Scoutmaster Podcast

Thank you for your patience and support… … over the past several weeks I’ve been away. I’ll explain the situation in the introduction to this week’s podcast. In addition I’ll spend some time addressing two major questions raised by a recent email question, can Scouters discipline Scouts for incidents outside of Scouting? Can Scouters hold Scouts back from advancing because of their age? Two questions that we’ve talked about before, but it’s always worth discussing the broad underlying principles that provide actionable answers....

My son was frustrated, decided to change troops, and was elected senior patrol leader in his new troop. *The Scoutmaster is a man of good intentions but with a commanding presence. Over time he has taken to leading himself because it’s easier and less messy. The Scouts in this troop would like to have more say, and implement the patrol method as you talk about it.*Which brings me to my question....

I hope you had a great summer… The picture for this week’s podcast is one of my favorite campsites on Proulx lake in Ontario Canada’s Algonquin Provincial Park. We took twenty people in three crews this year and had a great time. I am glad to be back, and this week I’ll answer some of the email questions you have sent over the break. In 30+ years as a Scouter I have been through difficult situations....

In an often pessimistic world Scouting’s future is inherently optimistic. Scouting is greater than a hedge against the perilous future, or a return to a storied past. We typically associate the future with technological advances. While technology will have a big role in shaping our future there are, perhaps, greater factors to consider. Scouting is a transformative journey following a guiding star: the Scout oath and law—a simple statement of virtues and obligations that have defined stable, enlightened societies throughout human history....

Scout camp is a privilege, an opportunity, and an obligation. We get just so many great good places in life, and one of my favorites is our Scout camp. The history, names, stories and traditions are specific to our camp, but they share common threads with every Scout camp. This week I’ll share some snapshots of a our annual alumni weekend, and the message we can carry to our Scouts about these great good places....

Enjoy this 240th Independence Day! Join me for the 323rd edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast on July 11th!

Scouting is something Scouts do for themselves … … rather than a program of activities presented for them. This week I’ll discuss the way Scouts should be engaged in leading one another, in making decisions affecting what they do and how it is done. Our ideal responsive leadership role as a barely perceptible influence empowering young people to do things for themselves. We accomplish this in a progressive partnership: adult and youth roles are collaborative, not hierarchical....

21 boys boarded a boat in Poole Harbor… … they had no way of knowing they were pioneering a movement for millions of young people around the world. Several lived well into old age to vividly recount their experiences decades later. Scouting’s pathways are now worn by travel, but each new Scout today has a “Brownsea Island Moment” when they encounter a new and unexplored land, just those boys did over a century ago....

Scouting needs gardeners more than managers or officers. Scouting isn’t the science of management or military discipline, it’s much more like a garden. Gardeners prepare the ground, plant the seed, keep the weeds away, make sure there is plenty of water and sunshine and step back. Scouting is just like that. We know our Scouts need the same things but not necessarily in equal measure. They will grow at different rates; they will flower at different times and thrive in different conditions....

Are Scoutmaster’s Conferences a retest? Can assistant Scoutmasters do them? This week we’ll catch up on listener email by answering these questions and more. When it comes to Scoutmaster conferences they are explained unambiguously in teh Guide to Advancement, so none of this is a matter of opinion or a difference in style, it is very clearly delineated policy that instructs us on conducting the program. I’ll also give my best answer to helping a listener solve this problem – We have a large troop so our Scoutmaster is having difficulty getting through a large number of conferences and signing merit badge cards....

No 11-year-old boy joins Scouting to get his character developed… … and few boys join to attend troop meetings, wear the Scout uniform, or sit before boards of review. Instead, they sign up for fun and adventure. Last month Walter Underwood joined me on podcast 313 to review the first volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook. We got back together with author Mark Ray to review the much anticipated second volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook (due to be in Scout Shops by the end of June)....

What is the ninth method of Scouting? Author Mark Ray begins the second volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook with these words; Back when you first attended Scout leader training, you learned that Boy Scouting has eight methods: adult association, advancement, ideals, leadership development, outdoors, patrol method, personal growth, and uniform. Now that you’re a seasoned leader, however, you realize that there’s a ninth, unstated method: time. Sort of ties everything together doesn’t it?...

What has a Mesoamerican Step Pyramid got to do with this? Today I want to talk about leadership, but I want to see if I can get you to come along with me and really examine what this means in Scouting. Leadership in Scouting is based on discovery. I have (what I hope is a great) analogy to share with you, and this one is a whopper! It’s a really complicated analogy, you may have to go back and listen to it again....

I want to share a great source for developing your skills! Outdoor leadership is different. What works at a Troop meeting or in the boardroom does not always translate well on a week-long backpacking or canoeing trip. Scouting offers great administrative training and valuable supplemental training in outdoor skills and safety. What we don’t have is a comprehensive training course in the group dynamics of long-term outdoor trips. Author Alex Kosseff has assembled what I would call a college level course for leaders in the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) Guide to Outdoor Leadership....

Lots of answers that you may find useful! It’s been a little while since I answered some email questions, so this is catch-up week. Listen as I talk about several different questions listeners have sent in over the past couple of moths, no doubt you have experienced something similar before, or may encounter these issues in the future. In This Podcast A deer in your pajamas?… [0:20] Intro 1:o3 Email about a difficult situation [7:30]...

Have you seen the first volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook? Join Walter Underwood and myself as we review the first volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook. Like Walter I accumulated a collection of Scoutmaster Handbooks. From the very first edition to the last they were uniformly mediocre at best. Both Walter and I agree that the most useful offical guide to how Scout troops work remains the Senior Patrol Leader Handbook – but that the first volume of the Troop leader Guidebook is a very valuable resource....

How about your Scouts? How about their parents? This podcast features advice for Scouters attending summer camp and parents who are staying home. I’ll discuss ten things that will make life at summer camp smooth sailing for you and your Scouts, and also share some things parents can do to prepare their Scouts and themselves for the best week for the year – Summer Camp! Parents of Scouts headed to camp for the first time may find the experience more difficult than their Scouts ever will....

What constitutes a night of Scout camping? You’ll find the qualifier “under the auspices of Scouting” or something similar in advancement requirements that describe nights of camping. What, exactly, does this mean? I’ll give you my best answer to this and other email questions that we’ll discuss in this podcast. You don’t want to miss Scoutmaster Kevin Rhodes’ story of how his youth leadership solved a problem when he gave them some room to figure things out for themselves....

We work with our Scouts as they come to us…. I’ll discuss two different parent-related issues in this third (and final) in a series of podcasts about Scout parents – First we’ll acknowledge getting parents to understand the way advancement works can be a big challenge. I’ve worked with many parents who I would consider to be overly involved in their son’s Scouting. They usually calm down a bit if I can talk to them about the nature of Scout advancement but sometimes I don’t get anywhere....

The single most important thing a Scout parents need to know is … This is the second of three podcasts about Scout parents. Scouting is not simply another activity on the schedule, it is a process. Once Scout parents understand the process they become allies, until they do we can find ourselves working at cross purposes. In Scouts there are at least two things happening at once. There’s the immediate practical goal (like getting a merit badge or going camping) and the much broader (and more important) goals of developing character, citizenship and physical, spiritual, and mental fitness....