Safety

When Should You Cancel Youth Group Activities?

June 14, 2013 By Shae Pepper Leave a Comment

One of my least favorite jobs as a youth worker is being the one to ‘call’ the trip. I hate having to decide that we can’t go to the water park, can’t ride on the coasters, can’t do the game, can’t hold the meeting and much more. I’m sure you’re reading this and completely agreeing with me. (Let’s be honest – the fun reasons above are sometimes what makes all the exhaustion worth it!)

I had to cancel a group recently while it was still 95 degrees and sunny on the weather forecaster’s ‘promise’ that a huge storm was about to hit the east coast.

I had to make the call.

Will the weather be so bad in 2 hours that I cancel it now? I had to make a decision then so that a worker didn’t come across the bridges and tunnels, so I didn’t get flooded and stuck in a different part of town, the youth didn’t come out into the rain, lightning and high winds and to determine if I needed to get the key to the center.

Safety is always first. Even though disappointing youth is second on the list of things I hate… someone risking any kind of injury is first.

So I called it. No group.

1.5 hours before the group and it was still beautiful.

1 hour before the group and it was still beautiful. OK, I’m really starting to have some guilt now.

45 minutes before the group and it was still beautiful, sun was shining, breeze was warm…. gulp.

30 minutes before the group… the sun is shining… the beautiful breeze is picking up speed… at this point I’m hoping for a storm just to justify my decision. (I know, very rational and safety minded!)

In those 10 minutes the wind whipped up and the clouds blackened out of nowhere.

20 minutes before group and this was the weather:

Crisis averted.

I made the right call this time.

I’ve also had it happen where I chose to drive through the pounding rain to get to the water park in the hope that it would clear up as promised by the weatherman (and thankfully it did!) I’ve also just about frozen some youth to death trying to paint an elderly person’s house in cool, cloudy weather. It wasn’t raining, but it really wanted to be and my youth were practically popsicles after a few hours.

Do Your Best

It’s all about doing the best you can. You’re not always going to get it right. Sometimes you throw the Hail Mary and the weather doesn’t cooperate and you have to turn around and go home.

All you can do is a physical or mental risk assessment.

For me, the danger to myself, my volunteers and my youth was too great to risk it. Yeah, I might have looked like an idiot if the weather had stalled for just one more hour.

But at the end of the day, I have to answer these questions when considering the cancellation of a group activity:

1. What’s the worst that could happen?

2. Am I willing to allow that to happen if it’s in my power to avoid it?

3. Will I be able to sleep tonight (or live with myself later) if the worst were to happen simply because I didn’t want to see sad faces or wanted to be the cool youth worker?

Personally, I can live with disappointment, as can my youth – even though they don’t think they can. But can I live with the consequences associated with high winds, freezing or high temperatures, lightning, broken tree branches, flying debris, power outages or having volunteers driving through poor conditions? How about you?

Question: When have you had to cancel a trip, outing or activity? What happened? Was it a flop or the best choice you made?

You can also connect with us by:

Signing up to receive our posts via email
Following us on Twitter
Liking us on Facebook
Signing up to our RSS feed

How To Plan A Scavenger Hunt

April 23, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Q: Can you give me any advice on how to plan a scavenger hunt? I’m wanting to organize one, but I’ve never planned one or run youth group activities off-site before.

A: There are many different types of scavenger hunt, so there are also many different ways to plan one.

However, here are 12 steps that should help no matter what kind you choose.

1. Themes

The first step is to pick a theme, as it will influence what the players have to find or the tasks that they have to complete. The theme could be based on:

A time of year (e.g. Christmas)
A location (e.g. a mall or out in nature)
An issue (e.g. hunger)

2. Items or Tasks

Decide whether you want players to find items or perform tasks. Traditional scavenger hunts involved giving players a list of items they had to physically collect, but having youth complete tasks means that you can get them to perform all kinds of funny tasks if you want.

3. Type of Scavenger Hunt

The next step is to decide how the youth should complete the scavenger hunt. There are three main types:

Collect – Players have to collect all the items on a list
Photo – Players have to take photos of items or tasks being completed
Video – Players have to take videos of tasks being completed

I tend to prefer photo and video scavenger hunts for a few reasons:

There’s less of an issue with budgets as players won’t need to buy any items
You can be more flexible with the items and tasks to include
It increases the chance for youth to be creative and funny
The photos and videos can provide long-lasting memories, plus you can use them for promoting your youth group and future events

4. Pick a Location

Next, choose where you want to hold the scavenger hunt. Malls are a great location, but they can also be done in your neighborhood, in your local town, etc.

Alternatively, if some or all of your youth drive (or if you have enough volunteers who can drive them), you can also choose to have no set location. With this option, you can let them go anywhere they need to in order to find the items or perform the tasks.

5. Safety

As you’re planning the scavenger hunt off-site, take the safety of your youth into consideration. Here are a few suggestions for how to do this:

Driving – if youth will be driving, try and have a volunteer in the car with them to ensure they don’t speed or drive dangerously in a race to complete the list
Permission slips – As you won’t be in your normal youth group meeting place, make sure you get their parent’s authorization. See our post on how to create a youth group permission slip for ideas
Boundaries – Ensure the youth are clear about the playing area for the scavenger hunt. For example, make the parking lot off-limits in a mall scavenger hunt so that there’s no danger of them running behind reversing cars
Volunteers – Try to have at least one volunteer with each team of young people. This not only helps with safety, but provides a good opportunity for relationship building

6. List

Put together a list of items or tasks (or a mixture of both) for teams to complete. Give each team a copy and give them a penso they can cross off each item or task as they find it / complete it.

Even when organizing item scavenger hunts, we also like to include bonus tasks for teams to complete. These will usually be funny tasks or require some element of creativity. For example, tasks we’ve used before have included:

I can’t believe we all fit in here!
Sitting on Santa’s knee
Lay on the floor in a public place and spell out a word using your bodies

7. Resources

Make sure all the players / teams have all the resources they need, like:

Scavenger hunt lists
Pens
Cameras (cell phones should be OK)

8. Time Limit

Set a time limit that teams need to have collected the items / completed the tasks by. To encourage them to return promptly, penalize teams 1 point for every minute that they’re late – let them know this in advance.

9. Meeting Place

In addition to specifying a time they need to be completed by, also let teams know where they need to meet at the end. This might be in the food court of a mall, your church or community center, etc.

10. Rules

Specify any additional rules for your scavenger hunt. In particular, emphasize any expectations you have for their behavior. Remind them of what they’ve previously committed to if they’ve signed a group agreement.

You can also find some suggestions for scavenger hunt rules here – many of the rules will be applicable even if it’s not played at a mall.

11. Points

Let teams know how the scavenger hunt will be scored. If you’re planning on having them complete tasks, will certain tasks attract more points based on the level of difficulty?

Similarly, if there are bonus items or tasks that they need to find or perform, give them an idea as to how you’re planning on scoring them. Will points be awarded based on creativity, how funny they are, if they got members of the public involved, etc?

12. Slideshows

If you’ve decided to plan a video or photo scavenger hunt, one of the best parts is seeing each other’s photos and videos. Therefore, try to incorporate time to watch all of these at the end – this is usually the funniest and most memorable part of youth group activities like this!

Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Now that you know how to plan a scavenger hunt, take a look at our separate site – called Scavenger Hunt – for loads of ideas, many of which can be easily tailored for youth groups. We also have 10 ideas on this site specifically for teenagers.

You may also like our book – 52 Scavenger Hunt Ideas. All of these ideas were written with youth groups in mind and each one includes lists that you can photocopy as many times as you like.

Question: What other steps do you include when planning scavenger hunts? Let us know in the comments below.

You can also connect with us by:

Signing up to receive our posts via email
Following us on Twitter
Liking us on Facebook
Signing up to our RSS feed

Should We Use The Same Youth Retreat Center Again?

February 19, 2013 By Shae Pepper Leave a Comment

Q: I was unhappy about something the last time we used a youth retreat center. I’m not sure if we should go back to the same place or find somewhere new – what do you suggest?

A: Depending on the situation, I certainly can’t suggest you return to a retreat center you felt uncomfortable with, but with good communication you may not need to end the professional relationship with that center – it may have been a one off.

If you do decide to use a new youth retreat center though, try these three things when choosing one so you can be proactive in avoiding possible issues during your stay:

1. Do your research

The internet is full of information and reviews about centers all around the world. Take the time to compare and contrast the companies, find reviews and call or email the center for more information. You’ll be able to get some ideas about how they do business and what a retreat might look like with them.

2. Go somewhere you know or where someone you trust has been

There’s a reason word of mouth is so powerful to businesses. Often people trust people, that people they trust, trust.

3. Visit the center yourself while activities are going on

Even though someone you trust has used a center, you’re ultimately responsible for the safety and enjoyment of your youth on the trip. Take the time to watch staff lead activities, interact with one another and youth and get a feel for the retreat center culture (is everyone happy, grumbling, bored, etc?)

Once you’re on a retreat it’s really important to remember that this a service you’re paying for, so you deserve to have things done right, in a way that you prefer and which takes the safety and enjoyment of your youth into account.

The Importance Of Communication

The key is all about communication. If you have an issue with staff at the center, make sure you take your issues immediately to the center management, especially if it’s a safety concern.

I was on a retreat once and was participating in a trust game with my young people. The center staff were observing the activity as they were running it and one of our youth didn’t have a partner. I was blindfolded for the trust activity. The entire group spread out over a large field during the activity. Two youth got into a disagreement and one walked off into the woods. It wasn’t until 5 minutes later when the game ended and I removed my blindfold that I was aware a youth had left the grounds. When I asked the staff where the youth went, they just shrugged. We searched for our youth for over 45 minutes – he was found safely hiding in the toilets.

The young person did get a talking to about walking off without notifying our staff (me or my colleague) about the issue. Time and space is certainly acceptable, but I’m responsible for the youth’s safety and I’d appreciate a heads up about their whereabouts.

The larger issue here was the attitude of the staff. They saw the entire situation happening and were trained retreat center staff – not just some volunteers who had no idea about how to run a group or keep youth safe, particularly in the woods. I immediately documented the incident and went to the management of the retreat center. They were apologetic but didn’t offer any real solutions to the problem other than to ‘look into it.’

Sometimes, even with preparation and planning, things can go wrong and accidents can happen. But, if you just don’t feel good about returning to a center, then don’t. However, if you feel like the retreat center did everything possible and you’re willing to give them another try then do it.

In my situation, even though our organization had used that center before, I decided to find other youth retreat centers for future trips based on my personal experiences. I was able to find a center that placed youth safety first and worked with me to ensure that youth had a safe and enjoyable time. They listened and acted on any concerns or questions I had about activities and group dynamics and worked hard to make sure that everyone in our group – myself included – felt great about our retreat experiences at their center.

Question: Have you ever had problems with a retreat center? How did you deal with the situation? Let us know in the comments below.

You can also connect with us by:

Signing up to receive our posts via email
Following us on Twitter
Liking us on Facebook
Signing up to our RSS feed

The Youth Retreat Volunteer You Need To Have

January 22, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Q: I’m planning a youth retreat and am trying to make a list of roles I need volunteers to fill. Are there any roles people don’t normally consider that I might have missed?

A: There are many different roles that need filling by volunteers on a youth retreat. We’ve outlined many of these in our youth retreat book, but here is one that you may not have considered:

Designated Emergency Contact

We’re not talking about having emergency contact details for parents and guardians, although that is something that should always be included on the registration form.

Instead, we mean having someone who’s a designated emergency contact for the youth retreat for both parents and yourself. This should be an adult who’s available 24 hours a day for the duration of the retreat. They don’t have to be one of your regular volunteers, just someone who’s willing to perform this role.

Phone Numbers

This responsible adult should be given phone numbers for:

All the parents
Yourself
All the other volunteers at the youth retreat
The retreat center
Any other location you might visit (e.g. theme park, climbing center, high ropes course, etc)

Why You Would Call Them

If you have any emergencies at the youth retreat and need to contact parents, you can call this person who can then communicate with the relevant parents. This means that you only have to explain the situation once and can focus on the emergency on hand, rather than potentially having to call several parents.

Why Parents Would Call Them

If parents have an emergency (e.g. a family member has passed away unexpectedly), they can call the emergency contact who can then call you.

Having someone perform this role ensures that you won’t be interrupted at inopportune times by parents who don’t have an emergency, but who just want to make sure that their little Johnny isn’t feeling homesick. This middleman can therefore make a judgment call to decide if they should contact you immediately.

For situations that aren’t an emergency, you could pre-arrange a time for this volunteer to call you each day – one that fits in with your youth retreat schedule, such as during free time or at lunch.

Recruiting a designated emergency contact as a stay-at-home volunteer therefore helps ensure you have a safe youth trip by having an effective communication structure, while also ensuring you don’t get interrupted by non-emergency phone calls.

Question: What one youth retreat volunteer do you consider to be essential? Let us know in the comments below.

You can also connect with us by:

Signing up to receive our posts via email
Following us on Twitter
Liking us on Facebook
Signing up to our RSS feed

5 Top Tips For Safe Youth Trips

June 27, 2012 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

When you’re planning a youth trip, the safety of your young people is of utmost importance. You can’t guarantee that there will never be any problems when organizing off-site activities, but there are a number of things you can do to help mitigate risk.

Here are Youth Workin’ It’s 5 Top Tips For Safe Youth Trips:

1) Perform A Risk Assessment

If you’re planning a trip to the beach, a hike in the mountains or any number of other activities, there are different hazards that you’ll need to be aware of. Performing a risk assessment will help you identify those hazards and put in place any necessary precautions.

Check out our guide on how to do a risk assessment – this includes a free and downloadable risk assessment template for you to use.

2) Take photos

No matter what kind of youth trip you’re organizing, there’s always the possibility that a young person could go wandering off by themselves and be separated from your group.

Before you go on the trip, we recommend taking photos of all the young people with your cellphone. That way if someone does get lost, you can easily show the police, theme park staff or whoever a picture of the missing person.

3) Get Permission Slips

If you’re organizing any kind of activity that’s different to what you normally do at your youth group or youth project – especially if it’s off-site – ensure that you have parents sign a permission slip for the activity. That way you’re covered if someone gets hurt or anything else happens.

These slips should also have space for any necessary medical information about the young people. If you want to organize a safe youth trip, you’ll need to be aware of some of the following things:

Do they have any allergies?
Do they have epilepsy?
Are they on any medication?
Are they diabetic?

4) Collate Contact Information

Having the right contact details for everybody is vital, especially in the case of a medical emergency on the youth trip. Here are a few safeguards to put in place:

If youth have cellphones with them, save their numbers in your phone or make a note of them
Provide parents with contact details for someone in charge. This doesn’t necessarily have to be you – it could be a central contact point for somebody at your organization who can relay any messages on to you or vice versa
If you do have a central contact point other than yourself, make sure that person has all necessary phone numbers as well

5) Provide Leadership Packs

If you’re planning a youth trip, it’s unlikely that you’ll be the only leader going. You should therefore put together packs for all your leaders/volunteers with the following information:

Any information from the risk assessment that they should be explicitly aware of, along with any precautions they should take
If you’ll be splitting into separate groups, provide photos of the young people they’re in charge of (or have them take photos on their own cell phone)
Any important health information relating to the young people. If splitting into groups, you only need to provide information for the young people they’ll have with them
Details of who they should contact in an emergency, along with their phone numbers
Details of a meeting point in case you get separated

Following all 5 of these safety tips will minimize risk and keep you and your young people safe, helping all of you to enjoy whatever you have planned for your youth trip.

Question: What other tips would you give to have a safe youth trip? Share your ideas in the comments below.

You can also connect with us by:

Signing up to receive our posts via email
Following us on Twitter
Liking us on Facebook
Signing up to our RSS feed