This weekend we went camping at the beautiful Camp James Ray on the Texas Oklahoma border. We had one Varsity Scout, 4 Scouts and one 11 year old Scout and his Dad. The boys did everything. We didn't do a thing for them. They led themselves, they set the program and we followed their lead. We gave advice when they asked. It was a great use of the Patrol Method.
Saturday's lesson was on fire building. I had purchased some magneseum matches a few months back and whipped those out for the boys to try. My Assistant Coach helped me show the boys how to use them. In 18 minutes my AC and I had started two fires but we were unable to get our twigs started for a fire. The boys mocked us.
So their turn came around and at 20 minutes they had not been able to start a fire. So I told them they could use one match. Both teams stared at me. I asked "Don't you have any matches?" Not a single boy had brought a match. I couldn't believe it. A couple boys told me that their parents don't allow them to have matches. I couldn't believe it. What is a Scout without a way to start fire?
The wind was working against them and they allowed the wind to blow out their matches. 5 minutes later we gave them one more. In the end we gave them 5 matches and both were able to start a fire and burn a string that we had placed above their fire pits. They were discouraged at times but in the end gathered their wits about them and were able to start the fire.
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