Program Methods

This statement concerning the BSA membership policy decision was released today from the Executive Board (Link): For 103 years, the Boy Scouts of America has been a part of the fabric of this nation, providing it’s youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. In the past two weeks, Scouting has received an outpouring of feedback from the American public. It reinforces how deeply people care about Scouting and how passionate they are about the organization....

Are BSA membership policies about to change? No doubt you’ve heard about or read the following statement from the Boy Scouts of America: Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 Attributable to: Deron Smith, Director of Public Relations “For more than 100 years, Scouting’s focus has been on working together to deliver the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. Scouting has always been in an ongoing dialogue with the Scouting family to determine what is in the best interest of the organization and the young people we serve....

Here’s a selection of some pretty bold (!) neckerchiefs from Scouts UK. When we were in Switzerland I got a good look at, and swapped for some, pretty colorful neckerchiefs. Before you ask the Facebook neckerchief on eBay, and no I do not have the slightest idea about how to find one. You’ll pay some pretty high shipping rates but most of thee are available atScout Shops UK. Day-glo colors and a reflective border – the high visibility neckerchief...

Karen and John Krejcha head up Autism Empowerment and Autism and Scouting to promote Acceptance, Enrichment, Inspiration and Empowerment within the Autism and Asperger communities. They serve all ages and all abilities and seek to improve and enhance the lives of individuals and families impacted by autism. John volunteers as a Tiger Cub Den Leader in Pack 462 and assistant Scoutmaster in Troop 462 where his sons are a Tiger Cub Scout and Star Scout respectively....

Just last night we hosted a Webelos troop visit. While the visiting Webelos went off with the Scouts we asked the parents to come with us into another room and meet with the troop’s adult volunteers. The committee chairman talked to them for a bit about the basic functions and administrative things involved with having a son in the troop. When I was introduced to the parents I said a brief hello and explained that the best way for them to learn what our Scouts do and experience would be to talk to the Scouts rather than me....

I have long admired the association of the King of Sweden and Scouting. This article was recently published by the WOSM; His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden, has been actively involved in Scouting since his childhood days. In 1955 he joined as a Cub Scout with the name (totem) Mowgli and progressed to the Scout age-section in 1958. At the age of 10, as a Crown Prince then, one of his first official duties was to participate in a Scout camp in Sweden....

An article from Wilderness & Environmental Medicine Journal examines the retention of skills for those trained in wilderness first aid and concludes: Without additional training, regular use of the course content, or efforts to refresh thinking on key topics, the ability of WFA students to effectively apply their learning will likely decrease as time from training increases. With respect to these WFA courses, student scores on written tests did not accurately reflect competence in performing practical skills related to a medical scenario....

We camp in the kingdom of the timber rattler and the copperhead so I keep up on current best first aid practices for treating venomous snake bites in the field. Dr. Paul Auerbach, author of Medicine for the Outdoors, recently published an article about venomous snake bites: read the full article here. Dr. Auerbach observes; “Most bites, even by venomous snakes, do not result in medically significant envenomations.” “The most important aspect of therapy is to get the victim to an appropriate medical facility as quickly as possible....

The first two parts of this discussion deal with why Scouts make poor decisions and how we can help them decide well. **How do we react to bad decisions?**If we understand the way our Scout’s brains are working we know that reactive punishment is going to have little effect on their future ability to make better decisions. Anger or the punishments we employ may make them even more recalcitrant and drive them towards even more risky behavior....

Yesterday we looked at why otherwise intelligent Scouts sometimes make incredibly bad decisions. We understand that this has a lot to do with their developing brains. How do we help them? Asking adolescents to contemplate trade-offs between risks and benefits is ineffective because their decision making capabilities are underdeveloped. Stating the facts not only won’t help but may make them even less able to make good decisions because their decision making is skewed towards overestimating the benefits of an action....

Every once in a while a Scout does something so stunningly foolish and reckless we stop and ask; “He’s such an intelligent kid, why did he do something so stupid?” Emerging brain development research explains the sometimes stunningly bad choices adolescents make. Understanding how the developing adolescent brain works will help us help our Scouts avoid risky behavior and address the consequences of bad choices when they occur. **Why do they act this way?...

I had a few concerns over 911 calls being made by Scouts. I spoke with Eric Parry, a Emergency Response Specialist with MIsson Critical Partners: We travel and camp in some reasonably remote areas. How can we know if there is 911 coverage? To check and see if the area you will be traveling has 911 service use the coverage map at the NENA (National Emergency Number Association) website. Remember 911 coverage doesn’t mean that you’ll have cell phone service, you’ll have to check with your cell provider for that....

Thin ice and cold water boating accidents result in cold water immersion – a serious danger of winter in the out doors. Dr Gordon Giesbrecht coined the phrase 1-10-1 to describe the three critical phases of cold water immersion: 1 – Cold ShockAn initial deep and sudden Gasp followed by hyperventilation that can be as much as 600-1000% greater than normal breathing. You must keep your airway clear or run the risk of drowning....

This is the third in a series of articles about Scouting and social media; here’s the introduction, a post about youth protection issues, and some thoughts about what works. Also be sure to read the B.S.A. Social Media Guidelines. A personal profile on a social media tool that identifies us a Scout Leader makes us de-facto representatives of Scouting in general and the B.S.A. in particular. I discussed youth protection issues in a previous post in this series but the responsible use of social media as a representative of Scouting also requires us to be thoughtful and circumspect about what we say and how we say it....

This is the second in a series of articles about Scouting and social media; here’s the introduction, my guidelines for appropriate behavior and content, and some thoughts about what works. Also be sure to read the B.S.A. Social Media Guidelines. Social media tools have powerful potential for communicating with Scouts and their families to share information, supplement training and educate Scouts and adult volunteers alike. As I mentioned in the last post the Boy Scouts of America has published social media guidelines that address youth protection, privacy, appropriate content and behavior....

*This is the first in a series of articles about social media and Scouting; here’s a post about youth protection issues, my guidelines for appropriate behavior and content, and some thoughts about what works.*Also be sure to read the B.S.A. Social Media Guidelines. Our Scouts are digital natives; they don’ t know a world without computers and the internet. You and I are likely to be digital immigrants; we were raised and educated in the era before digital technology or during it’s emergence*....

Podcast Episode (00:26:36): Listen on Apple Podcasts Safety on a Scout led camping trip. Sweet Sixteen of BSA Safety Safe Scouting at Scouting.org Risk management at Scoutmastercg.com Subscribe to the Scoutmaster NewsletterCall and leave a voice mail comment or question at (484) 734-0002 Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes

In an earlier post, I reported on a poll and discussion of how the eight methods of Scouting are applied in our troop. We followed that up with a poll during the youth leadership training. It was great for discussion in that setting, and there were some interestingly different views on how our troop is doing in applying the methods of Scouting. I’ll use “+” and “-” for the strengths and weaknesses columns....

The Wilderness Medical Society published an article concerning Wilderness Communications authored by Gordon H. Worley. The article explains the technology behind wilderness communications, emergency communication, radio communications, satellite communications, casualty evacuation and helicopter evacuations. Anyone venturing past reliable cell phone range would do well to read the article and gain some understanding of current technology and its proper application. Satellite phones, personal locator beacons, and other devices are inexpensive to rent...

A hurricane of historic proportions passed through our community and the way people responded is an interesting study of human nature assessing and managing risk. A friend of ours is a officer for a local township. On the day before the hurricane was forecast to hit our area he was called to a nearby grocery store to respond to to a fight. When he arrived the fight was still verbal but it was of an intensity that alerted the store’s employees to send for help....