This last weekend we had a joint activity with young women in our ward. We went skiing. We were going to spend a lot of our budget on this activity so I wanted to make sure we used our time and money wisely. I suggested to all of the Venture Crew that we should be working on a scouting award while we were up there. Because it was a Crew/Scout activity I suggested they all work on the Snow Sports Merit Badge. I handed out the requirements that they would need to complete in order to get the badge. I told each Young Man to come and find me to pass off the award. We followed all of the scouting rules of buddy system and trip permit to make it all official.
On the ski trip I had to Ventures come up to me and ask if I could go up with them and pass off the requirements for the "downhill" ski portion of the Snow Sports Merit Badge. I was happy to go up with them and show them what they needed to do and pass them off. I was impressed that they worked hard to demonstrate each skill. I even took them on a difficult run to get them to work on going down a hill with moguls. They did great!
One day later I was talking with one of the Crew and I was teasing him that I didn't see him once on the hill and that he missed a chance to get that merit badge. The young man turned to me (in front of his parents) and said, "I was really more interested in just having fun". I quickly replied to him, "Wrong Answer".
I need to do a better job at teaching the members of our Crew that each activity has a purpose. We are not just doing this for "FUN", there is a purpose. Fun is a byproduct of the tasks that we are working on. If we do the correct requirements, you will automatically have fun. If you just have fun without a purpose then it will fade away. Fun with a purpose lasts much longer. I will work on getting that idea across on our next activity.
