Taking turns at cooking (and washing up) for the group, working the locks and navigating the canal all require teamwork.
Social skills are developed when meeting and sometimes taking turns with other canal users.
Planning menus and where to stop for water replenishment or pumping out toilets show the group needs to think ahead.
Very good for team building. If one of the party doesn't pull his weight it soon shows.
A chance to see nature.
Very much a "hands on" experience.
The rules on the boat promote safety awareness.
Gives many their first real adventure away from home.Good for the leaders too.
Youth Worker's Comment
The benefits from taking a group of young people away on a narrow boat for a weekend are immense. Given that youth work is about developing young people both personally and socially to increase self-confidence and self esteem, the narrow boat provides a very informal environment for this development work.
Taking young people out of their immediate environment and placing them in a confined space ensures that they learn to integrate and socialise with each other in a respectful and sensitive manner. And of course, there is the independent living aspect of the residential - cooking and cleaning for many are new experiences but are beneficial in that it encourages working as a team. Residential work with young people can foster positive relationships that would normally take workers several months to develop in a youth club setting and therefore is a vital part of our work.