Monday, August 2, 2010

Survival Skills and Youth

Well its a been a while but here we go, A few weeks ago my troop went on a wilderness survival weekend where I taught them the wilderness survival merit badge. The kids built a neat little lean too with some logs and tarps and some para cord. The requirement states that they have to stay in it one night but they enjoyed it so much the next morning they worked on it some more and stayed in it another night. Witch I thought was pretty cool we all figured after one night they would want to go back to there tent cause they would feel safer and more comfortable in there. Spent that day going over and practicing various skills and hypothetical situations that could arise. I hope everyone took away something from that weekend and retains it cause whether they realize it or not they can and probably will use those skills some point in life again.

Now I tell everyone that cause I think in the age of the video game ( and no im not poking fun cause heck i play the occasional video game myself lol) but kids today I think would benefit a lot from being taught some wilderness skills and how to sustain oneself in a wilderness situation. It gives them huge boosts in confidence to see what they can do when they open up their minds and just think about things other then how to get to level 7 on some game. When you build your own shelter build a fire after cutting and gathering your own wood all that work to make yourself comfortable. You end up appreciating things you have more, cause you realize how hard life can be. In our culture we see guys like Les Stroud, Dave Canturbury, and Cody Lundin and call them survival experts, but they would be the first to tell you they are not experts they are students but not experts. When they film a show in a certain remote area they spend a few days with the natives and learn what they do everyday. For the natives its not survival its just living cause fro them there isn't a Wal-Mart down the street. Even its for a weekend or a week or so seeing how a primitive person lives without modern convinces is never a bad thing you will end up coming away appreciating what you have more then you did before.

As usual thanks for reading, and whatever you do make sure in life you blaze your own path and never follow someone elses path only you need to know where your trial is going to head.

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