brushing your teeth.

[TheFirstOfHerName]

Having helped with First Aid at a massive (several thousand) camp for teenagers, most problems are due to 'lack of' syndrome.

Lack of hydration.
Lack of sun protection.
Lack of sleep.
Lack of common sense.

[BackforGood]

Agree with TheFirst

I remind mine to keep drinking water throughout the day
To Try to get some decent sleep, at least from the 3rd day in or so
and to put sun cream on.

The other stuff - helping out / looking after clothes / keeping wet stuff aired or at least separate comes form years of knowledge of going on camps, but they all seem to not drink enough, and, on a longer camp, not sleep enough.

[myotherusernameisbetter]

Thanks all, yes, the safe sex was coming under the heading of girls :)

Great suggestions especially re the drinking - even after a weekend camp they are always desperately thirsty - I usually turn up with a bottle of water when I pick them up to stop the moans.

Yes it is Wings!

They have at least a 10 hour bus journey leaving in the early hours of the morning before they even start with the non sleeping so they will be tired from the get go I think.

DS2 struggles to keep his kit organised and I usually get back a big bag of clean/dry/muddy/wet stuff all mixed together :(

I trust the leaders and they know the main one really well but i just wasn't sure how much wandering about unoccupied time they would have. It's good to know that they will be kept busy!

[17leftfeet]

There are a lot of scheduled water activities so definitely hammer home keeping wet stuff separate

The guides generally set up washing lines on the sub camps -the scouts? Not so much

[chocoluvva]

They'll be extremely busy - as other posters have said, the number one rule when organising camps for children is to have more activities prepared than time available for them, just in case. The devil makes work for idle hands as they say. The leaders will be very aware of this!

I wouldn't say too much either. Save it for important stuff and you'll have more effect. Most lots of teenage boys struggle with organisation - the leaders will be used to it.

They'll have a lovely time.

Opportunities for sex will be very limited - very few opportunities for privacy.

[myotherusernameisbetter]

17leftfeet - the length of their hair could easily qualify them as guides! Definitely sound more civilised, their Scout leader is female but i think she just gives up on them all :o

They haven't shown much interest in girls thus far but are big strapping lads (5' 10") and we have been told that the kilts stir up a lot of female interest......

It's DS2s 13th birthday on the last day