The Secret behind leading scouts

The secret is that the adults have a lot of fun, in between leading, challenging, engaging and inspiring young 11 to 15 year olds.

The scouts are on camp this weekend. We challenged the patrols to make a stand for a washing up basin and drainer.
After watching for a while and spying some large piles of branches around the camp site, the leaders decided to give it a go.

We could barely tie the knots for laughing as we mucked around. You have to have a thick skin, but the teasing isn't mean or belittling, but shared out equally. I was tasked with the knotted together sticks for the drainer while the other 3 took a power tool saw to cut the required uprights. Not the straightest lengths in the world, but we agreed that they were fit for purpose. I copped it for my questionable knots, but gave it back for their choice of timbers!
My extra shows some of the leaders sittting in a cool dark part of a specially created "gold mine" for the scout camp sites. It was great, with scramble spaces, tunnels and wider spaces. The kids had a ball in the dark mine, while we came to a halt in a wider space to chat, catch up and generally enjoy each other's company in a rare moment in an active day.
If you have ever thought about joining a youth organisation as a leader, go and discover the secret for yourself!