triticale - the wheat / rye guy

No More Field Trips

My wee wifey has been involved in Girl Scouting for decades, back to when we were dating. We have at times also worked with Campfire, Boy Scouts and 4H. In recent years she has been a trainer, teaching skills to Girl Scout Leaders which they can pass on to the girls, and right now she is working to establish troops here in the inner city of Milwaukee, where young people are desparately short of productive things to do.

One of the benefits youth groups provide young people, especially in the inner city, is broadening their horizons. A trip to the zoo, or to Old World Wisconsin, or a week at camp, will show them that there is more to live than what they see on the street and in music videos. Unfortunately, there is legislation in the pipeline which will make it far more difficult to undertake such excursions. Despite the absence of statistics demonstrating improved safety from them, Wisconsin will be requiring child car seats for everyone up to the age of eight. Since many of the girls we are trying to reach live in carless single parent households and thus would not possess a car seat, either someone will have to make a rarely-used investment or busses will have to be chartered for even the most trivial excursion. Ain't gonna happen. Instead urban recruitment will start with Juniors instead of Brownies and the results will inevitably be reduced.

Update:

Wendy notes that the foolish child seat law will discourage a lot more travel than just some Brownie Scout field trips. The entire economy of the Wisconsin Dells region is based on Flatlanders bringing their children up there. Once people start getting fined for doing so, some very large investments are not going to pay off.