Putting the “outing” back into “Scouting”

COVID-19 restrictions have eased a little and permitted activities now include socially distanced outdoor gatherings with people outside of households. We can’t yet have camps, and we’re not yet able to meet back in our Scout hall, but today we could have a Scout hike. The kids were so excited to see each other (and so struggled to stay the appropriate distance apart at times), to the point where we didn’t really try to do anything formal or badgeworky, because they just needed time to reconnect. So, we enjoyed each other’s company and the pleasant but local scenery of Shag Bay.

In previous years we have often had a “cardboard box sleep out”, and we tried to continue the tradition this year with the kids challenged to sleep out at home. Not many did, but I was one of them, setting up a rain-proof fly over my head-and-shoulders-sized cardboard box near my front porch (although it was so low and tight that it was a laborious process to get in and out!).