A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
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Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#2“with only a primitive GPS to indicate the right direction”
... so these kids are more at risk of being kidnapped than they are of getting lost.
I’ll admit that I think it’s a bit weird to make kids walk home in the night, but the author does a terrible job of making it sound suspenseful. This activity has gotten a lot safer since GPS became widespread. I kind of feel bad for anyone that went through this in the 80’s, they might have actually gotten lost and had to knock on a farmer’s door for directions.
Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#3I too have fond memories of droppings in my boyscout times (Belgium) ... I remember a particular one where we had to find our way through a forest before midnight ... it was then followed-up by midnight (catholic) mass at an abbey close to the edge of a forest to calm us down (bummer) ... another one was a multi-day thing where we had to find our way in small groups. As described in the article there were adults observing us but refusing to help. There were also staged “kidnappings” where we had to free the kidnapped at night. Pretty crazy thinking about that today but it was pretty much normal at the time (eighties) & I am sure a lot more vivid for impressionable kids ... overall I give a 9/10 rating ... “would recommend let your kids get kidnapped at night in the forest”
Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#4 Personally, I find child droppings to be some of the most difficult to get out of the sofa, and I always regret not using a thicker diaper.
Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#5I too have fond memories of droppings in my boyscout times (Belgium) ... I remember a particular one where we had to find our way through a forest before midnight ... it was then followed-up by midnight (catholic) mass at an abbey close to the edge of a forest to calm us down (bummer) ... another one was a multi-day thing where we had to find our way in small groups. As described in the article there were adults obse…
We had something similar in school in Sweden. We were to walk a path in the woods at night to get back to camp. And the teachers would jump scare us along the way. In retrospect I wonder how well that would be received today. We were 12 or so, in the 80s.
Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#6The Dutch woods are not very big and not very far from the cities. You could get lost but you can always hear the highways and there is cell coverage everywhere. And the most scary thing you could come across is a wild boar, there are no dangerous animals. There were 2 or 3 wolf sightings the past 2 years, but they stay away from noise. Anyway I think Dutch kids are balsy enough to scare any wolf away. (Or a human predator, if they would even roam the woods..)
I've always enjoyed "droppings" as they are called. There were no cell phones when I did it as a kid..I can't remember if we had a compass or not..
Oh and its not exclusive for scouting, it's also done on birthdays, I guess it happens more in places where there are woods nearby, so more towards Germany and Belgium.
Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#7Can confirm (Dutch). I've been on a few droppings at night.
Notice the woods in Holland are incomparable to an American scale forest.
I can even nuance that you don't need to be a scout. This is fairly normal even to do on school trips or any other group/club of friends. We didn't even have GPS at the time, but just a map and a compass. You just need to have enough volunteering adults to catch any kids that go rogue. As long as you instruct the kids to stay together (they will, as they are typically a bit scared) it should be fine, especially if you place a few volunteers not too far out.
Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#8> ‘It shows you, even in very hard times, to keep walking, to keep going,’ [Stijn] said. ‘I have never had to do that before.’
I recently read Dinner of Herbs and Going to the Wars, two books by a fellow who was a British commando in the Second World War who was captured by the Italians, escaped and had to make his way across country, living off the land and thanks to the kindness of local peasants.
One of the things which really struck me was the mettle he & his comrades showed. I don’t know how many folks nowadays would have the same character — but I think young Stijn has a better chance than most. AS do probably many other Dutch kids.
Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#9Yes, I have fond memories of these. These were often seen as the highlight of a week of camping. In my youth we did not have mobile phones, even not everybody had a phone at home. Because the Netherlands is so densely populated, it is very difficult to find a place where there are no lights visible. I remember that usually, we knew within 10 minutes where we were and in which direction we had to walk. Never met any wild animal. Never felt I was in danger. I remember that in my youth, it was very normal to be away from home on your own. When I was about 12, I would go on biking trips of 20 miles and more, all on my own. When I returned after some hours and my mother would ask me where I had been, I just told her that I had been biking and she would be happy with the answer. Of course, she knew me and knew that I was careful person and would not do stupid things.
Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods
#10In Belgium we do this as well. It does sound a bit strange perhaps, but for us it's not something worrisome.