SCOUTING OUT FOR HEALTH

Scouting out for health

By Greg Nash

In every conversation covering health issues, physical and outdoor activities among things like diet, how much is dedicated to screen time (tablet devices, mobile phones, TVs, etc.), seem to make up the main key discussion points.

For this blog, I’d like to talk about the “OUT” in “SCOUT” and its relevance to health. There’s strong evidence and supporting studies backing outdoor and nature activities are more than keeping fit, but the spin-offs are mind-blowing.

Getting out in my terms, are out, out of the house, out of the scout hall, up the street, over at the park, or going bush. Strictly speaking Scout wise there are procedures to be in place before stepping out the hall, one of which is a risk assessment, so let’s say for the purpose of me getting on with this, I’ll say that’s in place, and everyone will be safe, well that is the plan.

As Children develop through middle childhood (around 5–12 years), a shift begins to occur as children strive to master the world around them (Erikson, 1981). In this period, as their social world expands, children begin to develop autonomy and independence from their parents, together with a growing sense of competence (Huston & Ripke, 2006). A good Joey Scout and Cub Scout program covers the needs of middle childhood so well.

Now I mentioned already “Scout and Out”, so let's put scout as the adventure and out as just out, the adventure is what’s there when we go out. Childhood in the middle years is full of adventure and easy to cater to once given the opportunity and that’s where the plans of a good program kick in.

Putting things simply, a good scout program will by default have health benefits, they extend children’s capacity to regulate themselves and exercise self-control, which are important abilities for the transition to adolescence (Eccles, Wigfield, & Schiefele, 1998), and they develop a sense of what they are good at, which can involve experimentation and risk-taking through physical play and other activities.

Getting out just tends to deliver these befit so easily. Looking at scout programming from Joey Scout through to Rover Scout (6 to 26 years) outdoor activities feature strongly. I have found that giving children time to explore and free-play in a bush setting supports most of their individual needs. These scouting activities are positive in many ways. They tend to be physical or active in nature, and they enable children to learn how to make decisions, solve problems, practice self-control, follow rules, regulate emotions and develop and maintain peer relationships and the scouting mantra, learning by doing.

A challenge in scouting is to ensure that children are safe while at the same time providing opportunities and space for them to take risks and develop competence and self-sufficiency. However, parental fears about children’s safety continually surface in the media and in wider public discussions. The challenge in scout safe is keeping that balance without tilting excessively towards eliminating children from risks at the potential exposure to the benefits of having opportunities of taking risks.