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blimey, that's not good. way too early for me too. 8am is usually the earliest you'll see me poke my head out of the tent.

the campsite i'm going to this year is over 18's only but accepts D of E students, i hope there isn't any there...... grrr......

I'm always up at six, and can often be found sitting quietly outside my tent with a cuppa, and you would be surprised at the number of people that are actually up at this time. 
Many family sites are awake by 7.30.

Odds are that those on the Duke of Edinburgh would have been starting the day's activity around 8.

our last camping trip in June, i was so shocked when my son rose at 7am!!!! at home and previous camp trips he rises at 9.30am earliest!!!

I thought this was too early but their was other families up and dressed!!

6am though, i would have cried!!!

max

Debandandy didn`t call them yobs jakey, just said they were the noisiest bunch of DofE students they had ever met. I do agree though that it is nice that kids like ours are going out there and doing something worthwhile, rather than hanging on street corners.

My son is 15 now and taller than me and I would like to think he is a nice, polite, helpful lad. In fact I have been told he is by the people he delivers papers to every weekend and also by the next door neighbour, who asked my son where she could get her bike tyre fixed as she had a puncture and was most impressed when my son not only fixed it for her himself there and then, but refused any payment for doing so. Unfortunately it is a sign of the times today when teenage boys who wear hoodies, as my son does, are automatically viewed as trouble, I would just like to ask anyone who does come across lads like that on campsites to give them a chance, after all, it could be my helpful son you are looking at !

Oh...................I am sorry if I have slightly hijacked this thread, but I repeat,debandandy in no way labelled the DofE kids they came across as yobs, just noisy.

Thanks beezers. It wasn't debandandy that slightly wound me up, but the second poster down who would'nt want them on their campsite. Anyway probably over reacting as tired as I've just come back from guide camp this afternoon where the girls were exeptionally well behaved ,but as leaders the preparation and actual event is rewarding but tiring and one of the leaders gives up nearly every weekend to assess and run the Dof E scheme in our area. I know kids are kids but a bit of understanding and welcoming on campsites would be nice.  Believe me I've stayed on sites where middle aged couples and families have been noisier than teenagers but I wouldn't tar them all with the same brush.

jakey49, i didn't mean that i wouldn't want them there at all, sorry if it sounded that way.  i know when i was that age i would have been noisy and i wouldn't have wanted to have been woken up by me!

i'm all for teenagers doing something worthwhile, i'm on the committee at a community centre and we do all that we can to provide and find provition for facilities for todays youth.  problem is the amount of them that have this can't be bothered attitude.

Quote: Originally posted by JK98 on 06/7/2008

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Did my D of E silver back in 1969 in an old ridge tent with wooden poles, & ties (no zip) for the door.

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I did my D of E in 1986/87ish but I think we were still using your tent!!!

No cows were we camped though but lots of sheep, its amazing how noisy they are close up, like VERY VERY lound bleating!  I think a lot of respect to those youngsters doing D of E these days as it sets them apart from the masses.

GC

I feel we are very lucky as we live in the countryside, yet we are not too far from a town. Our village literally has nothing for the kids to do, but luckily my OH has always taken son fishing etc with him since he was old enough to go. Son is now 15 year old and although he does hang around at nights with the other kids, he has enough hobbies to keep himself out of mischief and stop himself getting bored. Fishing is one of his favourite past times, as is his jump bike.

Son has always been interested in taking things apart, as he has seen OH fiddle with machinery etc all his life. It was still a bit of a shock when I found him in the garden one day with his Big John tractor up on bricks with the wheels missing though! Son was four at the time and he`s been doing similar things ever since. One of his main occupations is fixing his friends bikes and I quite often find strange bikes in the garden waiting for son to bleed their brakes, fix their chains, replace handlebars etc. I know I shouldn`t complain as at least he is keeping himself occupied, but he seems to be turning my front sitting room into his repair shop

I think the problem with a lot of kids today is their parents are too busy to spend time with them. Most parents have to work full time and are then too tired to do much with the kids at the weekends. Skills that parents have learned from their parents, like fishing, knitting etc that would give kids something to do other than hang round on corners, are not being passed on due to lack of time.

That`s another reason why we love camping so much, it gives us quality time to spend with our kids. Hats off to all the kids who do their DofE and all the other activities like this and if more things like this were available in Inner City areas perhaps there would be less crime. As the saying goes, the devil makes work for idle hands!