Notes for the folks…
Parents, are you:
- looking for a way to instill a love of the outdoors in your kids?
- yearning to get back into a lifestyle of some healthy exercise, but feeling pinned down by family commitments?
- then orienteering and the Young Orienteers Challenge is just what you need
Orienteering is something you can do as a family. When your children get too good and fast for you, don’t worry, you can do the courses by yourself. The youngest people on a course will be around 4 and the oldest over 70.
The annual Buddy Badges are designed to give children regular rewards for participation through stamps, certificates and badges. You don’t have to join an orienteering club to get the participation Buddy Badges, but you do need to join a club for your children to move onto the Skills Quest. There are many benefits to joining an orienteering club and we would encourage you to do so even if you are not yet taking up the Skills Quest.
The Skills Quest is designed as an age-appropriate system (starting at around 5 or 6 years of age) to teach and learn orienteering. It should take children six years to collect all the Skills badges (there is no requirement that they must collect them all – they can skip badges). We need you to be involved in this Quest by helping your children to understand the instructions they receive at events and to sign off that that they have mastered a skill or finished a game. Don’t worry, there will be lots of help on hand. It is easier and more fun than signing off those daily home workbooks – you learn orienteering skills too!