This is a real touchy subject and needs to be handled quite carefully. The put-in talk is the best place to communicate the rules and guidelines for your trip. It doesn't hurt to discuss why jack rabbit paddling (racing downstream ahead of the group), tortoise paddling (or endless play time), or walking away from the group without letting someone know affect every one adversely. Describe briefly why you enjoy river running so much and how litter detracts from this experience. Most people think discipline issues are pretty much for children and they are sadly mistaken. Some children have an abundance of energy and a limited attention span, keeping them busy with various activities will certainly cut down on behavior issues.

One major topic to discuss is "Challenge by Choice". You really need to empower the participants to make their own decisions on whether to run certain rapids or not. Let everyone know it is not acceptable to coax or dare someone into running any rapid. Offer to help with the portage when it looks like someone is unsure of themselves as it makes the decision much easier and saves a great deal of time.

On club trips, I typically have a responsible adult for all young children on the trip - a one-to-one ratio. This makes it easy for early removal if necessary. If you are leading a bunch of children with just one helper, you will need to keep them for the entire trip.

When working with a number of young children, you personally have to be on your best behavior. The trip leader sets the example starting with time management and coolness/patience under pressure. Maintain this example by sticking to schedules so everyone has clear expectations. Avoid shouting (or using your safety whistle) as it leaves the impression you have lost control. Keep children busy on various activities and reward with earned praise. A small example is finding a spot in the river with several eddies that are easy to attain and running eddy drills. Another really fun one is throw rope practice in a deep and wavy current with a pool below. You can structure the throw rope practice to reinforce team work. Wading wedge crossings also build team work - just pick a safe area to do this exercise. I highly recommend having extra adults when leading a bunch of young children as it provides more options and more good examples as well. Take bullying very seriously - no tolerance whatsoever. The same goes for any taunting. You can't leave a young child on their own but you can isolate them by pairing with an adult for the remainder of the trip. Basically you rearrange your paddling partners and keep the two quite separated. This topic should be discussed as part of the challenge by choice discussion and made clear we have no tolerance for this behavior. Participants that bully others are no longer welcome on your future trips and will be isolated immediately.

Scouting organizations across the country deal with situations like these all the time and have dealt with discipline in a number of different ways as you would expect. Here are a few articles with some tips:

• Cub Scout Discipline
• Boy Scout Discipline
• Dealing With Problem Kids

As a trip leader, you need to be concerned about the paddling abilities of your participants. It becomes even more critical when leading on more difficult novice level runs. It is always hard to tell someone that is swimming most of the rapids they need to take-off for their safety and the group's safety as well. Trip leaders need to perform adequate screening prior to the trip. Another concern are boater/s that just show up at the put-in. A good case can be made for controlled distribution of the float plan to only registered participants and helpers. This makes it more difficult for last minute participants to join your trip.

What are some decent techniques for screening participants? I shy away from the typical have you paddled class II whitewater or taken formal classes. Many troublesome boaters will overstate their abilities. There are also some paddling schools that never take their students on real whitewater runs either and simply stick to Anglers Inn. A much better approach is to ask them what local streams they have paddled and then ask them what their favorite rapids were and why. Ask them what kind of boat they are paddling as this can also provide some decent clues. Ask if they have all the gear they need or if they need to borrow equipment. You will also do a gear inspection at the put-in as well to eliminate bike and hockey helmets as well as loose fitting gear. Do they have a flat-water roll or have they tried this skill? These are all friendly questions that will help you determine if this trip is suitable for the participant.

On beginner runs, you will have a much wider variance of skill sets and equipment. Sit on tops and recreational boats can be fairly common and work perfectly well. One area of concern is swimming ability. Although a properly fitting PFD will float a swimmer, people that don't know how to swim will often panic when upside down and when they get pulled underwater swimming over drops. Ask if everyone knows how to swim - a very crucial safety question. In my opinion, no one should take up this sport if they can't swim without a PFD 50 yards in flat-water. This sport will scare the living daylights out of them (and perhaps you as a trip leader as well). One innocuous way of determining water comfort is to have everyone perform a wet exit - one participant per instructor/helper. I combine this with the typical hand signal for a bow rescue while upside down. Persons uncomfortable with water will try not to perform this crucial exercise or skip the hand signal and exit their kayak is about one millisecond - LOL. You can then ask them about their swimming comfort and perhaps have them demonstrate that ability. If they can't swim and wet exit appropriately, they shouldn't be allowed on your trip.

Pick short runs 5 miles or less for beginner trips. I also like to avoid long flat-water paddling as well especially upstream. Most beginners will be pretty tired after a full day of paddling. Start in flat-water and set up a short course with objects to paddle around. Have everyone paddle the course to see how well they can paddle their kayak. Provide tips where necessary. By now you should have a good handle on the skill levels of your participants and where to place them in the paddling party.

Many trips I lead are labeled as "Work Outs". These trips provide lots of training opportunities as well as a fun river run. I cover both paddling skills and a number of rescue skills as well. These trips are very popular even for the helpers.

Trip leaders spend a great deal of time planning for their trips. Some trips are more challenging that others. If you are traveling on US Parkland or need access from private property, you will probably need to secure permits or gain permission. I like to do this task early on so I can reserve the best dates possible. When I plan my annual Lower Yough raft/kayak trip, I purchase the permits at the beginning of the new year for a trip in July - 6 months in advance. This is necessary since the Lower Yough is very popular indeed. Once you gain written permission, print a copy and store with your gear to avoid any misunderstandings on the day of the trip.