[MR] Teenagers and Pennsic

Sat Aug 16 06:44:20 PDT 2008

    Reading these replies are interesting. I am sorry if I was not real clear in my first message as I was on pain killers. The point of the message was not that the kids were a problem, but the adults. Their perceptions and impolite actions to the kids are a symptom common to SCA people seeing young adults slacking about. We are supposed to be a society based on chivalry and good manners. WHen we do not practice what we preach, we appear as hypocrites which is something kids pick up on quick. As Sir Tosh said, some of these kids are at Pennsic due to parents being involved, any negativity they pick up from adult role models will turn them off even more if they even thought they might want to make SCA a hobby.

    One of the things I have not been vocal enough about is how we, in Atlantia and perhaps the Society, keep trying to re invent the wheel concerning kids and young adults. We have a pages acadamy and youth combat system that are struggleing, and we have a lot of talk about having the kids "Do something in the SCA." We use the term "Youth  Activities." when we all know that youth do not like to be that active! 

    I grew up in the Scouts, my Dad is still involved. The most successful troops are the ones that have the Kids running things, the most unsuccessful are the ones where the Parents tell the kids what they are supposed to do. Now distance is the biggest problem against this, you can't have regular troop meetings every week when the kids are spread out over 5 states. However at Pennsic you do see some of that structure come around purly by the interactions of the younger and older teens. So, after some thought, here is the germ of a idea that any who wants to can help me out with:

    The young adults (13-21) need a sheltered area with power to hang out in. (Power for light and recharge of cell phones. Yes not period but one of the reasons they like hanging out at the Bath house.) We have a few (about 4) Abults to act as advisors, and about 10 t0 15 older teens to act as proctors. (We can even have some sort of sash or badge for them to designate them.) The proctors take turns hanging out in the bath house to keep things in line, do a clean up every 6 hours, and take care of problems with adults with problems on the lowest level. When things cannot be handled on the lowest level, then the Adult advisors get involved as gobetweens. The Advisors check in with the Proctors at ramdom times of the day to see how they are doing. If there is a kid that is constantly disruptive, then the proctor can get Security involved. Keep adult involvement to a minimum so as to not alienate the youngsters

    Notice this is not a babysitter service nor a teen camp, this is utilising what is already there.(Older kids looking our for the younger) It is how a good scout troop is supposed to be run, with the older kids running things and the adults there to make sure it does not become a 'Lord of the Flys" situation. If we do this right, we can have future leaders coming out of something like this, and hook more kids into the SCA. The Worker bees will be doing most of this, but that is good too. With the worker bees ID'ed, those are the ones we can encourage and nurture into our Society. ALso if the kids realy get into this, you can ask them to do service projects around the site with the proctor supervising. (Maybe a level or organisation beyound their ablities, who knows.)
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: GREG FABIC<mailto:gfabic at prodigy.net> 
  To: Merry Rose<mailto:atlantia at atlantia.sca.org> 
  Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:11 PM
  Subject: [MR] Teenagers and Pennsic

  Greetings,

  I am a parent of 2 teens who have been brought up in
  the Society (my daughter is almost 15, my son is now
  19). My daughter is VERY active in SCA, my son is not.
  I have read all the postings on this issue (so far)
  and wish to post my experiences/thoughts.

  I try to always keep in mind that this is MY CHOSEN
  hobby. My children have had to come along whether they
  wished to or not. Yes, I said 'had to'. (Let's not get
  into discussions about day care, camp grandma and
  other such ways of "unloading" the kids. Sometimes you
  can, sometimes you can't.)

  I have been quite grateful that the 'bathhouse' has
  been a refuge for my son. Although he does some
  service, this hobby was not of his choosing. Should he
  be made to spend his 2 weeks doing things the SCAdian
  way just because he was given no choice? 

  In all the years that my children have spent time with
  their peers at the 'bathhouse' I have never once been
  disrespected. Sometimes they DO use foul language, but
  what teen doesn't when they're with their own age
  group? And if they notice an adult around, they
  usually apologize.

  As for a 'teen camp', well it might work at a Kingdom
  event. Unfortunately, the conditions which make it a
  requirement to be the parent or full legal guardian of
  a minor at Pennsic would negate such an endeavor. And
  even if it were possible, who would volunteer to staff
  it? We don't get enough volunteers at Pennsic as it
  is!

  Personally, I have no doubt that the Pennsic staff and
  the Cooper's will review the situation and come up
  with  a solution, if it is required. 

  If you have suggestions, the mayor for Pennsic 38 is
  Baron Illiame Uaine. He can be reached at
  mayor38 at pennsicwar.org<mailto:mayor38 at pennsicwar.org>

  Thanks for your time (now let the flaming begin),
  Livia of Ravenswode
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