I’ve often heard about the difficulty of recruiting adult help from other Scouters and I wonder, sometimes, if it has to do with the way we ask? When the coffee is flowing and the discussions range wide we volunteers commiserate with each other. How many times have you heard things like: “Why are we the only ones who will do this?” “How come I can’t get anyone else to help?”...
“It’s a little hard to say exactly what I learned in Boy Scouts. Certainly, I learned camping skills that I have enjoyed using ever since: skills ranging from selecting a good campsite to making a fire, from tying knots and throwing lashings to basic first aid, from using a map and compass to finding north with just what nature provides in the moss, the stars, and the sun. I know I improved my skills as at reading aloud to a group, and in public speaking....
This is third in a series of three posts about the Scout Meeting and Outing Attendance Survey. Part one, and two. Respondents to the survey noted that ‘fun’ was an important element that encouraged Scouts to attend outings and meetings. How do you define ‘fun’? How do we put more ‘fun’ into the program to make it more attractive? FRIENDS ARE FUN Scouts are strongly motivated to hang out with their friends – it’s a primal instinct....
This is second**in a series of three posts about the Scout Meeting and Outing Attendance Survey. Part one is here and part three is here. We know that there are complimentary activities that can conflict with our Scout’s attendance at meetings and outings. here’s what survey respondents reported about what keeps Scouts away and what draws them in – let’s look at meetings first: The results for outings stated similar things but the power to influence was different;...
This is first**in a series of three posts about the Scout Meeting and Outing Attendance Survey. Part two is here and part three is here. Here’s the results from the Outings and Meetings Attendance Survey. 48 different troops responded to the survey, most have between 20-40 Scouts: The vast majority meet weekly: Most see 50-75% at unit meetings Most troops conduct monthly outings or events 25-50% of Scouts attend these outings or events...
Once in a while a young, energetic Scout leader bounds up on my front porch here and says: ‘I have a great new idea!’ The old Scouter grips his cane, stares over his bifocals and replies ‘There is nothing new – now get off my porch!’ They walk away muttering under their breath ‘ What a curmudgeonly, cane waving, old man!’ No one has actually called me that (at least not yet)....
Parents (especially mothers in my experience) are the family scheduler; keeper of the family calendar and maker of schedules. We need a direct, accessible and detailed line of communication with parents (again, in my experience, especially mothers) if we expect to have Scouts attending outings and meetings. Shouldn’t the Scouts themselves be responsible for this? Shouldn’t they know their own schedule and make plans accordingly? In the best of all possible worlds I would like to see that happen but it’s not likely the way that most of the families we serve conduct business....
This announcement from the B.S.A. is nothing new but I’ve had questions about it recently – here’s the way the college reserve works: Does your troop or team have a Scout who has turned 18 and is away at college, on a mission, or in the service and wants to stay registered in the unit? That situation occurs quite often, and until now the choices were to register them as an assistant Scoutmaster, register them with the council as College Reserve, or drop them....
Here’s what readers replied when asked to finish the sentence “I’d really like to see more resources about” Many answers reflected the never-ending search for new ideas: Troop program ideas Any new ideas for troops to do other than just camping Activities that other troops do. Troop meeting ideas Fun crafts and outings Let’s rememeber that it’s youth leaders who are planning and running troop and patrol meetings and outings not adults....
When asked what specific online resources they used when looking for information about program ideas. Respondents listed a range of specific websites: Ask Andy Questions and answers in an advice column format backpackinglight.com Great Backpacking information and gear reviews Baloos bugle Cub Scout program newsletter BoyScoutTrail.com General Scouting program ideas Bryan on Scouting. Scouting magazine’s official blog Byron’s Dutch oven page Inquiry.net Rick Seymor’s immense library of Scouting literature. insanescouter.org General Scouting program ideas meritbadge....
The survey asked about two distinct types of information -information related to policy and procedure and information dealing with program plans and ideas. Policy and Procedure The majority of respondents cite Scouting.org (the official Boy Scouts of America website) as their go-to source to learn more about policy and procedure. It’s generally my first resource too – but I find it terrifically frustrating to use. The search feature at Scouting.org is practically useless using the Chrome browser, (it never seems to work for me)....
Our most recent survey sought to rack how we are answering questions, finding information and improving our skills as Scout leaders. Some of these resources are online, some are offline but Scouters responding to this survey are much more dependent on online resources – no big surprise there! Who responded? 51 Scout leaders replied to the survey and identified themselves as follows: Many respondents wear more than one hat in Scouting – not surprising, but not the best situation either....
Larry Geiger has served as a Scoutmaster for two different troops so that means he has transitioned in and out of the Scoutmaster role more than most of us. I asked him to write about these transitions and offer his advice. In 1981 in Lawrence, Kansas Ed Burgess (here’s Ed with five Eagle Scouts) had served as Scoutmaster for 50 years. In 1987 when I moved away from Lawrence Ed was still Scoutmaster....
We are all working towards the troop where Scout leaders are not leading, up front, talking much ( if at all). Our aim is that , the vast majority of the time, Scouts are leading Scouts and we are far in the background. I am not advocating that adults should be continually present monitoring for bad behavior. This technique works not only for Scoutmasters but for senior patrol leaders and patrol leaders too....
Scouting’s policies and procedures, the rules that create the Game of Scouting, are not intended to check the ardor, interest or inventiveness of Scouts but to guide their efforts towards the aims of Scouting and to keep them safe A common problem arises when we misunderstand the place of a specific Scouting procedure or policy. Sometimes they seem helplessly inefficient or circuitous so we attempt to fix them. But like the rules of a game define how the game is played the policies and procedures of Scouting define how we reach the aims Scouting....
Ten skills Scoutmasters needbased on The Ten Essentials of Scoutmastership penned by William ‘Green Bar Bill’ Hillcourt were part of the Scoutmaster’s Handbook for many years. 1. A belief in boys that will make you want to invest yourself and your time on their behalf. As Plato said “Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable”. But our work is not merely managing boys as if they were our employees, teaching boys as if they were students in a classroom or preaching to boys as if they were our congregants....
How are we doing? Are we hitting Scouting Aims? Scouting has many measures for success; finances, membership, activity, advancement, training, miles hiked, feet climbed, distances paddled, roads biked, all serve to give us different perspectives but only partially and imperfectly answer the question. We may strive to distinguish our efforts by producing impeccably uniformed Scouts who can tie every knot in the book, whip up impeccable dutch oven feasts, and win contests....
Tradition is a form of complacency and innovation is a form of restlessness. Complacency resists change: “We’ve always done it that way” “Nobody would like that change” “We don’t get any complaints (well, one or two from people with sour grapes.)” “People will get confused if we change that.” Innovation begins with inquiry: “Why are we doing things that way?” “Is what we are doing actually achieving our goals?” “Is the cost of staying the same greater than the cost of change?...
Essayist and Critic William Deresiewicz delivered a lecture to the plebe class at the United States Military Academy at West Point in October 2009 concerning Solitude and Leadership. What follows is my condensed version of his key ideas: … Solitude is one of the most important necessities of true leadership. … (Generally when we) talk about training leaders (we mean) educating people who make a big name for themselves in the world, people with impressive titles,… People who make it to the top....
Earnest Shackleton set out to cross the Antarctic on foot in 1914. When his ship Endurance became trapped and subsequently destroyed Shackleton and his crew spent the next two years rescuing themselves. Shackleton’s leadership has been closely studied in recent years as an example of adaptation to tremendously difficult circumstances. We’re unlikely to experience anything near the physical privation, harshness and length of Shackleton’s misfortunes as Scout leaders. What we will share is the mental and spiritual challenge to adapt, to seize opportunities and to make good....