h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(Hot Chocolate, anyone? It is autumn, after all...)

At least, on Sunday, we had a good handful of winners. In the scouting troop, we had a patrol leader's meeting with us two troop leaders and 5 14-15 year olds.

A fruitful afternoon with discussions about roles and responsibles for patrol leaders, assistants, members, etc.

Then, before the joint dinner as a nice and social ending to the meeting, we had a exercise to build further on the success of the 50 km hike (in 1 day) that we did on the summer camp. That walk, more than just the physical exercise, was all about having the kids realise how much they can actually do once they put their minds to it. And while they ended up sore and exhausted, they were also so proud.

This one was much simpler, yet seemed to them to be quite impossible. They were each given a wooden plank/board (fir, say 25x20x1.6 cm or 10x8x0.6 in) and we told them that the objective was to break it by hitting it with the bare hands, "karate" style, in teams of two - one holding it out in stretched arms and the other doing the hit. Blank looks and incredulity ensued.

I'd only tried it once myself, so it was a bit of a stretch - but really, it is 10% strength, 10% technique and 80% focus and concentration. And of course, the latter was what we were after - again, learning by doing that if you really put your mind to it, you can really do things!

Some 10-15 minutes later, all 7 of us had indeed broken a board in two. The look on some of their faces when they hit their hand straight through the board at the first attempt was brilliant. And even so, I was mostly impressed by the guy who had trouble with it - clearly because he had trouble convincing himself that he could. And the girl who literally pushed me out of the way to take over the coaching of the guy and successfully talked him through it.

Oh, the resources there are in these kids

SG V, you're right that Scouting (or any such club affiliation) can help youngsters stretch past their own self-imposed limits. I'm thankful my Dad made me stay with the program, from Cub Scouts through Webelos to Boy Scouts. The variety of experiences and the practical knowledge I gained have been at the core of who I am as an adult. And, NO!, nothing is impossible for those who refuse to knuckle under during a wee bit of adversity. I'm glad you and the other Scout Masters are helping the kids learn this valuable lesson.

B4idigoutmyhandbook&lookupallthefauna&florainourarea

Oh, another winner here. (Just coming from reading Ivan's journal).

Well done.

At the school where my son is now they do all sorts of things to make people aware of what they can do, how they can focus etc. It is fascinating.